Srikanth

About the film

Srikanth is a 2024 Indian Hindi-language biographical film on the life of Srikanth Bolla, a visually-impaired industrialist and the founder of Bollant Industries. Starring Rajkummar Rao in the title role, it is directed by Tushar Hiranandani and co-stars Jyothika, Alaya F and Sharad Kelkar.

The film was shot in two months at various locations of India and United States, between November 2022 to January 2023. The film was released theatrically on 10 May 2024, on the occasion of Akshay Tritiya, to positive reviews from critics and emerged as a modest commercial success.

Plot

The Hindi language biopic tells the story of Srikanth Bolla, an Indian entrepreneur, who gained prominence as the founder of Bollant Industries, a company created in 2012 to employ unskilled and disabled individuals in creating eco-friendly products. The film chronicles the struggles of Srikanth, who was born visually impaired in Seetharamapuram village in Machilipatnam, in then undivided Andhra Pradesh, India. The film demonstrates Srikanth's achievements despite adverse situations. The day he was born the delight of the father who named his son after cricketer Krishnamachari Srikkanth turns into dismay when he sees sightless newborn. He digs a hole to bury him but is saved by his mother. He also has to endure bullying in the local school despite his brilliance.

The plot moves to Hyderabad where he joins a special school where he shines, but his arrogance results in him being thrown out. From then on he is mentored by his teacher Devika who hand-holds him while keeping his ego in check. She helps him file a court case to study science as a subject (despite scoring 98%). She prompts him to try to apply abroad, and on doing so he gets selected as the first international visually impaired student at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States after being denied entry into Indian Institute of Technology. When moving to the US, he briefly gets stopped at the airport as the airline cannot have a visually impared person travel alone, however he is able to prove his knowledge about the plane and how to board and sit and is eventually allowed entry. At MIT he gets support of 2 students who help him achieve his dreams. During his college days, through social media he meets Swati who is fascinated by him. After graduation, Swati, now his girlfriend prompts him to realise his dreams by returning to India. Again his mentor helps him to start a computer institute which flops. Later he decides to set up a business (Bollant Industries) with his business partner Ravi Mantha, where he gives jobs mostly to the disabled. After a few problems with his partner, fueled by Srikanth’s egoistic attitude, Srikanth apologizes and learns to be humbl…

Production

A biopic on the life of Srikanth Bolla was announced in January 2022, with Rajkummar Rao in the lead. The film was initially titled SRI, which was later changed to Srikanth. The film's director Tushar revealed that the first film he wanted to make was about Srikanth Bolla, but this was not possible as Bolla was too busy with his work to find time to meet him. Then he approached Bolla through his business partner, Ravi Mantha. Mantha (played by Sharad Kelkar in the film) was also instrumental in getting Tushar the rights to make the film on Bolla, who had initially given the rights to another Bollywood director (Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra). Mantha met with Mehra, who readily gave the rights to Tushar as he was not ready to make the film at that time.

Principal photography commenced in November 2022, and filming concluded in January 2023. Jyothika made a comeback to Hindi cinema with the film. She had initially rejected her role, but later agreed to do the film after being convinced by her husband, Suriya. To prepare for the role during filming, lead actor Rajkummar Rao wore special lens from morning till evening. He also spent time with visually impaired individuals to refine his performance. The film stands as the first-ever all-inclusive Hindi movie, providing roles to over 70 actors with disabilities.

Marketing

The official trailer was released on 10 April 2024. As part of the film's promotional campaign, Rao visited Swarnim University, and also attended a cultural program hosted by Blind People's Association that works for upliftment of visually impaired. He also felicitated around 12 to 15 visually impaired entrepreneurs of Gujarat. A promotional event was held at The Victoria Memorial School for the Blind in Mumbai, in the presence of Srikanth Bolla. The song "Papa Kehte Hain" from the film was launched at an event at St. Andrew's College in Mumbai, in the presence of actor Aamir Khan and singer Udit Narayan.

Soundtrack

The music of this film is composed by Anand–Milind, Aditya Dev and Sachet–Parampara while lyrics are written by Shloke Lal, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Yogesh Dubey and Kunaal Vermaa. Music for "Papa Kehte Hain" from Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak is rendered by Aditya Dev, it was originally sung by Udit Narayan with lyrics by Majrooh Sultanpuri. "Papa Kehte Hain" was launched by Aamir Khan on 22 April 2024.

Key details