Eega

Eega
Theatrical poster for the Telugu version
Directed by	S. S. Rajamouli
Produced by	Korrapati Ranganatha Sai Daggubati Suresh Babu (presenter)
Written by	K. V. Vijayendra Prasad Janardhan Maharshi Crazy Mohan
Starring	Sudeep Nani Samantha Ruth Prabhu
Music by	M. M. Keeravani
Cinematography	K. K. Senthil Kumar
Edited by	Kotagiri Venkateswara Rao
Production company	Varahi Chalana Chitram
Distributed by	14 Reels Entertainment PVP Cinema
Release dates	6 July 2012
Running time	137 minutes
Country	India
Language	Telugu Tamil
Budget	₹260–400 million[lower-alpha 1]
Box office	₹1.25–1.3 billion[lower-alpha 2]

Eega (English: The Fly) is a 2012 Indian bilingual fantasy film written by K. V. Vijayendra Prasad and directed by his son, S. S. Rajamouli. Produced by Korrapati Ranganatha Sai's Varahi Chalana Chitram on an estimated budget of ₹260 to ₹400 million, the film was made simultaneously in Telugu and Tamil (as Naan Ee; I Am a Fly). It stars Sudeep, Nani, and Samantha Ruth Prabhu. K. K. Senthil Kumar was director of photography, M. M. Keeravani composed the soundtrack and score, and Kotagiri Venkateswara Rao edited the film. Janardhan Maharshi and Crazy Mohan wrote the dialogue for the Telugu and Tamil versions, respectively.

Eega is a bedtime story told by a father to his daughter. Its protagonist is Nani, who loves his neighbour Bindu. He is, however, murdered by the wealthy businessman Sudeep, who lusts for Bindu and considered Nani a rival. Nani is reincarnated as a housefly and tries to protect Bindu while avenging his death.

During the late 1990s, Prasad joked with Rajamouli about the idea of a fly seeking revenge against a human. Rajamouli revisited the idea after finishing Maryada Ramanna (2010), and developed it into a script. The film's production began on 7 December 2010 at Ramanaidu Studios in Hyderabad. Principal photography began on 22 February 2011 in Hyderabad and lasted until late February 2012. Makuta VFX and Annapurna Studios oversaw Eega's visual effects and digital intermediate process, respectively.

The two versions of the film, alongside its Malayalam-dubbed version, entitled Eecha, were released on 6 July 2012 in approximately 1,100 screens globally. With generally positive reviews, it was one of the highest-grossing Telugu films of the year and earned a total of more than ₹1.25 billion. Its Hindi-dubbed version, Makkhi, which was released on 12 October 2012, under-performed at the box office due to poor marketing. Eega won two National Film Awards - Best Feature Film in Telugu and Best Special Effects - in addition to five Filmfare Awards, and three SIIMA Awards. It was shown at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival, the 2013 Shanghai International Film Festival, and the 2013 Madrid International Film Festival.

Plot

Unable to sleep, a young girl asks her father to tell her a bedtime story. Initially reluctant, her father tells a story of a fly named Nani.

Nani (a young man who specialises in preparing fireworks) is in love with his neighbour Bindu, a micro artist who runs an NGO named Project 511. Bindu surreptitiously harbours feelings for him as well. Sudeep, a rich and powerful industrialist, is attracted to Bindu when she visits his office to raise money for her NGO. He befriends her and donates ₹1.5 million, gaining her trust. Sudeep sees Nani as a rival, and plans to kill him. One night, Nani helps Bindu finish a piece of micro art — a locket made out of a pencil. While returning home, he is kidnapped by Sudeep, who kills him and makes it look like an accident. Bindu, unaware of this, proposes to the dying Nani by telephone. Her proposal is the last thing Nani hears, and he is reincarnated as a housefly unable to remember its previous life.

The fly's memory of its previous birth is triggered when it accidentally encounters Sudeep and Bindu. Sudeep asks the heartbroken Bindu to accompany him to New Delhi to meet the education minister, who would help Project 511 gain national recognition if impressed with a proper presentation about the NGO. The fly causes Sudeep to have an accident on his way to the airport and writes "I will kill you" on the windshield, which makes him paranoid. The fly, who sees Bindu mourning Nani's death in her bedroom, reveals that it is Nani by writing on the desk with her tears. After he conveys the circumstances of his death to Bindu, Nani joins her and affects Sudeep's professional and personal life. Nani disturbs his mental health and Sudeep's money is burnt to ashes, leaving him almost penniless.

After learning from a sorcerer that Nani was reincarnated as a fly and seeks revenge, Sudeep arranges to kill him. Nani escapes and causes a short circuit, killing the sorcerer and leaving Sudeep unconscious. Although he and Bindu assume that Sudeep is dead, he is saved by his business partner. When Sudeep learns that Bindu is helping the fly, he is enraged. He kills his partner to collect a ₹7 billion insurance policy, and a contract affecting his professional life is rescinded due to the death.

