Saaho was released in regular and IMAX theatres on 30 August 2019.[9] The film received mixed-to-negative reviews from critics who praised the cast performances, action sequences, VFX and cinematography, but criticized the script and direction.[10]Saaho grossed ₹419 crore (US$59.5 million)–₹439 crore (US$62.34 million) worldwide against its budget of ₹325 crore.[11] The Telugu version of the film was a box office flop, while the Hindi version was commercially successful, thus becoming the highest grossing South Indian film of 2019.[12][13][14]
Plot
Narantak Roy is the leader of Roy Group, a corporate company and the world's biggest crime syndicate that governs Waaji City, a fictional metropolitan area. While visiting Mumbai for a business deal, Roy gets killed in a deliberate car crash. Devaraj, the son of Roy's friend/mentor and former syndicate leader Pruthviraj, plans to declare himself as the next leader of Waaji City. Ibrahim, Roy's most-trusted secretary, tells Kalki, the legal advisor of Roy Group, that Roy's family has been dead for decades and that he had been hiding his son Vishwank Roy – for 25 years. Vishwank succeeds Roy as the city's leader and sets out to discover the perpetrators behind Roy's death.
In Mumbai, a masterthief steals ₹2,000 crore (US$284 million) by fooling random, unrelated people to steal the money. A nationwide search ensues and the police department assigns Ashok Chakravarthy, a covert cop, to solve the case. Ashok leads the search with the help of Crime Branch officers Amritha Nair, Goswami and David. They uncover a thief Jai, whom Ashok meets in a bar. Ashok discloses to Jai about a black box – the key to the locker in Waaji City holding ₹2000 billion[b] (US$28.4 billion) of all of the board members of Roy Group. On Vishwank's orders, Kalki travels to Mumbai, retrieves the black box, and deposits it in a bank.
After an intense chase to catch Jai stealing the box, Amritha, Ashok and David – the team's cyber-intelligence officer – confront Jai. However, it is revealed that Jai is the real Ashok Chakravarthy and the lead officer, who had been with the team is actually the masterthief Saaho. Saaho escapes with his partner David, who helped him disguise his identity during the operation. It is revealed that Devaraj actually killed Roy to usurp control of the city. Amritha works as a double agent and tracks Saaho, where she pretends to be in love with him and demands a share of the stolen money. However, Amritha falls in love with Saaho and betrays Ashok.
Devaraj shoots and kidnaps Amritha, forcing Saaho to provide the black box to Devaraj. However, Saaho deceives Devaraj and gives the black box to Vishwank in return for Amritha's safety, which Vishwank reveals to Devaraj. Saaho destroys Devaraj's building and steals the money in Devaraj's lockers. Ashok and the police chase Saaho with a sniper in a helicopter and a person in a jet pack. Saaho overpowers his opponents. Amritha, also in the helicopter, tries to save Saaho by distracting the sniper, who pushes her into danger. Saaho saves Amritha with a jetpack, but gets arrested. Kalki, revealed to be on Devaraj's side, opens the vault with Vishwank's fingerprint and the black box. However, Kalki, instead of money, finds pictures of Roy and his son. Saaho battles and defeats Devaraj's goons in Karana village, which Roy had previously protected.
After Devaraj arrives, Saaho reveals himself as Siddhanth Nandan Saaho, Roy's biological son. Roy had lovingly kept him hidden from the world in the hopes of Saaho taking over his reins. Kalki dies after seeing the portrait of Roy and Saaho, while Saaho kills Devaraj by decapitating him. Meanwhile, Ashok and Amritha are shocked to learn about Saaho's real identity from Vishwank and Alex Fernandes, a criminal saved by Saaho and seen by Amritha in the bar where Saaho first encountered Ashok. Ibrahim reveals to the board members of Roy Group that Vishwank is his own son Iqbal. Iqbal was brought in to protect Roy's throne until Saaho can return to claim the throne and kill his father's killers. Iqbal proceeds to kill Prince before Saaho arrives to the meeting. Ibrahim reveals Saaho's real identity to the board members and Saaho becomes the ruler of Waaji City and CEO of Roy Group.
A few months later, Saaho locates Amritha in Innsbruck, Austria, and the two share a kiss. A sniper aims at Saaho to take him out, but Saaho opens his eyes, aware of the danger from the distance.
