Salaar: Part 1 – Ceasefire is a 2023 Indian Telugu-language epic action drama film directed by Prashanth Neel and produced by Vijay Kiragandur under Hombale Films. The film stars Prabhas in the titular role, alongside an ensemble cast of Prithviraj Sukumaran, Shruti Haasan, Jagapathi Babu, Bobby Simha and Sriya Reddy. In the fictional dystopian city-state of Khansaar, where monarchy still exists, the film follows the friendship between Deva (Prabhas), the exiled prince of Khansaar, and Varadha (Prithviraj Sukumaran), the current prince of Khansaar. When a coup d’état is planned by his father’s ministers and his relatives, Varadha enlists Deva’s help to become Khansaar’s undisputed ruler.
The film’s initial storyline was pitched from Neel’s debut film Ugramm (2014) and is the maiden part of a two-part film.[3] It was officially announced in December 2020 under the title Salaar, however, in July 2023, its first instalment was titled as Salaar: Part 1 – Ceasefire. Principal photography commenced in January 2021, and occurred sporadically in several legs over nearly three years, before wrapping in late 2023. Filming locations included Telangana, Italy and Budapest. Production difficulties, ranging from the pandemic, reshoots and VFX delays, postponed Salaar‘s release date several times. The music is composed by Ravi Basrur, cinematography handled by Bhuvan Gowda and editing by Ujwal Kulkarni.
Part 1 – Ceasefire was theatrically released on 22 December 2023, coinciding with Christmas. The film received positive reviews from critics. It was a commercial success, earning ₹618.06−700 crore on a ₹270 crore budget making it the highest-grossing Telugu film of 2023, third highest-grossing Telugu film of all time, and the seventeenth highest-grossing Indian film of all time at the end of its theatrical run.[a
