Rebel was theatrically released worldwide on 28 September 2012. The film received mixed reviews from critics and underperformed at the box office.[4]
Plot
Rishi is the happy-go-lucky son of Bhupathi, a powerful dictator of the village, who is respected by the villagers. Rishi is influenced by his father's ideals and grows up just like him. However, Bhupathi does not want his son to take up violence and sends him to Bangalore for studies and also learn music. In Bangalore, Rishi falls for an orphan named Deepali and brings her to his house in the disguise as his old music teacher as he wants his father to be happy that he does not take up violence. During the festival held in their village, a politician named Simhadri sends 100 thugs to kill Bhupathi and his family, but Rishi eliminates all the thugs.
Bhupathi's brother Jayram joins hands with Simhadri so that they can kill Bhupathi as he has exiled his son permanently from his house. Bhupathi, Bhupathi's wife Lakshmi and Deepali are killed by Jayaram and his son. Simhadri tells Rishi that a local goon helped Jayram kill Bhupathi and his family. Simhadri soon kills himself. Rishi along with Bhupathi's bodyguards assist him in exacting revenge. Two years later, Rishi discovers that a goon named Stephen is doing illegal business in Hyderabad for a long time and also discovers that Robert is none other than Jayaram. Robert started working with Stephen right after Bhupathi's death, where the duo became powerful gangsters.
Rishi suspects that Jayaram's new identity is Robert, where he leaves to Hyderabad and finds that Stephen and Robert have an assistant named Nanu, who works in Bangkok. Nanu's daughter is Nandini, where Rishi meets Nandini and the two fall in love with each other. Nanu shows his phone to Nandini because she wants to see the photos of Stephen and Robert. Rishi sees the photos, where he is confirmed that Jayaram's new identity is Robert as Simhadri told earlier that a local goon helped Robert kill Bhupathi and that goon is Stephen. Later, Raju reveals to Nandini about Rishi's tragic past, where Nandini decides to help Rishi in locating Stephen and Robert.
Rishi bribes Nanu's henchmen to stop protecting Nanu, where he then tortures Nanu until the latter agrees to lure Stephen and Robert into a trap. It is revealed that Stephen and Robert sent two henchmen to disguise themselves as Stephen and Robert. Robert tells Rishi that he sent his henchmen to kidnap Rishi's bodyguards, Raju and Nandini. Rishi gets taken to his old home, where Raju and the rest of his bodyguards are killed, but Nandini is alive. Stephen and his henchman brutally beats up Rishi. However, Rishi beats all the henchman and finally kills Stephen, Robert's son and Robert, thus avenging the deaths of his parents (Bhupathi and Lakshmi) and Deepali. Later, Rishi and Nandini reunite with each other.
The film was officially launched at Annapurna Studios on 2 December 2010 with Anushka Shetty as the heroine opposite Prabhas. It was also announced that Thaman S would compose the soundtrack of the film.[5]
Casting
On 2 December 2010, the opening ceremony of the film took place in Hyderabad. At the event, it was announced that J. Bhagawan and J. Pullarao would produce the film, it would be directed by Raghava Lawrence and would star Prabhas and Anushka Shetty in lead roles. The main cast was also announced during the event, which included Brahmanandam, Mukesh Rishi, Kelly Dorjee, Sayaji Shinde, Ali, MS Narayana, Chalapathi Rao, Jayaprakash Reddy, Supreet and Jeeva.[6] In February 2011, it was announced that Deeksha Seth would play the second lead in the film.[7] The filming was delayed due to various reasons causing Anushka to opt out of the project.[8] In August 2011, it was announced that Tamannaah Bhatia had replaced Anushka.[9][10] In January 2011, it was reported that Krishnam Raju would play a vital role in the film.[11] It was later confirmed that he would be portraying a father character while popular Telugu actress Prabha would play the role of a mother.[12]
Filming
After many delays, regular filming began on 21 May 2011.[13] In the fifty days of working schedule, one action episode and a song were filmed. In October 2011, it was reported that the filming would take place in Bangkok, where action sequences would be shot.[14] In December 2011, it was reported that the unit would go back to Bangkok to shoot some vital scenes and action sequences with Tamannaah and Prabhas.[15] After completing the Bangkok schedule, filming resumed at Shamshabad Temple near Hyderabad.[16] It was reported that a special set worth ₹20million was built at Shamshabad and filming took place in it with 100 fighters and over 1000 extras participating in the schedule.[17] In March 2012, it was reported that another set had been built at Ramoji Film City, where the climax scenes with 30 Russian fighters were shot.[18]
In June 2012, the unit went back to Bangkok for the third time to shoot two songs of the movie.[19] After completing the schedule, the filming resumed at Pollachi where scenes on Prabhas and other lead cast were canned.[20] The filming shifted to Pondicherry where action episodes involving Prabhas were shot.[21] The last schedule of filming took at an aluminium factory in Hyderabad.[22]
Initially Thaman S was revealed to be the composer but he opted out of the film; instead, Raghava Lawrence himself composed the songs while the film score was composed by S. Chinna.[23] The soundtrack of the film was released through Aditya Music label on 14 September 2012 at Shilpakala Vedika in Hyderabad.[24] The album consists of five songs. The lyrics for four songs were penned by Ramajogayya Sastry and one song was written by Bhaskarabhatla.
The film was postponed several times due to delays in post-production works. After much delay, the film was released worldwide on 28 September 2012 in over 950 screens worldwide.
Distribution
It was announced that 7 Seas, a premier entertainment company, purchased the overseas theatrical distribution rights of the film.[25] The theatrical distribution rights for the Nizam region were bought by Dil Raju for ₹9 crore.[26] The rights for Vizag region were sold to Bellamkonda Suresh for ₹3.06 crore.[27] Distribution rights for ceded region were bought by NV Prasad and Bellary Sai for ₹5.75 crore.[28] Tamil Nadu theatrical distribution rights were sold for ₹33 lakh.[29] The film made excellent business all over and is up amongst the best films in terms of pre-release revenues.[30]
Reception
Critical reception
Rebel received mixed reviews, with praise for Prabhas and Tamannaah Bhatia's performances, action sequences, and production values, but criticism for its plot, screenwriting, and technical aspects.
Purnima Ranawat of NDTV wrote "Rebel serves up fare for the mass audience. The film will be definitely liked by Prabhas' fans. Watch it for the dancing talent of Tamannaah Bhatia and action skills of Prabhas."[31] Radhika Rajamani of Rediff.com gave 1.5 out of 5 stars and wrote "Working with hardly any storyline, director Raghava Lawrence had made a film that is arduous to watch... Rebel is a movie for the masses and certainly not for the discerning audience."[32]
Jeevi from Idlebrain.com gave 3 out of 5 stars and wrote "Rebel is an revenge-based action film. Prabhas is known as one of the best mass stars of Telugu cinema. Lawrence's movies are known to appeal to the raw senses of mass movie lovers. Rebel is no exception. Interval block is really good. Rebel has decent commercial elements and targeted at masses. Masses will like it.[33] A reviewer from OneIndia.com gave 3 out of 5 stars and called the film "A treat for Prabhas fans".[34]
Box office
Rebel collected a share of ₹23.32[35] in its first weekend and ₹27.30 by the end of its theatrical run.[36]
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