Saaho

About the film

Saaho (transl. May Victory be Yours) is a 2019 Indian action thriller film written and directed by Sujeeth and produced by UV Creations and T-Series. Filmed simultaneously in Telugu and Hindi, it features Prabhas (in his Hindi film debut) in the titular role, alongside an ensemble cast of Shraddha Kapoor, Chunky Panday, Jackie Shroff, Arun Vijay, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Lal, Tinnu Anand, Murali Sharma, Vennela Kishore, Mandira Bedi, Mahesh Manjrekar, Evelyn Sharma, Devan and Prakash Belawadi. The film follows two undercover officers who are searching for a mastermind responsible for stealing ₹2,000 crore (US$284 million) and soon realise that the case is linked to the death of a prominent business tycoon and an emerging gang war for the control of a megalopolis.

Principal photography took place in the span of two years, from August 2017 to July 2019, across India, the UAE, Romania and Austria. The film has music composed by Tanishk Bagchi, Guru Randhawa, Badshah and Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy, score composed by Ghibran, cinematography handled by R. Madhi and editing by A. Sreekar Prasad.

Plot

Narantak Roy is the supreme leader of the Roy Group, a massive conglomerate masking the world's most powerful crime syndicate, which covertly governs the fictional metropolis of Waaji City. During a business trip to Mumbai, Roy is assassinated in a meticulously engineered car crash. Seizing the power vacuum, Devaraj, the ambitious son of former syndicate leader Pruthviraj, plots to usurp the throne. However, Ibrahim, Roy's fiercely loyal confidant, reveals to the syndicate’s legal advisor, Kalki, that Roy had secretly raised an estranged son, Vishwank Roy, in anonymity for 25 years. Vishwank immediately assumes control of the group and initiates a hunt for his father's killers.

Concurrently, an elusive master thief pulls off a staggering ₹2,000 crore heist in Mumbai by manipulating unrelated individuals to execute the crime. The police department assembles a specialized task force led by Ashok Chakravarthy, an enigmatic covert operative. Ashok investigates alongside Crime Branch officers Amritha Nair, Goswami, and a cyber-intelligence expert named David. The team tracks a primary suspect, Jai, whom Ashok casually confronts at a bar. Ashok inadvertently reveals the existence of a high-tech "black box", the definitive key required to open a subterranean vault in Waaji City containing ₹2,00,000 crore belonging to the Roy Group's board members. Acting on Vishwank's directives, Kalki retrieves the box from Mumbai and secures it in a high-security bank.

Following an elaborate technological pursuit to intercept Jai as he steals the box, Amritha, Ashok, and David corner the thief. In a massive twist, it is revealed that "Jai" is actually the real undercover officer, Ashok Chakravarthy, while the man pretending to be the lead investigator is the master thief himself, known as Saaho. Assisted by David, who was a double agent within the police tech team, Saaho escapes with the black box. It is progressively revealed that Devaraj was the mastermind behind Roy's assassination. Sent to apprehend Saaho, Amritha acts as a double agent, tracking him down under the guise of romance to secure a cut of the loot. However, she genuinely falls in love with Saaho and betrays the police force.

Production

Sujeeth narrated the script to Prabhas in January 2015. Katrina Kaif and Alia Bhatt rejected to star in the film with the latter giving the reason that she wanted more performance oriented roles. Shraddha Kapoor was later confirmed in August 2017 with Prabhas receiving three times her remuneration.

Saaho was produced on a budget of ₹325 crore, and was filmed in Hyderabad, Mumbai, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Austria, Romania and other parts of Europe. Principal photography began in August 2017. A large part of the budget was spent on filming the action scenes. International stunt coordinator Kenny Bates was brought in to choreograph the action scenes.

Saaho was simultaneously filmed in Telugu and Hindi, Saaho was Prabhas' debut in Hindi cinema and Kapoor's debut in Telugu cinema.

Music

The songs and background score in Saaho were composed by Tanishk Bagchi, Guru Randhawa, Badshah, Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy and Ghibran respectively. The lyrics were written by Krishna Kanth and Sreejo in Telugu, Tanishk Bagchi, MellowD, Guru Randhawa, Badshah, and Manoj Yadav in Hindi. A bonus track "Bang Bang (Saaho Bang)" was released after the film's release. In a music review, a writer from The Times of India wrote, "All in all, all of Saaho’s songs are quite hummable. But do they go together as an album? Maybe not, because there is no one thread linking them all, except for the lead actors — Prabhas and Shraddha, and the fact that you know that these songs are from the same film".

Marketing

The first teaser was released alongside Baahubali 2: The Conclusion (2017) and gained attention for featuring jetpacks.

The first teaser poster featuring Prabhas from the film was revealed on his birthday, 22 October 2017; the poster received criticism, saying is similar to the poster of Blade Runner 2049. In July 2019, UV Creations announced the film's release date as 30 August 2019 in Telugu, Hindi, Tamil, and Malayalam.

Saaho – The Game, a first-person shooter mobile game was created by the Hyderabad-based company Pixalot Labs and was released on 15 August 2019. Zee Entertainment Enterprises took broadcasting rights in all languages. Amazon Prime Video took digital rights.

Key details