Express Raja

Plot

The film begins with the introduction of Inumu (Dhanraj), a peculiar thief who only steals items made out of iron. Then Raja (Sharwanand), Sreenu (Prabhas Sreenu) and Giri (Saptagiri) are shown kidnapping a pet dog and escaping. The film then moves to flashback where Raja and Sreenu are both jobless and constant source of irritation for their respective fathers. Raja's father is a teacher and a social activist. He along with his friend (Surya) collect money for an NGO for treating children. Raja and Sreenu are rounded off by the local area inspector (Posani) for being vagabonds as he feels vagabonds are a nuisance to the society. He orders them to leave for Hyderabad to do jobs that he arranged for them. However, as they reach Hyderabad, Raja sees Amulya (Surabhi) and falls for her immediately. He then presents himself as a salesman for Oxford Dictionary to woo her. He finally wins her love when he saves her from being molested by some goons. Amulya loves pet dogs while Raja hates them. As fate would have it, Amulya, who was about to propose her love for Raja, sees Raja hand over her pet dog to the local Municipal corporation. An enraged Amulya breaks up with Raja. Raja, to win back her love, goes looking for the dog and finds it in a pet shop, whose owner insists to pay money in exchange. Raja and Seenu, short of money, sell a record number of dictionaries to impress Bill Gates (Brahmaji) and take the required money from him. On reaching the pet shop, their bag gets exchanged in a bedlam at pet shop with Giri's bag. After a belated realization, they search for Giri and find out that Giri has set the bag on fire thinking that the bag had contained the love letters his sister received. Giri apologises and promises to do whatever Raja and Seenu ask him to. All of them then go to the pet shop only to realize that the dog had already been purchased. They then begin searching for the dog, After few attempts in vain they find the dog in Binami British (Supreet)'s home. The film is taken back to the kidnapping scene where they flee the place after kidnapping the dog.

Raja delivers the dog to Amulya only to find out that she is getting married to Kesava Reddy (Harish Uthaman), son of an MLA in Nellore, Kokila (Urvashi). A crestfallen Raja is detained by Binami British to reveal the location of the dog. However, Raja and Seenu escape from the clutches of Binami British to Nellore. However, he is caught by Kesava Reddy's gang as soon as he reaches there as Kesava Reddy thinks Raja is the reason behind mother losing her memory during a car crash that occurred in the melee created by the dog kidnapping. Raja is let off by Kesava Reddy as he was admonished by his mother to not to commit any crime until his marriage. Raja, with the help of Sreenu, then reaches the place where Amulya is staying and elopes with her. Keshava Reddy comes to know and chases Raja. Raja encounters a dance troupe on the way only to find that he was using the troupe's vehicle to escape from British. They then reach a local fair where they were to perform in dance program only to be caught by Kesava Reddy on stage. However, the stage where the troupe was dancing collapses due to a mischief by Inumu and Amulya is taken hostage by British and Giri while Kesava Reddy is looking to avenge his mother's memory loss and his abandoned marriage. Raja and Sreenu manage to find the pet dog and hand it over to British in exchange for Amulya. However, all of them are detained by Kesava Reddy only to be rescued by Raja when he knocks out Kesava Reddy using Oxford Dictionary.

Cast

Production

In January 2015, it was announced that Sharwanand was cast in a lead role, and later Adah Sharma was announced as under consideration for the role of the film's lead female, but Surabhi was the one eventually cast.

In September 2015, it was reported that the filming of a few key scenes with the lead cast were under way in areas of ameerpet, Hyderabad.

Release

Express Raja has been released in close to 500 screens worldwide alongside Balakrishna's Dictator.

Domestic

Express Raja grossed ₹4 crore on opening day at AP/Telangana box office and has become the biggest opener for Sharwanand.

Overseas

Express Raja collected US$170,312[₹ 1.15 crore] in its extended weekend at the United States. It also done decent business in other parts of the globe, where it is estimated to have grossed ₹2 crore. The movie has collected approximately ₹8 crore at the worldwide box office in the first weekend. Express Raja" collected $315,547 at the US box office in two weeks. According to trade analyst Taran Adarsh the film has collected $413,324 (₹ 2.81 crore) at the US box office in 3 weeks.