Jathi Ratnalu 2021

Srikanth, Naveen Polishetty, a hopeful young man from Jogipet, toils in his father Govindu’s Tanikella Bharani -led ladies emporium and dreams of earning respect by landing an IT job. He makes a bold two-month vow to secure a real job in Hyderabad and sets off with his unemployed friends, Jogipet Ravi Rahul Ramakrishna and Jogipet Shekar Priyadarshi Pullikonda, hoping the urban move will change his fate. The trio faces the practical hurdles of city life, from snapping up a decent rental to adjusting to a bustling, competitive environment, and their bond is tested as they chase opportunity in a place far from home.

In the new city, the men struggle to find a place to stay, finally landing in a posh Jubilee Hills apartment that feels worlds apart from their hometown. It’s here that Srikanth’s attention shifts to his neighbor Chitti Faria Abdullah, a woman whose warmth and wit match his own ambitions. Chitti’s presence gives him a hopeful spark, and their budding connection adds a personal stake to the otherwise sharper-edged struggle for status and security in a crowded metropolis. The neighborhood, with its glittering social circles, also introduces Chanakya Murali Sharma, a shrewd figure who has his own agenda and who quickly becomes a key player in the city’s shifting power dynamics. Chanakya’s proximity to power and his insider knowledge about the upcoming Indo-Asian Games put him in a position to pull strings and vie for the sports ministry, raising the stakes for everyone living in the same apartment complex.

As Srikanth makes slow progress in the job market, a public promise from Jana Balam Party adds political heat to the mix: ministerial posts should go to those with genuine field experience. Chanakya, leveraging his influence and access to the city’s political machinery, orients his actions toward securing a foothold in government, while Srikanth and his friends attend a birthday party thrown by Chanakya, crashing it without an invitation. That night, a violent turn of events unfolds when Chanakya is shot in the abdomen and falls unconscious; Ravi, intoxicated, wrongly proclaims him dead based on a mistaken glance at the wrong side of the body. The attempt to dispose of the body lands them in trouble, and the police arrest the trio, convinced they have criminal histories to hide. Chitti, a lawyer by training who often grapples with a theoretical grasp of the law, tries to defend them, but the judge remains unconvinced, postponing the verdict and sending them to jail.

When Chanakya is later bailed out, his men push them toward a den where they’re pressed for the whereabouts of his phone—the device Ravi used during the earlier disposal attempt. A harrowing sequence follows: Ravi misreads his chances and nearly gets killed as Chanakya’s supporters burn the area in a show of protest. Srikanth and Sekhar manage to rescue Ravi and devise a plan to recreate the events of that day to locate the missing phone, hoping to use it to blunt Chanakya’s leverage. Their search leads them to Chanakya’s den, where a risky retrieval unfolds; the phone is briefly captured, only for Ramachandraiah to betray them and wheel the situation to Chanakya’s favor. The device ends up in Ramachandraiah’s hands, but a double-cross ensues, and they’re dragged back to court for another round of legal drama.

In a high-stakes finale, Srikanth crafts a bold claim that Chanakya is entangled in a scheme with Hong Kong-based businessmen, a fabrication that the public and the authorities choose to believe. The ensuing political pressure forces Chanakya to sever ties with the Hong Kong angle and withdraw the case, allowing Srikanth and his friends to be acquitted. Chanakya’s fan faces punishment for attempted murder, while the Indo-Asian Games contract ultimately goes to Swatantra Electronics. Srikanth returns to Jogipet to run his own ladies emporium and marries Chitti, who expands her role as a legal advisor providing opinions in court.

In a final twist, the film reveals that the mobile phone contains a recording of an interview in which Chanakya claims to be a goalkeeper in cricket—an odd, revealing claim given that such a position doesn’t exist in the sport. The footage underscores a blunt truth: Chanakya, despite his political ambition and public bravado, appears to misread even the basics of the very field he seeks to control. The closing images leave Srikanth, Chitti, and their friends stepping into a future shaped by perseverance, wit, and a sharper sense of what it takes to turn ambition into a tangible life in a city that never stops moving.