Leader

Story:

Sekhar Kammula is the writer and director of the 2010 Telugu-language political drama film Leader, which was produced by AVM Productions. Alongside Richa Gangopadhyay, Priya Anand, Suhasini Maniratnam, Suman, and Subbaraju, it stars debutante Rana Daggubati. The story revolves around Arjun Prasad (Daggubati), who succeeds his late father as Andhra Pradesh’s chief minister, and his battle against the political system’s pervasive corruption.

Mickey J. Meyer composed the music for the movie, which also had editing by Marthand K. Venkatesh and photography by Vijay C. Kumar. With great reviews, it was released on February 19, 2010. Film Companion has included Leader in their list of the “25 Greatest Telugu Films Of The Decade”. Youngistaan is the Hindi version that was made.

The film opens with Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Sanjeevayya being assassinated. His final desire was for his son Arjun Prasad to become the next Chief Minister, following in his footsteps. Dhanunjay, Arjun’s cousin, wants to take over as Chief Minister in its place. Ali approaches Arjun and offers him 10 crores to settle a land dispute in his favor through Sanjeevayya. When Arjun learns about his father’s misconduct, his mother Rajeswari Devi supports it and expresses Sanjeevayya’s wish for a government free of corruption and caste. Mahadevayya, Arjun’s uncle and Sanjeevayya’s elder brother, goes by Peddaina and accepts corruption as long as it keeps his family powerful. Arjun selects Ali to help him win covertly in order to carry out his father’s desire.