The Warriorr

The Warrior
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	N. Lingusamy
Screenplay by	N. Lingusamy
Dialogues by	Sai Madhav Burra (Telugu) Brinda Sarathy (Tamil)
Story by	N. Lingusamy
Produced by	Srinivasa Chitturi Pavan Kumar (presenter)
Starring	Ram Pothineni Aadhi Pinisetty Krithi Shetty Akshara Gowda Nadhiya
Cinematography	Sujith Vaassudev
Edited by	Naveen Nooli
Music by	Devi Sri Prasad
Production company	Srinivasaa Silver Screen
Distributed by	Masterpiece (Tamil Nadu)
Release date	14 July 2022 (2022-07-14)
Running time	155 minutes [1]
Country	India
Languages	Telugu Tamil
Budget	₹70 crore [2]
Box office	est.₹36.90 crore [3]

The Warriorr is a 2022 Indian action film directed by N. Lingusamy and produced by Srinivasa Chitturi under Srinivasa Silver Screen. The film was shot simultaneously in Telugu and Tamil languages. It stars Ram Pothineni, Aadhi Pinisetty,(in her Tamil debut), Akshara Gowda and Nadhiya. The music was composed by Devi Sri Prasad, while the cinematography and editing were handled by Sujith Vaassudev and Naveen Nooli.

Linguswamy began contemplating a Telugu–Tamil bilingual film in 2016, which would make his directorial debut in Telugu cinema. The film was announced in February 2021 with Ram Pothineni as the lead. Principal photography begun in July 2021 and concluded in May 2022 with filming taking place primarily in Hyderabad and Chennai.

The Warriorr was released on 14 July 2022 to negative reviews from critics and became a box-office bomb.

Plot

Satya is an MBBS graduate who relocates to Kurnool with his mother and sister Nithya after receiving a job as a doctor in a government hospital. Satya also learns about Guru, a ruthless gangster, whose company has been manufacturing poisonous saline and is involved in the medical mafia. This results in the deaths of 3 children in the hospital, but the police does not pay heed as they are afraid of Guru's atrocities. Satya lodges a complaint against Guru with sufficient evidence against him. Guru learns about this and thrashes Satya at the Konda Reddy Fort and hangs him. However, Satya is saved by his hospital dean Dr. Robert, where he leaves the city with his mother and Nithya.

Two years later, Satya returns back to Kurnool as the DSP of the city, where he wages a war against Guru and his men. Satya learns that Dr. Robert died in an accident, where he suspects that Guru was involved in his death. Satya receives permission for a re-autopsy of Robert's body, where he digs out his grave to recover the body, but finds another body inside the grave. Guru reveals to Satya that he killed Robert when the latter helped Satya escape from the city earlier. Guru also reveals that he killed Rahim for protecting the evidence against him. The next day, Guru contests in the elections, but Satya arrests Guru after finding a flash drive, which contains the information about Guru's illegal activities.

Guru's wife Swarna plots to kill Satya by stringing his neck, but Satya's RJ girlfriend "Whistle" Mahalakshmi instead gets stuck on the string and receives a major cut on her throat as she was following Satya. Satya admits her to the hospital and learns that Guru has been released from the prison. After being encouraged by his mother, Satya calls Guru back to the Konda Reddy Fort for a final showdown. After a close hand-to-hand combat, Satya brutally kills Guru and brutally hangs him in the same manner that Guru hanged him before. After Guru's death, Satya relocates to North India with Mahalakshmi, who survived the injury and married Satya, and his mother. Satya also continues to work both as a cop and a doctor.

