Maharshi at 67th National Film Awards: Producer Dil Raju, director Vamshi Paidipally at the presentation ceremony

It's not often that a star centric film manages to entertain and leaves you thinking about our immediate society. That's exactly why Mahesh Babu's Maharshi, directed by Vamshi Paidipally, the 2019 release, managed to leave a solid impact on audiences. Also starring Allari Naresh, Pooja Hegde, Jayasudha, Prakash Raj in pivotal roles, the film had a good run in theatres and eventually earned two National Awards - 'Best popular film providing wholesome entertainment' and 'Best choreography' (by Raju Sundaram). 

Producer Dil Raju, director Vamshi Paidipally were at the 67th National Film Awards presentation ceremony to collect their awards today. While the director and producer collected the awards from Venkaiah Naidu, Vice President of India, choreographer Raju Sundaram was conspicuous by his absence. This is the second time that producer Dil Raju has earned a National award for a film under his banner Sri Venkateswara Creations. Shatamanam Bhavathi, his 2017 release, directed by Satish Vegesna, too managed to win a national award in the category of 'Best popular film providing wholesome entertainment'.

Maharshi is the story of Rishi (Mahesh Babu), an NRI businessman, who returns to India and fights for the cause of downtrodden farmers, a movement initially started by his friend Ravi (Allari Naresh). The film had bagged five awards at SIIMA and two at Zee Cine Awards Telugu as well. Maharshi was jointly produced by three leading banners - Sri Venkateswara Creations, PVP Cinema and Vyjayanthi Movies. Devi Sri Prasad scored the music for the film that had KU Mohanan cranking the camera.

(Maharshi is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video)

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