Bimbisara is a 2022 Indian Telugu-language fantasy action film written and directed by debutant Mallidi Vassishta and produced by Kosaraju Harikrishna, under N. T. R. Arts.
It stars Nandamuri Kalyan Ram in a dual role alongside Catherine Tresa, Samyuktha Menon, Vivan Bhatena and Prakash Raj.
In the film, King Bimbisara of the Trigarta kingdom from the 5th century BC lands in the modern-day Hyderabad through time travel.
Made on a budget of ₹40 crore, a major part of the film was shot at Ramakrishna Studios in Hyderabad.
Bimbisara is unable to open the treasure due to the effect of Homam and Shastri gives him time until nightfall.
In January 2020, debutant director Mallidi Vassishta Reddy approached actor Nandamuri Kalyan Ram for a historical fantasy film while the latter was shooting for NTR: Mahanayakudu (2019).
Catherine Tresa, Samyuktha Menon, Vennela Kishore, and Srinivasa Reddy were cast in key roles.
[9] Vasishta stated that the film does not follow the history of King Bimbisara of 5th century BC, however, they have taken the character and some of his attributes.
[11] Initially supposed to be stand-alone film, it is reported that story was split into two parts due to its length.
[citation needed] Originally, the background score and songs were supposed to be composed by Santosh Narayan and Chirantan Bhatt, respectively.
[12] A pre-release event was held in Hyderabad in July 2022 with Kalyan Ram's brother, actor Jr. NTR, as chief guest.
[citation needed] UFO Moviez has acquired the film's distribution rights for North India.
[25][26] In nine days, the film collected a total gross of $500K (₹3.98 crore) at the United States box office.
[29] Bhuvanesh Chandar of The Hindu gave a mixed review and stated–"Bimbisara is filled with intriguing ideas that could have made for an engaging watch.
[30] Sowmya Rajendran of The News Minute rated the film 2.5 out of 5 stars and wrote "Bimbisara is entertaining in parts, and is anchored mainly by Kalyan Ram's performance.
It would have worked better if Vashishta hadn't tried to tick every box in the masala film genre and trusted the material more".
[31] Another critic wrote that "All that director Vassishta does is to give a timely upgrade to the socio-fantasy genre within the formula of a masala film and extracts commendable performances from his cast.
[33] Pinkvilla's Arvind V wrote that "Kalyan Ram deserves kudos for not making the 'I am supercilious' mood look repetitive.
[35] In July 2022, Kalyan Ram announced plans to turn Bimbisara into a four-part franchise,[36] with the second installment set to release in 2024.
[citation needed] However, due to creative differences between Kalyan Ram and Vassishta, the latter exited the project as director.