Ala Vaikunthapurramloo

About the film

Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo (transl. There in Vaikuntapuram) is a 2020 Indian Telugu-language action comedy film written and directed by Trivikram Srinivas. It was produced by Allu Aravind and S. Radha Krishna under their banners Geetha Arts and Haarika & Hassine Creations, respectively. The film stars Allu Arjun and Pooja Hegde alongside a supporting cast of Jayaram, Tabu, Sushanth, Nivetha Pethuraj, Murali Sharma, Sachin Khedekar, Samuthirakani, Navdeep, Sunil, Harsha Vardhan, and Govind Padmasoorya. It follows Bantu, a young man who endured criticism from his father his whole life. His world is turned upside down upon discovering that he was the real son of a millionaire switched at birth.

Production of the film began in April 2019, and wrapped up in December 2019. It was filmed across Hyderabad, with songs being shot overseas. The film's soundtrack was composed by S. Thaman, while cinematography and editing were handled by P. S. Vinod and Naveen Nooli, respectively. After premiering in the United States on 11 January 2020, the film was released theatrically on 12 January, coinciding with Sankranti.

Plot

1995: Valmiki and Ramachandra start their careers as clerks in Ananth Radhakrishna's (ARK)company. Ramachandra marries ARK's daughter Yasoda "Yasu" and becomes wealthy while Valmiki remains a middle class person. On the day of the birth of both their children, Ramachandra's son appears to be stillborn. When nurse Sulochana informs Valmiki about this, he offers to exchange his baby with the dead one.

After switching the babies, the child that appeared dead starts to cry; however, Valmiki wants his son to grow up in a rich household. When Sulochana tries to switch the babies again, Valmiki tries to stop her and accidentally pushes her. Sulochana falls from the hospital building and goes into a coma with Valmiki getting a cramp that slowly turns into a limp. Valmiki's son is named Raj. Valmiki names Ramachandra's son Bantu and treats him roughly due to his true parentage.

2020: After Valmiki refuses to pay for Bantu's MBA, Bantu goes to interview for a job at a travel company headed by Amulya aka Ammu, a self-made businesswoman. After a brief scuffle and misunderstanding with the company HR Shekhar, Bantu lands the job. Eventually, Bantu develops feelings for Ammu when he, Ammu, Shekhar, and their colleague Ravindra Reddy go to Paris for a business trip, and shortly after the trip, Ammu reciprocates his feelings.

Production

It was reported that, post the release of Aravinda Sametha Veera Raghava (2018), Trivikram Srinivas decided to direct a new film with Allu Arjun and that, after listening to the script, the actor had advised the filmmaker to make some changes. The idea of swapping infants was earlier attempted in Vedantam Raghavayya's Inti Guttu (1958), starring N. T. Rama Rao and Savitri.

On 31 December 2018, coinciding with New Year's Eve, the project was officially announced, thus marking the third collaboration of Trivikram and Arjun after Julayi (2012) and S/O Satyamurthy (2015). It was further reported that Allu Aravind, Arjun's father will co-produce the film under his own banner Geetha Arts, along with S. Radha Krishna's Haarika & Haasine Creations. The film was launched under the tentative title #AA19, before the title Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo, was revealed on 15 August 2019.

In mid-October 2018, reports surfaced that Kiara Advani will play the female lead opposite Allu Arjun. In January 2019, Sunil was reported to play an important role in the film. In February 2019, Pooja Hegde was reported to replace Advani, as the female lead, thus marking their collaboration with both Arjun and Trivikram, for the second time, after DJ: Duvvada Jagannadham (2017) and Aravinda Sametha Veera Raghava (2018). Veteran actress Nagma was reported to play Allu Arjun's mother in the film, although she was not approached for the role.

Music

Thaman S composed the soundtrack album and background score for the film, in his third collaboration with Allu Arjun, after Race Gurram (2014) and Sarrainodu (2016), and second collaboration with Trivikram Srinivas after Aravinda Sametha Veera Raghava (2018). The album which features six tracks, featuring lyrics written by Sirivennela Sitaramasastri, Kasarla Shyam, Krishna Chaitanya, Ramajogayya Sastry, Kalyan Chakravarthy and Vijay Kumar Bhalla, had four of the tracks being released as singles, and went viral upon release. The soundtrack album was released on 6 January 2020, and the songs were performed by Thaman and his musical crew at the AVPL Musical Concert held the very same day, at Yousufguda Police Grounds in Hyderabad. The Malayalam version of the soundtrack album were released on 10 January 2020.

It became the first Indian feature film soundtrack to have more than 1 billion-views on YouTube. The song "Butta Bomma" went on to become the most viewed Telugu song on YouTube with more than 800 million views as of January 2023. On YouTube's Top 10 Indian Music Videos, both "Butta Bomma" and "Ramuloo Ramulaa" became the only South Indian songs that have been listed in 2020.

There are 6 songs played in the boardroom scene: "Vachaadayyo Saami" from Bharat Ane Nenu (2018), "Follow Follow" from Nannaku Prematho (2016), "Undiporaadhey" from Hushaaru (2018), "Cinema Choopistha Mama" from Race Gurram (2014), "Pillaa" from Gabbar Singh (2012), and "Abbanee" from Jagadekaveerudu Athiloka Sundari (1990).

Key details