Cast
Prabhas as Siddhanth Nandan Saaho / Ashok Chakravarthy
Karthikeya Krishna as Saaho, six years old
Suman as Saaho, thirteen years old
Shraddha Kapoor as Amritha "Ammu" Nair, Saaho's love interest
Saaho was produced on a budget of ₹325 crore,[11] and was filmed in Hyderabad, Mumbai, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Austria, Romania and other parts of Europe.[17][18] Principal photography began in August 2017. It stars Prabhas and Shraddha Kapoor in the lead roles, and the supporting cast includes Arun Vijay, Jackie Shroff, Lal, Neil Nitin Mukesh and Mandira Bedi. A large part of the budget was spent filming the action scenes. International stunt coordinator Kenny Bates was brought in to choreograph the action scenes.[19] Arun Vijay grew out his hair to portray his character in Saaho.[20]
The film's first filming schedule, which was in Hyderabad, was completed by October 2017.[29] The second schedule began in December 2017 at Ramoji Film City; according to the film's producers, Shraddha Kapoor's action sequences in the film were made with heavy weaponry.[30] After a few days, filming shifted to Dubai for a month; some of the major action sequences were filmed in Dubai with Prabhas and Neil Nitin Mukesh, while Shraddha Kapoor switched to her next project Stree.[31] After filming half of Saaho in Hyderabad, Mumbai and Dubai, the cast and crew began the fourth schedule in Abu Dhabi in February 2018, which ended within a few weeks. The fifth schedule, also in Abu Dhabi, started in late February and the sixth schedule began in mid-March in Dubai and Romania. The final leg of film and its romantic songs were filmed in Innsbruck and the Tyrol region of Austria.[32][33][34]
An action sequence that features in an exceptionally long period of the screenplay was extensively filmed near the Burj Khalifa; 25 crores from the budget had been spent. Prabhas underwent rigorous training that involved cardiovascular and weight training, and plyometric obstacle races. Prabhas praised his co-star Shraddha Kapoor, stating she was the best choice for her strong character. Prabhas' character is grey-shaded.[35][36]
Saaho includes some underwater sequences with Prabhas, who learnt scuba diving in preparation for his role.[37] The film stars Neil Nitin Mukesh as the antagonist. Mandira Bedi, who is known for her grey roles on television, plays a negative role in the film as well.[38]
Choreographer Vaibhavi Merchant filed two romantic songs; filming began in Innsbruck, Austria, and included the House of Music, the city's trams, Finstertal in Kühtai and Adlers Hotel. Some scenes were filmed in the nearby town Seefeld. Romantic songs were filmed at the "Top of Tyrol" viewing platform on Stubai Glacier, Restaurant ice Q in Sölden, Swarovski Crystal Worlds and the suspension bridge Highline179 at Reutte in the Tyrol region. Some parts of one romantic song were filmed at Redbull's Hangar 7 at Salzburg Airport. Robinville and Creative Creatures were service producers for the Austria schedule.[39]
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.[42][43] In July 2019, UV Creations announced the film's release date as 30 August 2019 in Telugu, Hindi, Tamil, and Malayalam.[44][45]
Saaho was released on 30 August 2019 worldwide in Telugu, Hindi, and Tamil, along with a dubbed Malayalam version.[48]
Lawsuit
Outshiny India, a luggage and bag manufacturer, filed a complaint and lawsuit against the director and multiple staff members for fraud and cheating at Madhapur police station.[49][50][51] The manufacturers alleged the filmmakers defaulted on an expensive deal they signed with the manufacturer that mandated their product would be shown in the film.[52] The company said the marketing, advocate and contract fees paid to the filmmakers resulted in a loss of ₹1.38 crore ($196,000).[49][52]
Allegations of plagiarism
Jerome Salle, director of the 2008 film Largo Winch, claimed that the film was an unauthorized remake of his film, after similarities between Saaho and his work were pointed out to him by social media users. He had earlier claimed plagiarism, from the same 2008 film, by the makers of another Telugu film Agnyaathavaasi (2018) at the time of its release.[53]
Reception
Box office
Saaho made ₹130 crore ($18.4 million) on its opening day worldwide, the second-highest ever for an Indian film, exceeding that of 2.0's₹117 crore ($16.6 million) but lower than Prabhas's previous film Baahubali 2: The Conclusion₹212 crore, which held the record for the highest-opening Indian film at that time.[54] After the second day, the worldwide collection was ₹220 crore.[55]Saaho made ₹294 crore ($41.7 million) gross on its opening weekend worldwide[56] Its net revenue in India was ₹302 crore ($42.9 million) by the end of its theatrical run.[57] Although, some sources mentioned that the worldwide box office collection of Saaho was over ₹600 Crores.[58]
Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film reported an approval rating of 8% based on 12 reviews with an average rating of 3.8/10.[10]
Ronak Kotecha of The Times of India gave 2.5/5 stars and wrote "Saaho is an ambitious project which relies on technical aspects and hero's larger than life image, and not on its script."[59]
Bollywood Hungama gave 2.5/5 stars and wrote "Saaho suffers from a lackadaisical script and a vacuous screenplay."[60]
Monika Rawal Kukreja of Hindustan Times gave 2/5 stars and wrote "Saaho is a classic action thriller that could have been made on par with Hollywood, but is reduced to an average story sprinkled with elements of romance, suspense and revenge. Watch it for the last 30 minutes and don’t expect pieces of puzzles to fall into place and make up a believable story, because there isn’t any."[61] Rahul Devulapalli of The Week gave 2/5 stars and wrote "Even with a towering Prabhas armed with a ripped body and fancy guns, Saaho fails to hit the target."[62]
Dhaval Mehta of DNA gave 2/5 stars and wrote "Saaho is a rank disappointment and an opportunity missed. Watch it for Prabhas’s patches of brilliance but you will need loads of patience!."[63]Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express gave 1.5/5 stars and wrote "Everything a thriller needs is in here, and you settle down, fully prepared for a non-stop, breathless, firing-from-all-cylinders ride, but Saaho turns out to be a damp squib."[64]
Rajeev Masand of News18 gave the film one-and-a-half stars out of five; he praised Prabhas for his "enormous presence and unmistakable sincerity" but said the film has "all the depth and emotional wallop of a video game".[65]
Lakshana N Palat from India Today gave Saaho one-and-a-half stars out of five, calling it "a 350-crore disaster", and a "laboured and exhausting watch". She has added; "the saving grace of Saaho are the visuals and the high-octane action sequences", and that "the makers got so carried away with crafting action scenes and Prabhas' starry presence that they forgot about the story and character development midway".[66]
Sangeetha Devi Dundoo of The Hindu wrote "Riding on a staid and predictable plot, this ambitious film ends up as a disappointment."[67]Anupama Chopra of Film Companion wrote "Saaho is essentially a string of expensive set-pieces strung together to showcase the leading man. A lot of hard work has gone into creating the action and the extravagant sets. The budget is a reported 350 crores but for the viewer there's little bang for the buck."[68]
^Pinkvilla reported that the collection was ₹419 crore.[5]The Times of India[6] reported that the final worldwide gross was ₹432.4 crore. India Today[7] stated that the collection was ₹439 crore.