Sudeep brings Bindu to his home and abuses her. Nani has a needle, and seriously injures Sudeep when he tries to kill him. Sudeep later clips Nani's wing and fatally stabs him with the needle. Dying, Nani jumps through a lit match and immolates himself. He flies into a loaded cannon, which fires. The projectile passes through Sudeep and hits an oxygen cylinder, killing him in the explosion. Bindu takes the fly's wing and makes an amulet with it. One day when she is on her way to work, an eve teaser bothers her; Nani, again reborn as a fly, attacks him with a needle before he announces his return.

In an epilogue, a thief who thought that Bindu loved him is reformed and works at a construction site. He agrees to a similar job in the United Arab Emirates, hoping that Bindu will accept him when he returns. The young girl is impressed with the story of the fly her father narrates.

Cast

• Sudeep as Sudeep
• Nani as Nani
• Samantha Ruth Prabhu as Bindu
• Hamsa Nandini as Kala (cameo appearance)
• Crazy Mohan as a Malayali veterinarian (cameo appearance)
• Santhanam as Pottu Govindan, a thief who loves Bindu (Tamil version)
• Adithya as Sudeep's partner
• Chandra Sekhar as Tantra, a sorcerer
• Srinivasa Reddy as Sudeep's personal assistant
• Sivannarayana Naripeddi as a temple priest
• Devadarshini as Bindu's sister-in-law
• Noel Sean as Nani's friend
• Thagubothu Ramesh as a thief who loves Bindu (Telugu version)

Production

Development and casting

S. S. Rajamouli's father, K. V. Vijayendra Prasad, jokingly suggested a housefly seeking revenge on a human during the late 1990s.^[6] Prasad later developed it as a script for an English film set in the 1830s (before the abolition of slavery in Africa), in which an African-American boy loses his life in an attempt to free his family from slavery and is reincarnated as a fly. The fly, aware of its previous life, succeeds in freeing his family and Rajamouli chose the concept of a man reincarnated as a fly for the script.^[7] After completing Maryada Ramanna (2010), he planned to make a film which could be completed in four or five months before he began Baahubali: The Beginning (2015).^[8] Rajamouli revisited Eega's script, since he felt that comedy and romance did not suit him. He decided to make Eega a bilingual film in Telugu and Tamil languages as the script had less dialogue.^[9] The Tamil version, Naan Ee, was his Tamil directorial debut.^[10] Daggubati Suresh Babu presented Eega with his Suresh Productions.^{[11][lower-alpha 3]}

For the first time in his career, Rajamouli began casting after the script was completed.^[9] Nani was the first of the three principal-cast members chosen;^[2] Suresh Babu approached him to play the protagonist. His character had a screen time of 20–30 minutes, and he finished filming in 25 days.^[13] Samantha Ruth Prabhu was the second actor cast,^[2] signed as the female lead (a miniature artist). At the time, Eega was considered a minor film; Samantha turned down other offers to appear in it, calling her decision "well-thought out".^[14] Rajamouli chose Sudeep to play the fly's human adversary after he was impressed with the actor's performance in Rann (2010).^[9] Sudeep called Eega his "formal launch" in Telugu and Tamil cinema, although he had appeared briefly in Rakta Charitra (2010).^[15] Citing Rajkumar's work in Bhakta Prahlada (1983) as an inspiration,^[15] Sudeep called his character the "only human being who is battling against a fly and carrying all the emotions",^[16] and considered his character a "bad guy" with "grey shades" rather than an antagonist.^[16] Rapper Noel Sean played Nani's friend in the film.^[17]

Rajamouli's brother, S. S. Kanchi, was the film's script doctor.^[18] Janardhan Maharshi and Crazy Mohan wrote the dialogue for the Telugu and Tamil versions respectively. Eega marked their first collaboration with Rajamouli;^[19] Mohan made a cameo appearance as a Malayali veterinarian in Naan Ee.^[20] James Fowlds was initially chosen as the film's director of photography,^[21] but was replaced by K. K. Senthil Kumar due to creative and scheduling conflicts. Eega is the fifth collaboration between Rajamouli and Senthil Kumar;^{[22][lower-alpha 4]} the latter was influenced by A Bug's Life (1998) and Bee Movie (2007).^[23] M. M. Keeravani composed the film's soundtrack and score.^{[24][lower-alpha 5]} Kotagiri Venkateswara Rao edited the film,^[26] Ravinder Reddy was its art director,^[27] and Rajamouli's wife, Rama, worked on the costume design and looks of the film's cast.^[28]

