In the world of Indian superhero movies where gods and humans meet with grand visuals and foot tapping music, very few movies make an impact like HanuMan. Releasing on January 12th 2024 on Sankranti, this Telugu film by Prasanth Varma turns a simple budget of ₹20 crore into a global ₹300 crore hit. It is the 4th highest grossing Telugu film of 2024 and 11th in the overall history of Telugu cinema. See how cultural appreciation can beat the big budget Hollywood superhero movies. Combining age old devotion to Lord Hanuman with modern superhero elements HanuMan is more than a movie; it’s a call to action, a spiritual experience that will make you chant Jai Shri Ram even after the movie ends. But like every great origin story, it faces challenges before it rises to greatness.
Set in the fictional village of Anjanadri (a nod to Hanuman’s birthplace), the story follows Hanumanthu (Teja Sajja) a small time pickpocket in a village plagued by superstition and violence. Orphaned and raised by his fierce sister Anjamma (Varalaxmi Sarathkumar), Hanumanthu is in love with the fiery Meenakshi (Amrita Aiyer), whose defiance against the tyrannical landlord Gajapathi (Raj Deepak Shetty) sets off the fire. Gajapathi a self proclaimed protector wrapped in piety rules with an iron fist and exploits the villagers’ faith in the massive Hanuman idol carved out of a rock for his own benefit. When Hanumanthu finds a mystical gem from the Gada River (which has the blood of the Monkey God) he gets superhuman strength, flight and invincibility. What starts as a personal mission to save his love turns into a battle for Anjanadri’s soul pitting the reluctant hero against Gajapathi’s demonic plans and a shadowy villain whose comic book trauma is like Batman or Spider-Man but with a psycho twist.
Prasanth Varma must be feeling pretty good right now, having just knocked out a couple of indie hits like Awe and Zombie Reddy; he's using that momentum to build the HanuMan as a sort of flagship for his Prasanth Varma Cinematic Universe, (PVCU) & he's even been hinting that our hero might cross paths with the characters in future films like Maha Maham and Adhira down the line. Varma manages to take mythological elements and just weds them to the superhero genre, seamlessly, in a way that kinda lets you imagine Hanumanthu wasn't born a superhero - but rather, he kind of borrowed the powers from somewhere else and they can get taken away from him anytime he starts doubting which is actually a pretty cool way to explore the whole concept of faith and doing right by people.
The screenplay though wasnt written just by Varma alone; his friends at Scriptsville got to have a say in it too - the end result is a movie that throws together the dull day to day life of rural towns with all their problems with caste and nasty old traditions and then just gives you these comical bursts of action and crazy mythological stuff. The first few bits of the film are just so endearing - Hanumanthu just trying to get by doing little bits of petty theft ends up getting chased all over the place & his day getting totally ruined by bumbling cop Vennela Kishore, who has such a great sense of self awareness, poking fun at these over the top Bollywood moves. But it's when the movie picks up the pace that things really take a turn & now it's Hanumanthu up in the air doing all this slow motion stuff with a mace, swinging from tree to tree in aerial dogfights - you know it's a big deal but yet somehow it all feels so up close & personal.
Teja Sajja takes on this film like it's his personal mission, growing from an innocent trouble-maker into something of a frenzied crusader, a Hanuman-like hero with a contagious energy. His physique has been beefed up for the role, but so too has his emotional range - his eyes are more than capable of conveying the crippling fear of being unable to measure up, and then whoosh - he's a hero with divine fire burning bright. Varalaxmi Sarathkumar brings an anchor to all the high-octane action as the protective big sister, her raw emotion providing a perfect counterpoint to the hero's wild unpredictability and of course she does it all with a intensity that's just so genuine - you can tell she's fully invested in her character, even when Meenakshi, played by Amrita Aiyer, gets a romance subplot that feels a tad formulaic.
Raj Deepak Shetty though gets to chomp down on the scenery as Gajapathi, the oily but slyly menacing villain, whose sinister charm is only just a thin veneer over his genocidal ambitions - and newcomer Vinay Rai just sort of slips in unnoticed as Michael, a scarred and troubled guy, driven by a hunger for Hanuman's power - but one that quickly spirals out of control, and has him hurtling down the path of no return as a full on supervillain, complete with a backstory that brings a grim nod to the painful scars of colonialism and a deep-seated anger that's rooted in the pain of being abandoned. The cast, bolstered by Samuthirakani's commanding elder character, and all the Telugu-inflected banter that comes with it (which I have to say feels like a beautiful tribute to the world of regional cinema) all seem to be having the time of their lives.
Visually, HanuMan really outshines itself - considering the budget, that is. Cinematographer Shivendra Namana paints Anjanadri in lush, green-hued strokes - those drone shots sweeping over misty hills and the massive Hanuman statue look like something straight out of Baahubali, but on a tiny fraction of the cost. The VFX, a true collaboration from some of India's top studios, deliver results that leave the crowd on the edge of their seats: Hanumanthu's transformations are like a shimmering glow, his battles are just a mad whirlwind of his tail flying through flames and his enemies crumbling like paper. But it's the restraint where Varma really shines - he saves the big reveal of Lord Hanuman for this one epic vision quest, building up to moments that'll absolutely leave you breathless without overdoing it.
The last half hour is just pure release: a wild, crazy mix of action, drama and devotion that's like being swept up in a jatara, with chants rising to a deafening roar and the screen just vibrating with all the energy and colour of saffron. Gowra Hari's background score is just the quiet hero - layering up those Carnatic rhythms with big orchestral swells that turn every single bell chime and swing of that gada into something truly special, and before long you've got a whole theatre full of people acting like they're in a temple.
Of course no jump is perfect. The first hour is slow going—a predictable love triangle, village problems that border on melodrama—echoing every underdog story from Lagaan to RRR. Pacing falters in the second act, Hanumanthu’s power-ups are rushed, and some VFX shots show the budget’s edges, like glitchy composites in quiet moments. The villain’s arc is interesting but goes cartoonish and over the top, diluting the threat. By November 2025, HanuMan’s legacy will be intact, the PVCU teasers will be fueling sequels that will be bigger than the MCU in desi style. It’s not a polished blockbuster but a prayer: in a genre that’s all about cynicism, Varma reminds us that true power lies in belief. Flawed but fervent, this is cinema that doesn’t just entertain—it empowers, one jump at a time. Jai Hanuman!
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