Linguswamy began contemplating a Telugu–Tamil bilingual film in 2016, which would make his directorial debut in Telugu cinema. The film was announced in February 2021 with Ram Pothineni as the lead. Principal photography begun in July 2021 and concluded in May 2022 with filming taking place primarily in Hyderabad and Chennai.
The Warriorr was released on 14 July 2022 to negative reviews from critics and became a box-office bomb.
Plot
Satya, an MBBS graduate, relocates to Kurnool with his mother and sister Nithya after receiving a job as a doctor in a government hospital. Satya also learns about Guru, a ruthless gangster, whose company has been manufacturing poisonous saline and is involved in the medical mafia. This results in the deaths of three children in the hospital, but the police does not pay heed as they are afraid of Guru's atrocities. Satya lodges a complaint against Guru with sufficient evidence against him. Guru learns about this and thrashes Satya at the Konda Reddy Fort and hangs him, but Satya is saved by his hospital dean Dr. Robert, where he leaves the city with his mother and Nithya.
Two years later, Satya returns back to Kurnool as the DSP of the city, where he wages a war against Guru and his men. Satya learns that Robert died in an accident, where he suspects that Guru was involved in his death. Satya receives permission for a re-autopsy of Robert's body, where he digs out his grave to recover the body but finds another body inside the grave. Guru reveals to Satya that he killed Robert when the latter helped Satya escape from the city earlier. Guru also reveals that he killed Rahim for protecting the evidence against him. The next day, Guru contests in the elections, but Satya arrests him after finding a flash drive which contains information about Guru's illegal activities.
Guru's wife Swarna plots to kill Satya by stringing his neck, but Satya's RJ girlfriend "Whistle" Mahalakshmi instead gets stuck on the string and receives a major cut on her throat as she was following Satya. Satya admits her to the hospital and learns that Guru has been released from prison. After being encouraged by his mother, Satya calls Guru to the Konda Reddy Fort for a final showdown. Satya brutally kills Guru in a hand-to-hand combat and hangs him in the same manner that Guru hanged him before. After Guru's death, Satya relocates to North India with Mahalakshmi, who survived the injury, and his mother. Satya also continues to work both as a cop and a doctor.
In 2016, Tamil film director Lingusamy announced that he planned to make a bilingual film in Telugu and Tamil, marking his Telugu debut. He first approached Allu Arjun to star in the film, but the film was delayed due to Allu Arjun's busy schedule.[4] In 2019, Havish was cast as the lead, but the film never began production.[5] On 18 February 2021, it was announced that Ram Pothineni was brought on board the film, which was tentatively called RAPO19 with Srinivasa Chitturi producing the film under his banner Srinivasa Silver Screen.[6] The film marks the Tamil debut of Pothineni after Yen Endral Kadhal Enben!, the Tamil version of Endukante... Premanta! (2012), failed to have a theatrical release.[7] In January 2022, the film's title was announced as The Warriorr.[8][9][10]
Casting
In March 2021, it was announced that Krithi Shetty was cast aside Pothineni as the female lead.[11] In July 2021, the makers announced that Aadhi Pinisetty was cast as the main antagonist in the film.[12][13][14] In August 2021, it was announced that Akshara Gowda was signed on to play a pivotal role in the film.[15]
Filming
Since the film was a Telugu—Tamil bilingual, scenes involving Ram Pothineni and Aadhi Pinisetty were shot in both Telugu and Tamil.[16] Krithi Shetty's scenes were only shot in Telugu,[16] and Nadhiya's scenes were only shot in Tamil.[17] Principal photography for the film began on 13 July 2021 in Hyderabad and Chennai.[18][19][20][21] The second schedule of the film was completed in October 2021.[22] The third schedule began in January 2022 and filming was wrapped up at the end of May 2022.[23]
The film score and soundtrack album of the film are composed by Devi Sri Prasad in his first collaboration with Lingusamy. The music rights were acquired by Aditya Music.
In March 2022, it was announced that the film was going to release theatrically on 14 July 2022.[25] The film's pre-release rights were sold for ₹43.10 crore, the highest for Pothineni's film to date.[26]
Home media
The television rights for Telugu Version were acquired by Star Network and Tamil version rights were acquired by Zee Tamil and Zee Thirai respectively. The film started streaming in Telugu version on Disney+Hotstar from 11 August 2022, while the Tamil version started streaming on Amazon Prime Video from 10 November 2023.[27]
Reception
Box office
The Warriorr grossed ₹12.2 crore on its opening day, with ₹10.2 crore coming from the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.[28]
Critical response
The Warriorr met with generally negative reviews from critics.
Neeshita Nyayapati of The Times of India gave 3/5 stars and wrote "The Warriorr is a masala-laden commercial pot-boiler that’s meant to be watched over a shared bucket of popcorn."[29]Pinkvilla gave 2/5 stars and wrote "Some films are stuck in a time warp. The Warriorr goes beyond. Every nerve ending and blood vessel of the film is stuck in the past".[30]
Behindwoods gave 2.5/5 stars and wrote "The Warriorr is a watchable police action entertainer with the hero and villain in fine form."[31] Latha Srinivasan of Firstpost gave 1.5/5 stars and wrote "Director Lingusamy's Telugu debut starring Ram Pothineni is a mish-mash of his earlier films."[32]
Balakrishna Ganeshan of The News Minute gave 1.5/5 stars and wrote "The story being extremely superficial without any element of reality in it, also makes it a mediocre watch."[17] Janani K of India Today gave 1/5 stars and wrote "The Warriorr is a mass action entertainer, which is ridiculous and has nothing new to offer."[33]
Bhuvanesh Chandar of The Hindu wrote "The Warriorr’s lifeless storyline is made worse with its generic scene writing and a template screenplay structure."[16] Manoj Kumar R of The Indian Express wrote "Lingusamy has repeated the same movie that he has been making throughout his career with different actors and costumes, including the 'loosu ponnu' archetype".[34]
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