The film released on 6 April 2005 and was received mixed-to-positive reviews, and was commercially successful.[3][4]
Later the film was dubbed and released in Malayalam as Bunny: The Lion was also commercial success.[5] The film was remade in Bangladeshi Bengali as Tomar Jonno Morte Pari (2007) starring Shakib Khan.
Plot
Somaraju is a leading businessman and crime boss in Visakhapatnam. Mysamma is a close member of Somaraju and his right-hand handles his criminal deals in Hyderabad. Mahalakshmi is Somaraju's daughter, and he dearly loves her. Bunny alias Raja joins the same college as Mahalakshmi. He impresses her on the first day itself. Slowly, she falls in love with him. Somaraju, though reluctant initially, agrees to the marriage. Now, Raja has a condition that Somaraju should give his entire property to Raja as a dowry. The rest of the story explains why Raja asks for Somaraju's property.
Raja's birth father, a king, Ranga Rao Bhupathi Raja, is Mahalakshmi's maternal uncle. Bhupathi Raja was a great man with much land and property, as well as much regard from the government and other people. In the area where he lives, there is a shortage of water for farming. As a result, Bhupathi Raja starts a rally to initiate the Polavaram Project. The rally becomes so widespread, that the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, decides to meet with Bhupathi Raja. Bhupathi Raja decides to give away all of his land, 4,000 acres, to the people who lose land when the project gets initiated. When Mahalakshmi is born, her mother asks Bhupathi Raja to perform the baby naming ceremony and such. On Bhupathi Raja's way there, however, Somaraju attacks him with the help of a bunch of rowdies. Somaraju fraudulently transfers Bhupathi Raju's property to himself. They pretty much kill Bhupathi Raja and leave him to die in the forest. However, Bhupathi Raja manages to live and perform Mahalakshmi's ceremony, but he dies minutes after without telling anyone what happened.
Raja learns of this when his so-called father, Rangaswamy, explains to him that he is his godfather and not his father. While trying to save him, his godfather and godmother give up their son to keep him alive. To regain his rightful property, Raja fights Mysamma and wins his girl.
B Anuradha of Rediff.com criticized the plot for being a "age-old revenge drama" while praising Allu Arjun's performance. "Allu Arjun's effortless dancing and fights could be in vain, thanks to the boring theme," she added.[7] A reviewer from Sify who rated 3/5 also echoed the same. "The story and presentation is old wine in a new bottle, but the performance of Allu Arjun, Prakash Raj and Raghu Babu saves the film to a very large extent," the reviewer stated.[8]
