Murari is a 2001 Indian Telugu-language supernatural romantic family drama film written and directed by Krishna Vamsi.

It stars Mahesh Babu in the title role, alongside Sonali Bendre, Lakshmi, Sukumari, Satyanarayana, and Gollapudi Maruthi Rao.

The film follows Murari, a carefree young man from a zamindar family plagued by a generational curse from Goddess Durga since the mid-19th century.

In the 19th century, a greedy alcoholic zamindar attempts to steal a panchaloha idol of the principal deity, Durga, from a temple during the inauspicious Amavasya phase.

His mother has passed away, and his paternal grandmother Sabari, who lost her husband due to the curse forty-eight years ago, is concerned for Murari's safety.

Murari is loved and respected by his family, which includes his father Sathipandu, his grandmother Sabari, and his elder brothers Seenayya, Baachi, and Soori, along with their wives and children.

Misinterpreting Sabari's last-minute decision to be an act of revenge for the family feud, Rambabu quickly arranges for Vasu to marry Bullabayi, a greedy man.

Despite his injury, Murari continues his journey to the temple, carrying an unconscious Vasu, to complete the necessary Abhishekam ritual.

When Krishna Vamsi visited a temple in a village, he learned a famous resident there whose three sons died under suspicious circumstances at regular intervals four years ago.

As a part of his research, he visited temples and observed the architecture, sculptures and also read books like Autobiography of a Yogi.

He aimed to go in reverse trend and form the film's screenplay as story writers used to create a problem and then introduced the hero to solve it in Telugu cinema.

[6] Mahesh Babu acknowledged that this film was a crucial one in his career and noted in 2012 that the character of Murari was his favourite role.

[5] Actress Sukumari was selected to play the character of Sabari, Mahesh Babu's grandmother in the film which was one of her widely remembered roles in Telugu cinema.

[12][13] The temple scenes featured in the opening shots were filmed at the Ammapalli Sri Sita Rama Chandra Swamy which is nearby Hyderabad.

I was impressed to such an extent that I wanted to add 'Krishna tatvam' to that film, as 'mugdha manohara mohana roopam' is the first quality of Lord Krishna.

Because of that, Krishna Vamsi incorporated a scene similar to Rukmini Kalyanam (Lord Krishna takes Rukmini away from her place and marries her without the knowledge of her people) in the second half where Murari's character saves Vasundhara from her evil brother and takes away her from her village to marry her.

According to Krishna Vamsi, the other Yadavas in the film were the brothers and family members of hero while Ravi Babu's character was a mix of characterizations of Sisupala, Karna and Duryodhana.

Two separated joint families like that of Pandavas and Kauravas were created though they are on good terms unlike the way portrayed in Lord Krishna's story.

The soundtrack featured singers S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, K. S. Chitra, Jikki, Shankar Mahadevan, Udit Narayan, S. P. B. Charan, Sunitha, Anuradha Sriram and Harini.

It went on to collect 5.4Cr on first day and 9.12Cr in final run making the film highest Telugu grosser among re-released movies.

[19] A critic from fullhyd.com rated the film 8/10 stating "Murari starts off on a good note with the desecration of the temple by Prakash Raj for money, and builds up an interesting story as to how three members of their family cursed by Devi Maa give up their lives.

Murari is a typical Hum Aapke Hain Kaun kind of film with all the fun and laughter and the goodness among the people.