Cast

• Ram Pothineni as DSP Dr. Satya
• Aadhi Pinisetty as Guru
• Krithi Shetty as "Whistle" Mahalakshmi
• Akshara Gowda as Swarna
• Nadhiya as Satya's mother
• Redin Kingsley as a prisoner
• Brahmaji as SI Devraj
• Jayaprakash as Dr. Robert
• Ajay as Ravi
• Lal as Kumarappa
• Sharanya Pradeep as Nithya, Satya's sister
• Naga Mahesh
• Posani Krishna Murali as Madhav
• Raaghavan as a tea boy
• S. P. Sreekumar
• John Vijay as SP Joshua
• Rohit Pathak as Mannaar

Production

Development

In 2016, Tamil film director Lingusamy announced that he planned to make a bilingual film in Telugu and Tamil, marking his Telugu debut. He first approached Allu Arjun to star in the film, but the film was delayed due to Allu Arjun's busy schedule. ^[4] In 2019, Havish was cast as the lead, but the film never began production. ^[5] On 18 February 2021, it was announced that Ram Pothineni was brought on board the film, which was tentatively called RAPO19 with Srinivasa Chitturi producing the film under his banner Srinivasa Silver Screen. ^[6] The film marks the Tamil debut of Pothineni after Yen Endral Kadhal Enben!, the Tamil version of Endukante... Premanta! (2012), failed to have a theatrical release. ^[7] In January 2022, the film's title was announced as The Warriorr. ^{[8] [9] [10]}

Casting

In March 2021, it was announced that Krithi Shetty was cast aside Pothineni as the female lead. ^[11] In July 2021, the makers announced that Aadhi Pinisetty was cast as the main antagonist in the film. ^{[12] [13] [14]} In August 2021, it was announced that Akshara Gowda was signed on to play a pivotal role in the film. ^[15]

Filming

Since the film was a Telugu—Tamil bilingual, scenes involving Ram Pothineni and Aadhi Pinisetty were shot in both Telugu and Tamil. ^[16] Krithi Shetty's scenes were only shot in Telugu, ^[16] and Nadhiya's scenes were only shot in Tamil. ^[17] Principal photography for the film began on 13 July 2021 in Hyderabad and Chennai. ^{[18] [19] [20] [21]} The second schedule of the film was completed in October 2021. ^[22] The third schedule began in January 2022 and filming was wrapped up at the end of May 2022. ^[23]

Music

The Warriorr
Soundtrack album by Devi Sri Prasad
Released	12 July 2022
Recorded	2021–2022
Genre	Feature film soundtrack
Length	15:26
Language	Telugu Tamil
Label	Aditya Music
Producer	Devi Sri Prasad
Devi Sri Prasad chronology
F3 (2022) The Warriorr (2022) Ranga Ranga Vaibhavanga (2022)
Singles from The Warriorr
"Bullet Song" Released: 22 April 2022 "Dhada Dhada" Released: 4 June 2022 "Whistle Song" Released: 22 June 2022 "Colours Song" Released: 6 July 2022

The film score and soundtrack album of the film is composed by Devi Sri Prasad. The music rights were acquired by Aditya Music.

Telugu

No.	Title	Lyrics	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Bullet Song"	Sri Mani	Silambarasan, Haripriya	3:57
2.	"Dhada Dhada"	Sri Mani	Haricharan	4:29
3.	"Whistle Song"	Sahithi	Rahul Sipligunj, Srinisha Jayaseelan	3:46
4.	"Colours Song"	Ramajogayya Sastry	Jaspreet Jasz	4:20
Total length:				15:26

Tamil ^[24]

No.	Title	Lyrics	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Bullet Song"	Viveka	Silambarasan, Haripriya	3:57
2.	"Dhada Dhada"	Viveka	Haricharan	4:09
3.	"Whistle Song"	Viveka	Anthony Daasan, Srinisha Jayaseelan	3:26
4.	"Colours Song"	Viveka	Nakul Abhyankar	4:00
Total length:				15:26

Release

Theatrical

In March 2022, it was announced that the film was going to release theatrically on 14 July 2022. ^[25] The film's pre-release rights were sold for ₹43.10 crore, the highest for Pothineni's film to date. ^[26]

Home media

The television rights were acquired by Star Network respectively. The film started streaming in Telugu version on Disney+Hotstar from 11 August 2022, while the Tamil version started streaming on Amazon Prime Video from 10 November 2023. ^[27]

Reception

Box office

The Warriorr grossed ₹12.2 crore on its opening day, with ₹10.2 crore coming from the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. ^[28]

Critical response

The Warriorr met with generally negative reviews from critics.

