Anaganaga Oka Raju, comedy, India, Maari, Meenakshi Chaudhary, movies, Naveen Polishetty, Rao Ramesh, reviews, Tarak Ponnappa
January 20, 2026
by Carla Hay
Directed by Maari
Telugu with subtitles
Culture Representation: Taking place in the fictional Indian cities of Gouravapuram and Peddapalem, the comedy film “Anaganaga Oka Raju” features a predominantly Asian cast of characters (with a few white people) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.
Culture Clash: A political dynasty heir, who feels he is entitled to be rich, sets out to marry a wealthy woman and launches a campaign to become president of his municipality.
Culture Audience: “Anaganaga Oka Raju” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and formulaic comedies that drag on for too long.
“Anaganaga Oka Raju” is yet another overly long movie (its total running time is 147 minutes) that’s stretched out to very irritating lengths, in order to pad out its very flimsy plot. This scatter-brained comedy wants to be two movies in one and doesn’t creatively succeed with either story about marriage and politics. The wealth-obsessed protagonist learns predictable life lessons.
Directed by Maari (who co-wrote the movie’s screenplay with Naveen Polishetty and
Chinmay), “Anaganaga Oka Raju” takes place in the fictional Indian cities of Gouravapuram and Paddapalem. The movie was filmed mostly in the East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh, India. “Anaganaga Oka Raju” translates to “Once Upon a Time, There Was a King” in Telugu.
“Anaganaga Oka Raju” begins in Gouravapuram, where a man in his mid-30s named Raju (played by Naveen Polishetty) dreams of having an affluent life of leisure. Raju’s wealthy grandfather was Gouravapuram Zamindar Gokaraju, a “revolutionary and reformist,” who gave all of his wealth away in his will. Raju has a lot of resentment that he couldn’t inherit any of this wealth. He’s determined to become rich by any means necessary.
The first half of the movie shows Raju scheming to marry a wealthy woman. He meets an attractive and friendly heiress named Charulata (played by Meenakshi Chaudhary) and is instantly smitten with her. Raju comes up with various ways to get Charulata to fall in love with him.
For example, when Raju finds out that Charulata adores dogs, he stages a scenario in front of Charulata so that it looks like he saved a dog from drowning. Charulata is impressed and introduces herself to Raju. They have a whirlwind courtship.
It’s already revealed in the movie’s trailer that Raju and Charulata get married. Charulata is from Paddapalem, which is where she and Raju live after they get married. Something happens during their relationship that motivates Raju to find another way to get rich as soon as he can.
The second half of the movie is about Raju launching a career as a politician as a way to accumulate wealth. He runs for president of Paddapalem. His opponent in this race is Erribabu (played by Tarak Ponnappa), who is about the same age as Raju. Erribabu is stereotypically corrupt and egotistical. Raju uses the same political strategy that his grandfather used, by having an image and campaign advocating for underrepresented and overlooked people.
Charulata’s father is Pedapalem Bhupathi Raju (played by Rao Ramesh), who has mixed feelings about Raju, which leads to a few minor conflicts. Raju’s father-in-law is one of several underdeveloped characters in the movie. Raju has four male sidekick friends, who are by his side so often, it’s almost creepy. However, the movie never shows or tells anything meaningful about these friends, and viewers won’t be able to find out anything about these friends’ individual personalities.
“Anaganaga Oka Raju” gallops along at a manic speed during the first third of the film, it slows down considerably in the middle of the film, and then the pace picks up again during the last third of the movie. The cast members, particularly Polishetty, strain to be hilarious. That’s because most of the movie’s dialogue and gag set-ups are very stale and corny. The song-and-dance numbers are forgettable. The action scenes are unremarkable.
J. Yuvraj’s cinematography and Mickey J. Meyer’s music score are of two the few areas of “Anaganaga Oka Raju” that don’t fail in the movie’s efforts to have a vibrant and freewheeling tone. However, the movie’s uneven pacing and the bloated editing drag everything down. Certain filmmakers need to learn that making a movie much longer than it needs to be won’t make viewers feel like they’re getting their money’s worth if they’ve paid to watch the movie. It actually makes viewers annoyed that they’ve wasted time watching a lightweight story that’s been turned into an inflated mess.
Sithara Entertainments released “Anaganaga Oka Raju” in select U.S. cinemas on January 16, 2026. The movie was released in India on Janaury 14, 2026.