'Great sage') is a 2019 Indian Telugu-language action drama film[5][6] directed and co-written by Vamshi Paidipally and produced by Sri Venkateswara Creations, Vyjayanthi Movies, and PVP Cinema.
K. Rishi Kumar is announced as the chief executive officer of Origin, a flourishing company based in United States of America.
His father Satyanarayana, a clerk in a private corporation, incurred debts as a result of his low earnings whose "failure" caused Rishi to be not on good terms with him.
Pooja rejected a job at Infosys to be with Rishi in the US as he had thrown an offer for his AI-operating system idea to Origin, which was accepted.
However, Rishi suggested that he and Pooja should put an end to their relationship mutually as he felt that she would become an obstacle to his career and said she was a burden in his heart.
As the last semester examinations approached, Rishi was accused of stealing the question papers, which was actually a conspiracy engineered by Ajay to stop him from attempting his exams.
He meets the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, who claims that he is helpless as one of the most influential businessmen, Vivek Mittal, is handling the project.
Pooja, a team leader in a reputed video gaming company, is sent along with her colleague to Ramavaram to meet Rishi and negotiate a collaboration by making excuses.
Vivek, in an interview, accuses Rishi of demanding a share in the project from him and claims that as a result of his rejection, started making use of Ravi.
However, his mother encourages him by revealing that his father was not a failure: he passed his UPSC examinations and got selected for the interview, but he was arrested for protesting in favor of suppressed farmers, leading to him being disqualified.
Ajay, who is now a leading bank official, has realized his mistake and exposes Vivek's fraudulent intentions to evade debts behind initiating the project and acquiring the lands.
After successfully producing three films – Munna (2007), Brindavanam (2010) and Yevadu (2014) – Dil Raju announced his fourth collaboration with Vamshi Paidipally in early 2018, under Sri Venkateswara Creations.
[17] Soon, the team resumed the shoot in Hyderabad at Ramoji Film City, where a fictional village set was constructed.
[47] The other area-wise distributors are: Narasimha Reddy (ceded region),[48] Great India Films (United States), Southern Star International (Australia and New Zealand),[49] Vintage Creations (East Godavari), Adhitya Films (West Godavari), Phars Film (United Arab Emirates), Sri Venkateswara Creations (Nizam and Uttarandhra), V Movies (Guntur), Rising Star Entertainment (United Kingdom), G3 Movies (Krishna) and Swagath Enterprises (Karnataka).
[75] The film's Telugu version television premiere took place on Gemini TV on 6 October 2019, coinciding with Dussehra.
[83] The digital and satellite rights of the Tamil and Kannada dubbed versions of the film were acquired by Star India.
Maharshi received mixed reviews from the critics who praised the cast performances, action sequences, technical aspects, plot and emotional quotient while criticising the predictable and lengthy narration.
[84][8][85] Sangeetha Devi Dundoo of The Hindu wrote, "At the heart of Maharshi is a story that could have been leveraged to make a compelling social drama that also traces the transformative journey of an ambitious man.
[86] The Times of India's Neeshita Nyayapati gave a rating of 3 out of 5 and wrote that "Watch it not just for Mahesh Babu and Allari Naresh’s performances but also for the story, if you don’t mind all the bells and whistles it comes with.
[87] Writing for Hindustan Times, Karthik Kumar opined "Maharshi is a problematic film with big ideas but it tugs at heartstrings.
Take out the farming sub-plot, Maharshi would’ve been a tiresome watch in which Rishi just won’t shut up with his sermons on success".
The reviewer felt that the film has predictable storyline, lacks any shred of originality, the second half is totally unsatisfied and the emotional core is not convincing.
[92] Hemanth Kumar of Firstpost praised cinematography, performances of lead actors and film score, adding: "Maharshi is a well-intentioned drama and has some beautifully written sequences; however, it holds back on a lot of things it wants to say for so long that it makes you feel restless at times".
[93] A critic of Deccan Chronicle too praised cinematography, performances of lead actors and film score, giving a rating of three-and-half out of five.
[94] Gabbeta Ranjith Kumar of The Indian Express cited the film as "crowd pleaser", giving a final verdict – "Vamshi Paidipally handles an emotionally intense subject well.
He further wrote "Prakash Raj, Rao Ramesh and Tanikella Bharani - we have almost lost the art of making our character artists important in giving more and more space to the hero.
"[97] The Quint also criticised film's weak narration, predictable storyline, while appreciated Vamshi's work and DSP's score composition.
In contrast, a critic of The Free Press Journal rated the film four out of five, writing "Maharshi exudes a sense of comfort and happiness in the midst of the wreckage and targeting.
"[99] Business Standard too gave a rating of 4 out of 5, writing "The first-half with its quaint college is heartwarming without trying to be excessively cute.
[102][103][104] On its opening day, the film collected a gross of $511,000 (₹3.57) at the United States box office,[105] AU$100,000 in Australia[106] and ₹2.3 million (US$27,000) in Chennai.