Neeshita Nyayapati of The Times of India gave 3/5 stars and wrote "The Warriorr is a masala-laden commercial pot-boiler that’s meant to be watched over a shared bucket of popcorn." ^[29] Pinkvilla gave 2/5 stars and wrote "Some films are stuck in a time warp. The Warriorr goes beyond. Every nerve ending and blood vessel of the film is stuck in the past". ^[30]

Behindwoods gave 2.5/5 stars and wrote "The Warriorr is a watchable police action entertainer with the hero and villain in fine form." ^[31] Latha Srinivasan of Firstpost gave 1.5/5 stars and wrote "Director Lingusamy's Telugu debut starring Ram Pothineni is a mish-mash of his earlier films." ^[32]

Balakrishna Ganeshan of The News Minute gave 1.5/5 stars and wrote "The story being extremely superficial without any element of reality in it, also makes it a mediocre watch." ^[17] Janani K of India Today gave 1/5 stars and wrote "The Warriorr is a mass action entertainer, which is ridiculous and has nothing new to offer." ^[33]

Bhuvanesh Chandar of The Hindu wrote "The Warriorr’s lifeless storyline is made worse with its generic scene writing and a template screenplay structure." ^[16] Manoj Kumar R of The Indian Express wrote "Lingusamy has repeated the same movie that he has been making throughout his career with different actors and costumes, including the 'loosu ponnu' archetype". ^[34]

