Karthikeya is a 2014 Indian Telugu-language mystery thriller film written and directed by Chandoo Mondeti. Produced by Venkata Srinivas, the film stars Nikhil Siddhartha and Swathi Reddy in lead roles, with Tanikella Bharani, Rao Ramesh, and Jayaprakash in supporting roles. The music was composed by Shekar Chandra, while Karthik Ghattamaneni handled the cinematography. The story revolves around Karthik, a curious medico who investigates the mysterious events surrounding a closed Karthikeya temple in the village of Subrahmanyapuram. The inspiration for the film came from an incident at Talupulamma Temple in Kakinada district. Principal photography for Karthikeya began on 5 July 2013 and concluded on 21 February 2014, with filming locations across Andhra Pradesh, including Araku, Bobbili, and Kumararama temple in Samarlakota, as well as in Pondicherry and several places in Tamil Nadu, such as Kumbakonam. After several delays, the film was released on 24 October 2014 as a Diwali release. It received positive reviews and was a commercial success, grossing over ₹20 crore on a budget of ₹4–6 crore. At the 62nd Filmfare Awards South, Karthikeya earned four nominations, and at the 4th SIIMA Awards, it won one award from four nominations. Following the success of the film, a sequel titled Karthikeya 2 was released in 2022, which was also a critical and commercial success.
Plot In a village called Subramaniapuram, an old temple belonging to Subrahmanya Swami is closed because of some mysterious deaths, supposedly by a snakebite. Whoever arrives to investigate this matter also gets killed. Karthikeya is a medical student who does not believe in supernatural powers. He analyzes everything using science and logic. He visits Subramaniapuram for a medical camp, along with his love interest Valli. Karthikeya becomes curious about the closed temple and gathers information about it to solve the mystery. He finds a diary written by a person named Shankar, an Endowments Department (ED) official who previously researched the temple and its mystery but was killed by a snakebite in the same building where Karthikeya and his friends were currently residing for the camp. Around the same time, the snake tries to kill Karthikeya, but he escapes each time. He takes the snake to a herpetologist, who reveals that the snake was hypnotized by someone to kill Karthikeya. Karthikeya meets Valli's father, who happens to be a priest at the temple, to find out about the history of the temple. They leave for Thanjavur to find out that the temple is built very uniquely by the great architect Viswakarma, and the family heirloom of the king who ruled that area, a diamond, was placed at the feet of the Lord in such a way that on Karthika Pournami, the moon's rays fall on the feet of the Lord and the diamond reflects it back with 1000 times more intensity. Karthikeya returns to the village and finds out that Thaayattu, a cook/helper in his temporary residence at Subramaniapuram, was a part of the gang trying to kill him. Thaayattu tries to escape, but is later killed. Karthikeya goes into the temple at night, which is coincidentally also the night of Karthika Pournami. He finds an ED officer named Prudhvi Raj in the temple and realises that he is the mastermind behind the whole conspiracy. Prudhvi tries to attack Karthikeya, but at the same time, the diamond reflects the moon's rays and the whole village realises that the Lord is still in the temple. Karthikeya, along with his friends, interrogates Prudhvi, who reveals that the temple had attracted some foreigners who had learnt about the diamond. Prudhvi Raj decides to steal the diamond from the temple by making everyone believe that a curse is laid on the temple, in which everyone will die due to a snakebite. He sought Tayattu's help to develop a snake venom shot and used snake hypnosis to strike fear into the villagers' hearts. Prudhvi Raj is arrested and later dies in prison due to a snakebite. Karthikeya returns to Hyderabad, where he completes his graduation and receives his MBBS degree at the convocation. He then leaves for Goa with his friends to investigate a cave.
Cast Nikhil Siddhartha as Karthikeya "Karthik" Kumaraswamy Swati Reddy as Srivalli "Valli" Tanikella Bharani as Valli's father Rao Ramesh as Prudhvi Raj Jayaprakash as Dr. Prakash Kishore as Sahadev Tulasi as Karthik's mother Praveen as Ravi, Karthik's friend Satya as Satya, Karthik's friend Shankar Melkote as Principal Jogi Naidu as Thaayattu Raja Ravindra as ED Officer Shankar Chatrapathi Sekhar Vajja Venkata Giridhar
Production
Development
After Swamy Ra Ra, Nikhil Siddhartha signed his next film to be directed by his friend Chandoo Mondeti in which he was supposed to play "a smart, well educated, suave young man studying MBBS". Venkat Srinivas agreed to produce the film under his Magnus Cine Prime banner. Swati Reddy was signed as the lead actress considering her popularity in Tamil and she also appeared in Swamy Ra Ra. Tanikella Bharani revealed that he would be seen as Swati's father. The principal cast of the film further consists of Rao Ramesh, Jayaprakash, Kishore and Tulasi. Shekar Chandra was announced as the film's music composer. Nikhil noted in an interview, "When I was young, films like Bhairava Dweepam and Aditya 369 fascinated me. Later I liked watching Sherlock Holmes. That character was curious and inquisitive. Karthikeya is all about mystery and adventure; it’s a light-hearted subject." For his role, Nikhil had to gain 10 kgs weight. His research for the role involved spending time with medical students and doctors before the shooting. He also had to overcome his fear of injections and blood to pull off the character.
Filming
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