Jalsa 2008

Sanjay Sahu, aka Sanju, Pawan Kalyan is a post-graduate who works as an aerobics instructor, quietly hoping for a life with the woman he loves. He is drawn to Indu, Kamalinee Mukherjee who dreams of marrying him, but her police officer father refuses to approve their union, insisting she marry someone chosen by him. This sets up a clash between love and duty, with Indu caught in the middle as her future is steered by her father’s decision rather than her heart.

Meanwhile, Indu’s sister Bhagyamathi, known as Bhagi, Ileana D’Cruz, and her friend Jyothsna, known as Jo, Parvati Melton find themselves pursued by hoodlums, only to be rescued by Sanju. The two sisters are teased and bullied at college, yet each one begins to see a different side of Sanju as he steps in to help them. In the wake of these encounters, both Bhagi and Jo develop an attraction to him, though neither knows the other harbors feelings for the same man. Jo is the first to speak up, proposing to Sanju, which he rejects, leaving Jo heartbroken. Bhagi, watching her friend’s disappointment, decides to win Sanju’s heart with a bold, patient, and sometimes comic approach, guided by Seenu’s plans.

Bhagi’s pursuit unfolds through a series of clever and humorous schemes to get Sanju’s attention. She moves pieces around to create chances to be near him, even rearranging living arrangements by moving out former tenants so she can be closer to his life. The efforts lead to a string of funny, endearing, and sometimes awkward moments as Bhagi tries to uncover what makes Sanju tick and what might turn his heart in her direction. Despite several hiccups and misunderstandings, a romance begins to bloom between them, and a kiss seals their renewed bond, even as Jo remains a lingering complication in the picture.

The story broadens with the return of Damodar Reddy, a powerful land grabber who remains in jail but is out on parole to reassert control and settle old scores. He targets Sanju after learning how Sanju disrupted his plans in the past and even takes a shot at the young man. In the attack, Sanju’s friend Abhi, played by Ali Basha, is captured, prompting Sanju to mount a rescue. This rescue testawakens Sanju’s intensifying temper, especially when his friends question the moral lines he’s willing to cross to defend those he loves.

To understand Sanju’s fierce sense of justice, the film turns back to his flashback. He comes from a poor rural background; his brother dies from heart disease when they are children, and his father, Janardhan Sahu, kills himself after crops fail, followed by his mother’s death. On the way to the burial, Sanju’s pain manifests as a moment where he struggles with life and destiny, a moment that leads him to pull out a stone pillar in a symbolic act that provokes Damodar Reddy’s henchmen. They attack, but Sanju fights back, disappears into the forest, and joins the Naxalites. During a later operation, he aligns with Indu and Bhagi’s father—who is a police officer—and his team to take down their common enemy in an armed encounter. Sanju eventually reforms and becomes a college student in Hyderabad, a rebirth that showcases his struggle to balance ideals with a troubled past.

Back in the present, Bhagi admits to her father that she wants to marry Sanju, but her father reveals that Sanju is an ex-lover of Indu and an ex-Naxal, forcing Bhagi to reconsider. Shocked, Bhagi agrees to follow her father’s wishes, and the engagement to Raghuram—Damodar Reddy’s elder son—is arranged. Sanju, revolted by the idea of losing Bhagi to a life scheme already set in motion, vows to break the engagement. He learns that the life-threatening man who attacked him was Damodar Reddy and that Raghuram is indeed his heir. The confrontation moves to the jail, where Sanju challenges Damodar Reddy. Damodar Reddy, now released, pushes ahead with the marriage between Bhagi and Raghuram, and Sanju, in a bold move, abducts Damodar Reddy’s younger son to force a reckoning.

What follows is a dramatic showdown: Sanju faces Damodar Reddy head-on, choosing not to kill even when life is on the line, echoing the belief that the true art of victory lies in outwitting the enemy rather than delivering a brutal final blow. He defeats Damodar Reddy and declares a new ethic of strength over vengeance. The couple’s wedding to Bhagi culminates the romance that threaded through the film, even as Damodar Reddy, now paralyzed, dies of a heart attack on the same road where Sanju’s stand against him once changed everything.