References

1. "The Warriorr completes all censor formalities". 11 July 2022. Archived from the original on 11 July 2022. Retrieved 12 July 2022.
2. Rao, Rama (12 May 2022). "రామ్ సినిమా కోసం మార్కెట్ కి మించి బడ్జెట్ పెట్టిన నిర్మాతలు" [The budget of Ram's film spent beyond its market]. HMTV (in Telugu). Archived from the original on 14 July 2022. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
3. "The Warrior : 2 వారాల్లో రామ్ పోతినేని వారియర్ మూవీ కలెక్షన్స్.. మొత్తంగా ఎన్ని కోట్లు నష్టాలు అంటే." News18 Telugu . 31 July 2022. Archived from the original on 31 July 2022. Retrieved 31 July 2022.
4. "Allu Arjun all set to make his Tamil debut with Lingusamy". The Hand India. 22 September 2016. Archived from the original on 17 January 2022. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
5. "Lingusamy's Tamil-Telugu bilingual to star Seven-fame Havish". Cinema Express. 1 July 2019. Archived from the original on 17 January 2022. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
6. "Ram Pothineni and Lingusamy's new film announced". The Indian Express. 18 February 2021. Archived from the original on 17 January 2022. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
7. "Ram Pothineni's neck injury halts the shoot of his next with director N Lingusamy". OTTPlay. 4 October 2021. Archived from the original on 30 October 2022. Retrieved 3 October 2021.
8. "పవర్‌ఫుల్‌ పాత్రలో రామ్‌ పోతినేని.. టైటిల్‌ రివీల్‌". Sakshi (in Telugu). 17 January 2022. Archived from the original on 17 January 2022. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
9. "Ram Pothineni's next titled The Warriorr". The Indian Express. 17 January 2022. Archived from the original on 17 January 2022. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
10. "RAPO19 titled The Warrior: Ram Pothineni dons cop avatar in the intense first look". PINKVILLA. 17 January 2022. Archived from the original on 17 January 2022. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
11. India, The Hans (7 March 2021). "'Uppena' beauty to pair with Ram Pothineni". www.thehansindia.com. Archived from the original on 17 January 2022. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
12. "Aadhi Pinisetty roped in for Ram Pothineni-Lingusamy's bilingual film 'RAPO19'". The News Minute. 20 July 2021. Archived from the original on 18 January 2022. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
13. Ramya Palisetty (19 July 2021). "Aadhi Pinisetty to play the antagonist in Ram Pothineni and Lingusamy's next". India Today. Archived from the original on 18 January 2022. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
14. "Aadhi Pinisetty to play villain in RAPO 19". The New Indian Express. Archived from the original on 17 January 2022. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
15. "RAPO19: Akshara Gowda to star opposite Aadhi Pinisetty in Ram Pothineni's bilingual film". PINKVILLA. 31 July 2021. Archived from the original on 17 January 2022. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
16. Chandar, Bhuvanesh (14 July 2022). "'The Warriorr' review: Ram Pothineni's latest suffers from generic screenwriting and shallow characters". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 25 May 2023. Retrieved 30 September 2022.
17. "The Warrior review: Ram and Aadhi's impressive performances drown in a weak script". The News Minute. 14 July 2022. Archived from the original on 14 July 2022. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
18. "Ram Pothineni and Lingusamy's bilingual film 'RAPO19' begins shoot". The News Minute. 13 July 2021. Archived from the original on 18 January 2022. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
19. "Tollywood buzz: Sudheer Babu announces new film, Tamannaah Bhatia unveils first look of Skylab and more". The Indian Express. 13 July 2021. Archived from the original on 17 January 2022. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
20. Janani K. (7 July 2021). "Ram Pothineni and Lingusamy's film shoot to commence on July 12". India Today. Archived from the original on 18 January 2022. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
21. Suganth, M. "Ram Pothineni's The Warrior will be something beyond the usual cop film: Lingusamy". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 17 January 2022. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
22. "#RaPo19: Second schedule of Ram Pothineni and Krithi Shetty starrer wrapped up". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 18 January 2022. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
23. "Next schedule of Lingusamy's #RAPO19 from January 5!". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 19 January 2022. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
24. "The Warriorr Tamil Lyrics Here". 14 April 2023. Archived from the original on 11 November 2022. Retrieved 11 November 2022.
25. "Ram Pothineni, Krithi Shetty, Akshara Gowda's The Warrior to hit screens in July". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 27 March 2022. Retrieved 27 March 2022.
26. "The Warrior pre-release business report". The Hans India . 12 July 2022. Archived from the original on 14 July 2022.
27. "Digital Rights Of The Warrior Acquired By Disney Plus Hotstar For This Whopping Price". 15 July 2022. Archived from the original on 18 August 2022. Retrieved 18 August 2022.
28. "The Warrior 1st Day WW Collections : రామ్ 'ది వారియర్' ఫస్ట్ డే వాల్డ్ వైడ్ కలెక్షన్స్.. ఉస్తాద్ కెరీర్ లో మరో సాలిడ్ ఓపెనింగ్స్". News18 Telugu (in Telugu). 15 July 2022. Archived from the original on 15 July 2022. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
29. "The Warriorr Movie Review: Ram and Aadhi shine in this commercial potboiler". Times of India. Archived from the original on 14 July 2022. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
30. "The Warriorr Movie Review: This Ram Pothineni starrer is all sound and fury". Pinkvilla . Archived from the original on 14 July 2022. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
31. "THE WARRIORR MOVIE REVIEW". Behindwoods. 15 July 2022. Archived from the original on 9 September 2022. Retrieved 9 September 2022.
32. "The Warrior movie review: This war is a lost cause". Firstpost. 14 July 2022. Archived from the original on 14 July 2022. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
33. "The Warriorr Movie Review: Ram Pothineni and Krithi Shetty's film is a cringe-fest". India Today . Archived from the original on 14 July 2022. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
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External links

• The Warriorr at IMDb