Released on 9 July 2003, the film was widely praised for its story, direction, and emotional scenes, and received positive reviews. The film was the highest-grossing Telugu film of the year and was the highest grossing Telugu at the time.[3] The film was on a budget of ₹8.5 crore (US$1.8 million) and collected a distributors' share of ₹25.7 crore (US$5.7 million).[2][a]
Simhadri, an orphan and kind-hearted young man, grows up under Ram Bhupal Varma's family in Visakhapatnam. Simhadri and Varma share a bond like father and son, and Simhadri is very obedient towards the latter. Kasturi is Varma's granddaughter and she develops feelings towards Simhadri. Simhadri visits Indu, a mentally challenged girl, once a week and entertains her. He also gives money to the caretakers, but hides about Indu to Varma. Varma discovers that Kasturi wishes to marry Simhadri, and decide to get them married. On the wedding day, it is revealed that Simhadri is close to Indu and the marriage gets cancelled when Simhadri refuses to leave Indu (who is suspected to be his mistress).
Meanwhile, two separate groups are in search of Simhadri, and they find him at the banks of river Godavari, along with Indu. During the ensuring confrontation between one group and Simhadri, Varma and his family are shocked to see Simhadri's violent transformation. Later, Simhadri is helped by the second group led by Namboothri, who calls him Singamalai Anna. Indu gets injured during the fight and regains her senses, where she suddenly remembers her past and stabs Simhadri with an iron pole. Simhadri is hospitalized in critical condition. Namboothri, who was searching for Simhadri earlier, explains about Simhadri's past.
Past: Saraswati, Varma's older daughter, elopes with her lover Aravind, a Keralite. After some harsh words and sadness over Varma's rejection of choice to marry her lover, Saraswati settle in Kerala with Aravind. Simhadri learns about the sadness surrounding Varma and his wife. He takes up the job of reuniting the family and visits Thiruvananthapuram. Simhadri joins the medical and spiritual therapy spa, operated by Saraswati and her family, under the disguise of a patient. Simhadri meets Indu, Saraswati's daughter and Varma's first granddaughter, and finally convinces Saraswati and his family to reunite with each other.
However, Saraswati is killed by Bala Nair, a local goon, for witnessing a homicide done by him. Bala and Bhai Saab controls the mafia of Kerala and belong to the same syndicate. Simhadri gets enraged and eradicates Bala and his small gang, thus taking the law into his hands. The local Kerala people begins referring him as Singamalai Anna. Simhadri finds himself transforming into Singamalai and eradicates Bhai's illegal activities. Indu finds herself lonely and constantly worrying about Simhadri. She tells her father that they should leave for Andhra Pradesh as she cannot stand their home without her mother and Simhadri.
While Indu and Aravind leaves for the train station to Visakhapatnam, Simhadri learns that Aravind is carrying a bomb in his briefcase. Simhadri tries to stop Aravind, who is rushing to catch a moving train and Indu is about to lend him a hand. Unable to warn him, Simhadri has two choices; whether to let Aravind die so that people on train can live or let the bomb kill everyone on board, including Indu and Aravind. Upon remembering his foster father's advice that if many lives can be saved through sacrifice, there is no problem doing so, Simhadri chooses the first option and shoots Aravind. Shocked at Simhadri's actions, Indu jumps off the train and she gets hit her head against a pole, causing her amnesia and becoming mentally challenged.
Present: Simhadri survives and Indu apologizes for her actions. He also reunites with Varma and his family. Bhai and his men arrive to finish Simhadri at the hospital, but Simhadri takes down Bhai and his henchmen with the help of his family, police officers and his friends.
After the success of Student No.1 (2001), Rajamouli was initially supposed to direct a fantasy film with Kovelamudi Surya Prakash however the project was shelved due to high budget and lead actor's debut film Neetho (2002) became a failure.[5] Rajamouli narrated the subject of Simhadri to VMC Combines who agreed to produce the film. The film was supposed to be made with the pair of B. Gopal and Balakrishna, which was dropped.[5]
Soundtrack was composed by M. M. Keeravani. He revealed that Rajamouli mostly selected tunes which are already used or those rejected by other directors. The song "Ammaina Nannaina" was originally used for the film Kishkindha Kanda (1994) and the song "Chinnadamme" for the film Samarpana (1992). "Singhamalai" was used for the film People's Encounter (1991). Keeravani acknowledged that the tune of "Chiraaku Anuko" was inspired by Cotton Eye Joe.[7][8]
Simhadri distribution rights were sold for ₹11.5 crore.[2] It was made with a budget of ₹6–8.5 crore of production cost.[3][2]
Re-release
Almost 2 decades after its original release date, it was released in 4K and IMAX formats on May 20, 2023, commemorating its 20th anniversary. Simhadri collected 5.14 crores gross on day 1 worldwide with its re-release. This is the second highest day 1 collection for any re-released film so far. The film had run 1012 shows across the world on Tarak's birthday. [9]
Reception
Box office
Simhadri had a theatrical run of over 100 days.[10][11][12]
Critical response
Jeevi of Idlebrain gave a positive review for the film, citing that the story is "pretty strong" and praised N. T. Rama Rao Jr.'s performance stating that the "character offered him the chance to use all his histrionic capability to impress the crowds and he utilized every frame of it to make a deep impact on the hearts of the viewers".[13]