Production began on 7 December 2010 at Ramanaidu Studios in Hyderabad.^[29] The original version, filmed over a six-month period, cost nearly ₹110 million; its poor quality made Rajamouli start from scratch.^{[9][lower-alpha 6]} The film's final budget was estimated at ₹260 to ₹400 million.^{[lower-alpha 1][lower-alpha 7]}

Filming and post-production

Sudeep (left), Nani (middle), and Rajamouli during filming

Principal photography began on 22 February 2011 in Hyderabad.^[31] Ninety percent of the film was shot in Ramanaidu Studios in Hyderabad.^[32] Sudeep took a break from promoting Kempe Gowda (2011), which he directed, joining the set two days later. Several of his scenes were filmed on a custom-built set.^[33] A sequence was filmed at the Sri Sita Ramachandra Swamy Temple in Ammapally, near Shamshabad in early March 2011.^[34] Scenes with Nani, Samantha, and Sudeep were filmed in the first shooting schedule, which wrapped on 16 March.^[35]

Shooting was disrupted in April due to an ongoing labour dispute between film workers and producers, and Rajamouli considered moving Eega out of Hyderabad if the strike continued.^[36] Filming continued in Kokapet in early September 2011,^[37] and principal photography was nearing completion in late November.^[38] Almost all of the shoot was finished in January 2012,^[39] and principal photography wrapped in late February as post-production began.^[40]

Rajamouli and Samantha during the filming of the song "Konchem Konchem"

According to Rajamouli, the film unit would check low-end, 3D video of the storyboard before shooting a scene each day. When it was completed, re-recording was done on the editing table with simple greyscale animation.^[6] An Arri Alexa was the main camera, with a prime lens used for principal photography. High-intensity lighting and a probe lens were used for macro photography.^[22] The lens aperture was greater than 8.0, as opposed to ideal wide apertures of 2.8 and 4.0 for low-light conditions. According to Senthil Kumar, shooting precision was "put to the test" by the probe lens; a slight movement would seriously disturb the result.^[23] GoPro cameras were used for sequences where regular cameras was restricted. Slow-motion cameras, such as the Phantom Cam (which captures 2,000 frames per second), were used for climactic low-light scenes. Scorpio and Strada cranes were employed for principal photography.^[22] Senthil Kumar followed Sudeep's movements with his camera when he reacted to the imaginary fly, which the cinematographer found "crazy at first".^[23]

Digital intermediate was conducted at Annapurna Studios in Hyderabad.^[22] A high-end DI system was imported, and the process took six months to complete.^[41] Singer Chinmayi, who dubbed for Samantha in Eega, found the process difficult (since the footage did not contain the animated fly) and she considered Eega the most difficult of her dubbing projects.^[42] Sudeep finished dubbing his role in May 2012 for Eega and Naan Ee. He began dubbing for the Hindi-dubbed version, Makkhi, and Shobi Thilakan was signed to dub for Sudeep in the Malayalam-dubbed version (Eecha).^[43] Rajamouli approached Anuj Gurwara to write the dialogue for the Hindi-dubbed version. Gurwara wrote the Telugu dialogue into English, and worked on lip syncing for four days. The Hindi dubbing began in Hyderabad, and Gurwara dubbed for Nani in the film.^[44]

Visual effects

Rajamouli and Draper on the set

R. C. Kamalakannan and Pete Draper of Makuta VFX supervised Eega's visual effects.^[45][46] V. Srinivas Mohan, who later collaborated with Rajamouli on Baahubali: The Beginning, worked on a short sequence for the film.^[47] Rajamouli planned to complete the work on the fly in four months, but it took 14 months.^[32] In an Indo-Asian News Service interview, Draper said that he collaborated with 13 experts and a large team of animators to design the fly.^[48] Ninety percent of the animation-related work was done in Hyderabad, with the remaining ten percent completed in the United States.^[49] Rahul Venugopal was the film's set supervisor and matte painter.^[50] Unlike Rajamouli's Magadheera (2009), Eega featured animation in the foreground; according to the director, this made a "world of difference".^[8]

Since the fly's eyes are 80 percent of its face, Rajamouli felt that they could make it expressive and was inspired by the animation in the Pixar American short film Luxo Jr. (1986). The output of the first team of animators using the reference material prepared was unsatisfactory, and Rajamouli reworked the fly's detailing.^[8] Using a powerful lens, the film team conducted a photo shoot of unconscious flies in a bottle stored in a refrigerator, which Rajamouli called a "herculean process". After enlarging the details, Rajamouli made cosmetic changes to the fly's face to make it appealing onscreen.^[49] A new team designed the animated fly in two months.^[8] According to Draper, three concept artists, three modellers, two shader designers, two hair and fur designers, three riggers and a number of animators designed the fly.^[48] After shaping its body and wings, the head and fur were designed. The fly was refined daily, with clay models expediting the process.^[48] The animators found the sequences between Sudeep and the fly much difficult to execute as it had to express the emotions only though its slender arms and not its face.^[32]

