Takkari Donga (2002)

The hero is a sharp-shooting thief who lives by his wits in a lawless frontier region of dusty towns, horsemen and bandits. When he crosses paths with a powerful gang of outlaws and with two women, one tough and one tender, the swaggering loner finds himself drawn into a larger fight for justice and revenge. Takkari Donga ("the cunning thief") is a rare Telugu cowboy film in the spirit of the Spaghetti westerns and of Superstar Krishna's 1971 Telugu western Mosagallaku Mosagadu, a nod to Mahesh Babu's father. It was shot largely in desert landscapes, with Mani Sharma's music, and featured Bipasha Basu in her only Telugu film and Lisa Ray. It was ambitious and stylish but performed only moderately at the box office.