Businessman is a 2012 Indian Telugu-language action crime film directed and written by Puri Jagannadh and produced by R. R. Venkat under the banner R. R. Movie Makers.

It is based from a concept by Ram Gopal Varma and stars an ensemble cast featuring Mahesh Babu, Kajal Aggarwal, Prakash Raj, Nassar, Sayaji Shinde, Raza Murad, Subbaraju and Brahmaji.

In the film, Vijay Surya arrives at Mumbai with aspirations to rule the city due to his grudge against the corrupt system in the country, but begins to face violent challenges from the cops and his enemies.

Staying at Dharavi with his friend, Surya recruits a group of gangsters and wins the support of a local politician named Laalu after getting a witness killed by his henchman Shakeel.

Surya tricks the men into believing that he is a guide sent to help them where he plants bombs in their food that explodes, resulting in a shootout.

In order to set up branch offices all over the country, Surya recruits local gangsters for staff and begins to forcibly extract a 2% tax on every contract made in the respective areas.

Eventually, Surya becomes a billionaire, and during the inauguration of his "Business Bank", reveals his thirst for power to Ajay, further citing the decline in crime rate after recruiting the gangsters, and expressing his desire to help the needy.

Surya meets Guru Govind Patel, the head of the opposition party through Laalu, and offers him ₹35,000 crore for election campaigning along with the promise to make him the next PM of India.

Surya spends crores of rupees per constituency in the nation and also reveals Jaidev's illegal affairs, making him unable to contest in the elections.

Ram Gopal Varma signed Suriya for a multilingual action film titled The Businessman in May 2010, to be directed by Puri Jagannadh simultaneously in Telugu, Tamil and Hindi.

The film's protagonist was supposed to be a South Indian coming to Mumbai and setting up a crime business using tact and intelligence to emerge as one of the biggest gangsters.

[5] The film's production was expected to begin in October 2010 once Suriya completed his part in 7aum Arivu (2011) and was scheduled for release in the summer of 2011.

[6] It was speculated that the film was to be based on the real-life story of a gangster who had moved from the Cuddalore district of Tamil Nadu to Mumbai in the late 1960s.

[9] Jagannadh completed the final draft of the film's script on 25 July 2011 during his stay at Bangkok, adding that he was inspired by Ram Gopal Varma.

[15] Shruti Haasan was initially considered for the female lead role after her performance in her Telugu film debut, Anaganaga O Dheerudu (2011).

[19] Aggarwal explained that it was not supposed to be sensual, but was meant to portray the conflict between two characters, and added that it was shot "aesthetically" by Jagannadh.

[20] Prakash Raj, Nassar, Sayaji Shinde, Dharmavarapu Subramanyam, Brahmaji, and Bandla Ganesh among others were cast for key supporting roles.

[46] The first-look poster featuring a still of Mahesh sitting in a chair and deeply thinking was revealed on 11 November 2011 (11.11.11), receiving a positive response.

[52] The makers planned for a release in new international markets like Japan and Dubai to cash in on Babu's previous film, Dookudu.

He wanted to rotate the film screening on various channels, at appropriate times, in a bid to gain more widespread viewership and recoup his investment.

[66] Bajrang Dal lodged a complaint with Municipal police on 14 January 2012 stating that the lyrics of the song "We love Bad Boys" contained vulgar words and conveyed an unacceptable meaning for which they demanded action against Jagannadh.

[67] Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad activists entered the Aradhana Theatre at Tarnaka near Osmania University, and stopped a screening on 25 January 2012 at 11:30 AM.

[79] Y. Sunita Chowdary, also from The Hindu, wrote "The Businessman has a mix of action, image, dialogue and montage but what makes it entertaining is that all the above quantities are inextricably bound and linked together at every level with an admirably tight script."

[82] Another reviewer from IANS called the film "senseless yet entertaining" and stated "Mahesh's dashing performance as a mafia kingpin with a hidden personal agenda is commendable and deserves high appreciation.

She added, "There's no doubt that Puri Jagan has played to the gallery and kept the masses and Mahesh's image in mind while conceiving this film.

"[84] Sify felt that the film was strictly for Babu's fans but praised Jagannadh's work saying that the "story sounds far fetched, demanding logic.

[85] Ramchander of Oneindia Entertainment called Businessman a serious film with limited appeal, which might be enjoyed by Babu's fans but which would be an average for others.

"[88] After Babu refused to perform in the Hindi remake of this film, Jagannadh approached Ranbir Kapoor in late January 2012 and arranged a special screening for him.

[94] Ram Gopal Varma confirmed in March 2012 that he and Jagannadh would remake the film in Hindi with Abhishek Bachchan playing the role of Mahesh Babu in the original.

[95] Jagannadh expressed interest in making a sequel of the film after the response to the original on its first day and planned to begin work on the same from late 2012.