Since a few of the special effects could not be designed in India, Makuta VFX approached animation consultants in Armenia, China, Iran, Israel, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. A training programme on acting theory and insect formats was conducted for a 30-member Makuta VFX team.^[32] Eega is the first Indian film to use computer-generated imagery for nearly 90 minutes of its total length, and the film had 2,234 live-action animation shots. By mid-June 2012 Rajamouli had approved 1,970 shots, and the final version was shown to the film unit after the approval of 226 pending shots.^[51] The visual effects cost an estimated ₹70 million.^[52]

Themes

Rajamouli compared the battle between the fly and Sudeep with that between David and Goliath (pictured), saying that victories by underdogs matter.^[53]

The film's primary theme is the soul of a murdered man, reincarnated as a fly, seeking revenge against his killer. Opposing similarities to David Cronenberg's 1986 film, The Fly (in which a scientist becomes a fly when his experiment fails), Rajamouli preferred to call Eega a "socio-fantasy" instead of science fiction.^[54] At a meeting with students at the Annapurna International School of Film and Media Campus (AIFSM), he compared the battle between the fly and Sudeep with the story of the battle between David and Goliath and India's victory in the 1983 Cricket World Cup; victories by underdogs are significant.^[53] Saying that revenge dramas can be interesting when something (or someone) small is the revenge-seeker, Crazy Mohan compared the film with Apoorva Sagodharargal (1989): a revenge drama whose protagonist, Appu (Kamal Haasan), is a dwarf.^[55]

In an interview with Malathi Rangarajan of The Hindu, Mohan said that although the film's script may resemble Stuart Little (1999) and Shrek he finds it "original": the plight of someone tormented by a housefly.^[20] According to Tamil film historian and actor Mohan V. Raman, Naan Ee—unlike the animal-based films Nalla Neram (1972) and Neeya (1979)—lacks a human protagonist.^[3] Film critic Baradwaj Rangan wrote for The Hindu that, unlike the animated films by the Walt Disney Company, Eega's protagonist is not "humanised ... no facial features, no voice, few anthropomorphic quirks, [and] no superpowers".^[56]

According to Rangan, Eega's story loosely resembles those derived from the "ghost template": a deceased protagonist returns as a troubled soul to his loved ones, who long for him. Rangan wrote that this similarity, if applied to Nani and Bindu's love, would "accuse every doomed love story [of] harking back to Romeo and Juliet".^[56] Mayank Shekhar criticized Eega's romance, writing that stalking the female lead is "going to be the accepted form of romance" and makes the film a "regional love story".^[57] Malathi Rangarajan of The Hindu noted that the antagonist took the "extreme step" of murdering the hero early in the film, in contrast to the stereotypical antagonist whose lust for the female lead has just begun and threatens the hero.^[58] According to Malini Mannath of The New Indian Express, the film is reminiscent of Ghost (1990) in the scene where the fly foils Sudeep's attempt to get close to Bindu at her home.^[59] Mid Day compared Eega to Cockroach (2010), an Australian short film about a man reborn as a cockroach when he is run over on his wedding day who hopes to rejoin his fiancée.^[60]

On Tantrism as a theme, Kruthi Grover of The New Indian Express wrote that the aghori baba who tried to help Sudeep kill the fly with a ritual died in turn.^[61] Grover found similarities to the story of Bhasmasur,^[61] a demon in Indian mythology to whom Shiva gave the power to reduce a person to ashes by touching their head. When Bhasmasur tries to touch Shiva's head Vishnu assumes the form of Mohini and makes Bhasmasur touch his own head, killing him.^[62] According to Malathi Rangarajan, the film's themes of Tantrism and black magic "revive the Vittalacharya – a director who revelled in occult themes – genre of yore!"^[58]

Music

The soundtracks of Eega and Naan Ee, composed by M. M. Keeravani, have five songs apiece; one of the five is a remixed version of the film's title song.^{[63][lower-alpha 5]} Since the film's theme (revenge) and the protagonist (a housefly) were universal concepts, Keeravani ensured that the tunes do not have "distinct ethnic or regional flavour" and "appeal", his "only challenge".^[64] He "tried to play" with the buzzing sound generated by flies in the score and used it according to a scene's emotional nature, exaggerating it at times and toning it down.^[64] Rajamouli approached Madhan Karky to write the lyrics for Naan Ee's soundtrack after the release of Enthiran (2010), explaining the importance of each song in the film's narrative. In addition to providing detailed profiles of the characters, Rajamouli enacted a few scenes which helped Karky write the lyrics.^[65]

Eega's soundtrack was released on 30 March 2012 at a promotional event^[66] at Brahma Kumaris' Shanti Sarovar academy in Gachibowli.^[67] The soundtrack for Naan Ee was released on 1 April 2012 at another promotional event at Sathyam Cinema in Chennai.^[68] Four days after release, the producers released Eega's soundtrack on iTunes to avoid piracy and illegal downloads.^[69]

