Adhurs is scheduled for a theatrical re-release on 18 November 2023.[3]
Plot
Narasimha and Chari are two identical twins who get separated at birth. They replace one child (Chari) with another dead child unbeknownst to the mother of the twins by a nurse and an old woman who happens to be the grandmother of the dead child. The cause for her doing this is that their family can't bear to lose a child for the third time in a row, and the mother of the twins is a lone woman who doesn't have anyone at her side, is financially weak, and doesn't have means to raise the twins at her own. The idea is that the move will benefit both of families.
Both of the twins get raised well, with love and affection, in both families. Narasimha grows up and works as an undercover agent to a police officer, whose daughter is his girlfriend, to become a police officer himself. He gathers information about criminal activities in the city, follows miscreants, and kills them.
Chari becomes a priest because the family he was brought up with are Brahmins. He works as an assistant to another priest, Bhattacharya aka Bhattu, without taking a penny for 4 years, in order to repay the debt his family has taken from him to build their house.
One day Bhattacharya tells Chari that despite being too old to get married, he loves a traditional girl named Chandrakala aka Chandu, and financially takes care of her and her mother since her father died. He believes she will marry him in the future if he "invests" a lot of money in her. However, Chandrakala and her mother have not even thought about it and continue taking advantage of the situation because they have nowhere else to go.
Bhattu asks for Chari's help with his love and he agrees. To impress her, he takes her to a pub along with Chari. At the same time, Narasimha comes to the pub with his girlfriend Nandu.
While is Chandu dancing with Bhattu, a gang misbehaves with her. Unable to face them to save Chandu, Bhattu leaves the pub with her without telling Chari about the incident, but the gang follows them and asks him to leave her to them.
Narasimha, who saw what happened inside the pub, is angered and beats them all up while Bhattu and Chandu watch in shock. Chandu, who thinks that it is Chari who saved her, falls for him.
Meanwhile, Dhanraj and Baba are in search of the family of a top army scientist who is Narasimha and Chari's father. As they find him, they force him to invent a target-killing device by kidnapping Narasimha, who is cheated by Nayak for loving his daughter.
Things take a turn when Narasimha escapes from there and two men go to Chari's house on his engagement day and make a deal that if Chari acts as Narasimha, they will give him Rs 30 lakh. What happens next forms the rest of the story.
Rediff gave four stars and said, "Brahmanandam is hilarious. Performance-wise, NTR takes the cake. He is simply marvellous as Chari, the Brahmin spouting loud dialogues while his Narasimha is tough yet more sober. NTR presents the contrasts well. All in all, Adhurs is NTR's show all the way!"[4]Sify gave a verdict as "Mass entertainer" and noted, "NTR brings total justice to his dual role as Chari and Narasimha. His characterisation as a Brahmin youth is simply superb and hilarious, but at the same time raking up a controversy with a group of the Brahmins community approaching the State governor Mr. Narasimhan to ban the film. On the other hand, NTR's role as Narasimha as the rugged guy would work well with the mass audience. Nayanthara and Sheela provide the glam quotient while Brahmanandam is hilarious as Bhattu, receiving a big footage which runs into nearly 40 minutes in the film."[5]The Hindu gave a mixed review stating, Ashish Vidyarthi "NTR in two roles is pretty easy with the diction. His dances are amazing and accord the 'mass kick' in the title song that comes before the climax. The humour component is adequately handled by Brahmanandam who hogs the limelight as a Hindu priest."[6]
