Radhe Shyam

About the film

Radhe Shyam is a 2022 Indian period romantic drama film written and directed by Radha Krishna Kumar. Produced by UV Creations and T-Series, the film was shot simultaneously in Telugu and Hindi languages and stars Prabhas and Pooja Hegde while Bhagyashree, Krishnam Raju (Telugu) / Sathyaraj (Hindi), Kunaal Roy Kapur and Jayaram play supporting roles. Set in 1970s Italy, the film revolves around a renowned young astrologer named Vikramaditya, who is conflicted between his destiny and his love for girlfriend Prerana.

The film's score was composed by Thaman S for the Telugu version while Sanchit Balhara and Ankit Balhara too composed for the Hindi version. The film has two soundtracks: One Hindi and one Telugu. Mithoon, Amaal Mallik, and Manan Bhardwaj composed the Hindi songs while Justin Prabhakaran composed the Telugu songs. The cinematography was handled by Manoj Paramahamsa and the editing was done by Kotagiri Venkateswara Rao. Principal photography of the film commenced in October 2018 and ended in July 2021, with filming taking place in Hyderabad, Italy, London, and Georgia. It employed On-set virtual production technology for a scene set in London.

Plot

In 1978, Vikramaditya alias "Aditya" is a world-renowned palmist based in Italy. Dubbed the "Einstein of palmistry" and serving as the chief disciple of the spiritual saint Paramahamsa, his reputation peaked after he correctly read the palm of Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and predicted the declaration of the Emergency. Despite his fame, Aditya is a self-proclaimed playboy who fundamentally disbelieves in love. His worldview shifts when he meets Dr. Prerana, a beautiful yet clumsy physician, during a train journey. Fascinated by her, he later traces her to her hospital and proposes a casual, flirtatious relationship. Though initially insulted, Prerana eventually relents and agrees to date him, despite warnings from her uncle, Dean Chakravarthy.

The narrative intensifies when Aditya reads the palm of Anand Rajput, the ambitious son of a powerful Indian tycoon, and predicts that Rajput is destined to inherit his father’s commercial empire rather than succeed in politics. Outraged, Rajput's henchmen pursue Aditya, resulting in a severe vehicular accident that lands him in Prerana’s hospital. Later, while traveling on a passenger train, a commuter begs Aditya to read the palm of his daughter, Tara, an aspiring archer. Aditya bluntly predicts she has no future in sports and should focus strictly on academics. Disturbed when the entire coach crowds him for readings, Aditya abruptly exits the train with Prerana. Moments later, he suddenly realizes that every passenger on that train shared an identical, immediate death line. He frantically attempts to signal the train to stop, but fails; that evening, the train derails, causing mass casualties.

Deeply unnerved and starting to believe in his clairvoyance, Prerana asks Aditya to read her palm. He explicitly predicts that she will live a long, healthy life, but she immediately collapses with a severe nosebleed. Hospitalization reveals a devastating truth: Prerana is suffering from an incurable terminal tumor and has only months to live. When Aditya aggressively insists his long-life prediction cannot be wrong, Chakravarthy expels him, viewing him as a fraud. To test his legitimacy, Chakravarthy presents Aditya with the palm prints of five deceased individuals. When Aditya correctly deduces the exact medical demises of all five, the skeptical doctor accepts his authenticity. Soon after, a sudden breakthrough medical cure for Prerana's specific tumor is discovered, validating Aditya's long-life prediction.

Production

The story was originally conceived by director Chandra Sekhar Yeleti. He worked with his assistant Radha Krishna Kumar to develop the script but the idea was dropped after they failed to give it a conclusion. Kumar borrowed the storyline from Yeleti, and worked on it for eighteen years to give the story a satisfactory ending. He narrated the script to actor Prabhas while he was shooting for the Baahubali series (2015–17). Prabhas liked the script and signed up for the project.

Kumar initially wanted to set the story in the backdrop of a hill station in India. However, the story was moved to Europe following Prabhas' suggestion. The romantic drama takes place in 1970's Europe. Kumar revealed that the protagonist Vikramaditya's character is inspired by real life European palmist Cheiro.

The film was formally launched on 5 September 2018 in Hyderabad, tentatively titled as Prabhas 20. Pooja Hegde was cast opposite Prabhas. Hegde called the film a "fresh and mature love story". Veteran actress Bhagyashree is cast in a crucial role in the film. Several titles including Jaan (transl. Life) and O Dear were considered for the film, before finalising Radhe Shyam which symbolises love between Hindu god Krishna and goddess Radha.

Music

The film has distinct Hindi and Telugu albums. The Hindi soundtrack is composed by Mithoon and Manan Bhardwaj while Justin Prabhakaran is composing the songs in the Telugu version (in addition to Tamil, Kannada, and Malayalam versions). Manoj Muntashir and Krishna Kanth are providing lyrics for Hindi and Telugu soundtrack respectively.

Key details