The soundtrack was critically acclaimed and commercially successful.^[70] In The Hindu, Sangeetha Devi Dundoo found it "melodious ... sharply contrasted by the background score, which seamlessly moves from sober to playful to pulsating".^[71] Another critic for The Hindu, S. R. Ashok Kumar, said: "Vijay Prakash has rendered 'Konjam Konjam' well". Kumar appreciated the violins in "Eedaa Eedaa", and called "Lava Lava" "a good number".^[63] Karthik Pasupulate of The Times of India wrote that Keeravani "just seems to reserve his best for [Rajamouli]", calling the soundtrack "one of his finest".^[72]

Release

Left to right: Nani, Sanjeev Lamba, Ajay Devgan, S. S. Rajamouli, M. M. Keeravani, and Suresh Babu at the special screening of Makkhi, the Hindi dubbed version of Eega, in Mumbai

Eega, with Naan Ee and Eecha, was released on 6 July 2012 on 1,100 to 1,200 screens.^{[73][lower-alpha 8]} The red-carpet premiere of Naan Ee took place on 5 July at Sathyam Cinema in Chennai, with the cast and crew in attendance.^[76] The Central Board of Film Certification gave the film a 'U/A' certificate without any cuts, citing a few instances of actors smoking.^[73][77] A 30-percent entertainment tax was levied on Naan Ee by the government of Tamil Nadu.^[78] Global distribution rights for the Telugu version were sold for ₹340 million, and PVP Cinema acquired Naan Ee's distribution rights for ₹50 million.^{[79][lower-alpha 7]} 14 Reels Entertainment distributed Eega and Naan Ee overseas in association with Ficus, Inc.^[80] The film's Hindi-dubbed version was released as Makkhi on 12 October 2012,^[81] and Reliance Entertainment acquired its distribution rights.^[82]

Ajay Devgan and his wife, Kajol, provided voiceovers during the opening credits of Makkhi as parents telling the film's story to their child at bedtime.^[83] The visuals during the closing credits were altered, with the fly mimicking the antics of Devgan, Salman Khan, and Akshay Kumar.^[84] Eega was dubbed into Chinese and Swahili as Kungfu Housefly and Inzi, respectively; the latter was released with the slogan, "Kisasi Cha Mwisho" (Fly: the ultimate revenge).^[85][86] Inzi was released in Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Congo, making Eega the first Telugu film released in Africa.^[86]

Piracy

Weeks after Eega's release police arrested two men, Gunasekhar and Loganatham, in a joint operation with the Andhra Pradesh Film Chamber of Commerce (APPFC) after they received a complaint from Lakshman Rao (a Suresh Productions executive in Tirupati). Gunasekhar is the owner of the Gowrishankar theatre in Varadaiahpalem, Chittoor district, where the film was pirated.^[87] Suresh Babu and his team conducted a forensic watermarking investigation on the pirated copies, which determined that Eega was filmed off-screen in the theatre on a camcorder. The theatre's license was soon cancelled.^[88] The digital forensic watermarking helped investigators locate the source of the piracy of Naan Ee (a theatre in Coimbatore).^[89]

According to Rajamouli, Eega had nearly 655,000 illegal downloads within a week after the pirated version was leaked on the Internet.^[90] Rajamouli said that a database of IP addresses of non-resident Indians who frequently download content was shared with immigration authorities, which would affect their green-card applications.^[88] The anti-piracy cell delinked more than 2,000 links to the pirated versions of Naan Ee on the Internet.^[91]

Home media

Naan Ee's satellite rights were sold to Sun TV for ₹33.5 million, a relatively higher amount considering its pre-release business.^{[92][lower-alpha 7]} Makkhi's television-broadcast rights were sold to STAR Gold for ₹80 million.^{[93][lower-alpha 7][94]} According to STAR Gold general manager Hemal Jhaveri, Makkhi's TV premiere had a TRP rating of 3.5;^[95] trade analyst Sreedhar Pillai called its performance "phenomenal".^[96]

Aditya Music released Eega on Blu-ray in November 2012 with English subtitles and DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround sound. The release also contained a two-hour DVD about the making of the film.^[97] J. Hurtado of Twitch Film reviewed the Blu-ray version: "The most egregious mangling of the film comes in the form of a severely fucked contrast scale, which leads to absurdly crushed black levels rendering nearly all shadow detail completely obliterated". However, Hurtado found the audio a "thing of beauty, giving good separation and a booming low end that puts you in the middle of the Eega action in a way that even my theatrical experience couldn't do".^[97]

