Ghani (2022)

Ghani grows up under a cloud: his father was a boxer thrown out of the sport in a doping scandal, and his mother made him promise never to box. He trains anyway, behind her back, and starts climbing towards the national championship, hoping a title will restore his father's honour. As he rises he discovers that the old scandal was not what it seemed, and that the people who run the sport and its betting have reasons to stop him. Ghani was the debut film of director Kiran Korrapati, and Varun Tej trained for months to build a boxer's physique. Kannada star Upendra and Hindi actor Suniel Shetty both appear in key roles, and it was Saiee Manjrekar's first Telugu release.