Reception

Box office

According to trade analyst Komal Nahta, the film netted an "historic" ₹170 million in South India on its first day.^{[98][lower-alpha 7]} On its opening weekend Eega grossed US$538,996 from 31 screens in the United States, a per-screen average of $17,387.^{[99][lower-alpha 7]} In ten days, Naan Ee grossed ₹130 million from 208 screens in Tamil Nadu.^{[100][lower-alpha 7]} On its second weekend Eega grossed $253,334 from 42 screens in the United States, bringing its ten-day total in that country to $913,046. By then, Naan Ee had grossed a total of $14,259 in the United States.^{[101][lower-alpha 7]} Naan Ee earned ₹180 million in three weeks at the Tamil Nadu box office, a record for a bilingual Telugu-Tamil film.^{[102][lower-alpha 7]} By early August 2012, the combined distributor share for the Telugu and Tamil versions was ₹570 million.^{[103][lower-alpha 7]}

According to Bangalore Mirror, the film grossed ₹1.15 billion globally as of August 2012.^{[104][lower-alpha 7]} Its final global gross is estimated at ₹1.25 to 1.3 billion.^{[lower-alpha 2][lower-alpha 7]} Eega grossed nearly $1.08 million in the United States, one of the country's highest-grossing Telugu films.^{[105][lower-alpha 7]} It was declared the highest-grossing bilingual film in Tamil Nadu after it earned ₹246.6 million (with a distributor share of ₹85 million) in 50 days. The film broke the record held by Arundhati (2009), whose Tamil-dubbed version earned a distributor share of ₹65 million.^{[78][lower-alpha 7]}

Although Indo-Asian News Service called Eega the highest-grossing Telugu film of 2012,^[106] Bangalore Mirror called it the second-highest (after Gabbar Singh) in box-office revenue.^[107] According to Deccan Herald, Eega and Julai were the only 2012 big-budget Telugu films to break even and have a positive audience response.^[108] Despite positive word of mouth, Makkhi opened poorly^[109] and ultimately failed at the box office.^[110] About its failure, Rajamouli said that Makkhi was poorly presented and did not reach its audience. Because of its failure, he collaborated with filmmaker Karan Johar (whom he considered the "one missing link") on the Hindi-dubbed version of Baahubali: The Beginning.^[111]

Critical response

Baradwaj Rangan wrote for The Hindu that without a human protagonist (only a villain and a heroine), the audience is "led through a story that's funny, sentimental, action-packed, romantic — there's even a bit of the occult thrown in".^[56] Also for The Hindu, Sangeetha Devi Dundoo wrote that Eega "raises the bar for visual effects and animation for an Indian film" and Rajamouli "proves, yet again, that he is one of the finest storytellers in contemporary Telugu cinema".^[71] Malathi Rangarajan of The Hindu wrote, "Let's celebrate the figment of [Rajamouli's] imagination that has made the housefly appear as invincible as any of our muscle-flexing heroes. It's a Super-housefly that can read, write, hear, fight ... [and] do just about everything!".^[58] Karishma Upadhyay wrote for The Telegraph, "Two hours of a fly foxing a human calls for a giant leap of faith, but it is to the credit of Rajamouli's tight screenplay that makes the absurd seem real, willing you to accept anything that he throws at you. Almost every scene is a highlight, pushing the boundaries of creativity and the limits of storytelling".^[112]

J. Hurtado of Twitch Film called Eega the "best, most insane, most inventive film of the year ... Rajamouli's scripting and marvelously inventive story handles both of those concerns with aplomb. In spite of the lunacy of the concept, at no point did I feel that the characters were acting in ways that didn't fit the story or the universe that was created for them".^[113] V. S. Rajapur of Indo-Asian News Service gave Eega four out of five stars and called it an "exceptionally innovative and technically brilliant film". According to Rajapur, Rajamouli "creates a new benchmark for the Indian film industry" with "state-of-the-art technology in animation and computer graphics".^[114] Sify called Eega an "escapist, comic book-like fantasy" which "works big time as it is pure entertainment"; the film belongs to Rajamouli, who "had the guts to make a film with a housefly as hero and used technology to translate his dream onto celluloid".^[115]

Giving Eega four out of five stars, Radhika Rajamani of Rediff called it a reincarnation tale crafted "on a grandiose scale" with "spectacular visual effects, brilliant acting, top-notch cinematography and melodious music".^[116] Ankur Pathak of Rediff also gave the film four out of five stars, calling it a "bee-sized package" that promises "definite entertainment which even the so called larger-than-life superstars fail to achieve or achieve at a highly superficial level".^[117] Karthik Pasupulate of The Times of India, who gave Eega four out of five stars, called the film a "game changer" which offers "Hair-raising entertainment, jaw dropping, mind-bending thrill-a-second ride of the season, probably the decade".^[72] M. Suganth, also writing for The Times of India, gave the film four out of five stars and called it a "bravura piece of commercial filmmaking that is an unqualified triumph in every aspect".^[118] In a Filmfare review, Vivek Bhatia wrote that Eega "comes across as utterly ridiculous, yet believable" despite "umpteen absurdities" and praised Rajamouli's "commendable" execution.^[119]

Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN gave the film four out of five stars, calling it a "great example of how the idea is truly the star" and adding that Sudeep "plays his part of the cold-hearted villain with true comic book flair and even a cartoonish tinge".^[120] On Bollywood Hungama, Subhash K. Jha called Eega a "conventional love story turned into a ferociously innovative saga by one masterstroke"; Rajamouli "excels in giving a human life to the fly".^[121] In Hindustan Times, Anupama Chopra gave the film four out of five stars and called it a "mad roller coaster ride that's worth taking" and the "most outlandish film [she has] seen in years".^[122]

Shabana Ansari gave Eega three out of five stars in a Daily News and Analysis review; it "entertains in a way only South Indian films do – through heavy doses of maar-dhaad, filmi dialogues and comic relief" despite "some absurd situations".^[123] Kruthi Grover of The New Indian Express wrote, "With a great combination of VFX and real crisp editing skills, the movie does fare well, but what it lacks is a proper structure" and the film "suddenly transforms into something closer to a silly animated movie for kids" after the birth of the fly.^[61] In Dainik Bhaskar, Mayank Shekhar wrote: "The idea is instantly warm and funny. You want the fly to win with flying colours. How long does this amusement last, and to what extent can you stretch this wonderful premise is sadly another matter altogether". Shekhar added that in its "original, tacky, raw form", the film "just goes on and on and on".^[57]

Accolades

Samantha at the 60th Filmfare Awards South ceremony, where she won the Best Actress – Telugu award for Eega.^[124]

Eega received the Best Feature Film in Telugu and Best Special Effects awards at the 60th National Film Awards.^[125] It later received a B. Nagi Reddy Memorial Award as Best Wholesome Entertainment from the government of Andhra Pradesh.^[126][127] At the 60th Filmfare Awards South Eega received seven nominations and won five awards, including Best Film – Telugu, Best Director – Telugu (Rajamouli) and Best Supporting Actor – Telugu (Sudeep).^[128][129] Samantha received Filmfare Best Actress awards in the Telugu and Tamil categories for her performances in Eega and Neethaane En Ponvasantham, the second Indian actress to achieve this (after Revathi, who won 1993 Best Actress awards for Thevar Magan and Ankuram).^[124] At the 2nd South Indian International Movie Awards, Eega received seven nominations and won three awards: Best Film, Best Cinematographer, and Best Actor in a Negative Role.^[130][131] Ravinder Reddy won the Best Art Direction Award at the 2013 Fantaspoa International Fantastic Film Festival in Brazil for his work in Eega.^[132] The film won nine awards, including Most Original Film, Best Film to Watch With a Crowd, and Best Special Effects at the eighth annual Toronto After Dark Film Festival in November 2013.^[133] At the 7th Vijay Awards in 2013, Sudeep won the Best Villain Award for his performance in Naan Ee.^[134]

The film's Telugu version was shown at a number of film festivals worldwide.^[135] In December 2012, Eega was shown with the Tamil films Pizza, Aravaan, Sundarapandian, Aarohanam, Neerparavai, and Saattai at the annual Chennai International Film Festival.^[136] After showings at the L'Étrange and Sundance film festivals,^[137] it was the only Telugu film screened in the Marché du Film section of the 2013 Cannes Film Festival and the panorama section of the 2013 Shanghai International Film Festival.^{[135][138][139]}

Eega is the only Telugu film to receive six nominations at the Madrid International Film Festival, and is the first Indian Best Film nominee. Its 2013 nominations included Best Film, Best Supporting Actor (Sudeep) and Best Cinematographer (Senthil Kumar).^[140] The film was invited to the 2013 Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival in South Korea (formerly the Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival),^[141] and was the fifth foreign-language film shown at the 18th Busan International Film Festival in October 2013.^[142]

Legacy

Eega's success gave Sudeep national recognition and acclaim from fellow actors, including Rajinikanth and Akkineni Nagarjuna.^[143][144]

Sudeep received national recognition and respect from other actors for his performance in Eega;^[143] Rajinikanth told him, "I thought I was the best villain to date. But you beat me to it".^[144] Akkineni Nagarjuna called his performance "incredible", adding that as an actor he considered Sudeep the film's hero.^[144] The actor's colleague and friend, Shiva Rajkumar, was pleased with Nagarjuna's opinion since it was praise for a Kannada actor from another film industry.^[145] Sudeep's performance in Naan Ee impressed filmmaker Chimbu Deven, who cast him as the antagonist in Puli (2015).^[146] In a Times of India interview, filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma said that he recognised Sudeep's potential after seeing Eega: "Many take his acting in that film for granted, with respect to his expressions when interacting with the fly, but as a director, I know how difficult it is to act when you are imagining the fly to be there.^[147]

In a September 2012 interview for The New Indian Express, filmmaker Sekhar Kammula said that "good, sensible and alternative" films are favoured by audiences and cited Eega as an example.^[148] Speaking about the centenary of Indian cinema at the CII Media & Entertainment Summit 2012, filmmaker Shekhar Kapur said that regional cinema is surpassing Hindi cinema in content and story and cited Eega as an example. Impressed with its story and use of technology, Kapur called it "no less than a Hollywood superhero film".^[149] According to Mahesh Babu, Eega is one of the "greatest films ever made" in Telugu; Babu also praised Sudeep's performance.^[150] Shah Rukh Khan called Eega an "awesomely original" film and a "must watch" with children.^[151] Lavanya Tripathi cited Nani's performance in Eega as one of the reasons she worked with him in Bhale Bhale Magadivoy (2015).^[152]

Eega was parodied twice in Bhimaneni Srinivasa Rao's comedy film, Sudigadu (2012): when a young girl asks her father to tell her a bedtime story in the opening credits,^[153] and in a scene where the protagonist threatens to kill a female crime boss with weapons designed by Rajamouli (including the fly's needle).^[154] In December 2012, Eega and Sudeep topped Radhika Rajamani's Rediff "Top Five Telugu Films Of 2012" and "Best Telugu Actors of 2012" lists; according to her, Sudeep left an "indelible" mark on the film and gave an "exceptionally good account" of himself as the antagonist.^[155][156] Shobha Warrier of Reddif placed Sudeep on her "Top Tamil Actors of 2012" list, writing that his performance was "so superlative and far superior to any other actor's in Tamil" that it "has to be termed as the best performance of the year".^[157] Radhika Rajamani ranked Rajamouli first on her "Top Telugu Directors of 2012" list, published in January 2013.^[158]

In his January 2015 article for The Hindu, "Going Wild Over Titles", Sudhir Srinivasan cited Naan Ee as an example of Tamil films named after animals;^[159] a similar view was expressed in "K'wood's Fascination for Animal Titles", an April 2015 Times of India article.^[160] In July 2015, Geethika Chandrahasan Sudip of The Hindu listed Eega for the letter E in "ABCD of Telugu Cinema".^[161] In August 2015, Pooja Darade of The Times of India included Eega in her list of "Telugu movies one must watch before dying"; it "has set a high standard of how creativity can be used effectively".^[162] In February 2016, The New Indian Express listed Naan Ee, Neeya (1979), Aattukara Alamelu (1997), Azhagarsamiyin Kuthirai (2011), Kumki (2012), and Naaigal Jaakirathai (2014) as Tamil films with animals in important roles.^[163] In an April 2016 interview with The Hindu, Tamil actor Suriya stated that films like Sagara Sangamam (1983), Eega, Baahubali: The Beginning, and Manam (2014) have a longer recall value compared to the regular mainstream films as its makers never hesitated to do them.^[164]

Sequel

In October 2012, Rajamouli expressed interest in a sequel to Eega if he could find the right script.^[165] In September 2015, Nani told Indo-Asian News Service that Rajamouli might begin work on Eega 2 after completing Baahubali: The Conclusion.^[166] At an April 2016 meeting with students at the Blue Ocean Film and Television Academy in Chennai, Prasad said that Salman Khan was interested in appearing in a sequel.^[167]

Notes

1. The New Indian Express quoted Nani estimating the film's budget as ₹260 million,^[1] S. S. Rajamouli estimated the film's budget to be around ₹300–350 million in an interview with The Hindu,^[2] Rajeev Kamineni of PVP Cinema estimated the film's budget as ₹400 million in an interview with The Times of India.^[3]
2. The Economic Times estimates the final gross figure as ₹1.25 billion,^[4] Deccan Herald estimates the final gross figure to be nearly ₹1.3 billion.^[5]
3. A film presenter is generally a well-known filmmaker who helps in introducing a film to a larger section of the audience.^[12]
4. S. S. Rajamouli and K. K. Senthil Kumar collaborated for Sye (2004), Chhatrapati (2005), Yamadonga (2007), and Magadheera (2009).^[22]
5. M. M. Keeravani used the pseudonyms Maragathamani for the Tamil version, Vedanarayana for the Malayalam dubbed version, and M. M. Kreem for the Hindi dubbed version.^[25]
6. The average exchange rate in 2011 was 51.10 Indian rupees (₹) per 1 US dollar (US$).^[30]
7. The average exchange rate in 2012 was 54.47 Indian rupees (₹) per 1 US dollar (US$).^[30]
8. The Hindu estimated the film's global screen count as 1100,^[74] The Times of India estimated the film's global screen count as 1200.^[75]

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External links

• Official website
• Eega at the Internet Movie Database