Bheemasena Nalamaharaja

Bheemasena Nalamaharaja is a 2020 Indian Kannada-language drama film directed by Karthik Saragur. The title references characters from the Mahabharata—Bhimasena (Bhima) and Nala Maharaja—both renowned for their culinary skills. The film stars Aravinnd Iyer as Latthesha, a passionate cook, and Aarohi Narayan as Vedavalli, a rebellious Iyengar woman. The narrative weaves themes of love, loss, and friendship, with food serving as a central motif. The film was released on Amazon Prime Video on October 29, 2020, as part of their Great Indian Festival. Bheemasena Nalamaharaja^[a] is a 2020 Indian Kannada-language drama film directed by Karthik Saragur and produced by Pushkara Mallikarjunaiah, Rakshit Shetty, and Hemanth M. Rao. It stars Aravinnd Iyer and Aarohi Narayan along with Priyanka, Aadya, and Achyut Kumar.^[2]

Bheemasena Nalamaharaja
Release poster
Directed by	Karthik Saragur
Written by	Karthik Saragur
Produced by	Rakshit Shetty Pushkara Mallikarjunaiah Hemanth M. Rao
Starring	Aravinnd Iyer Aarohi Narayan
Cinematography	Ravindranath
Music by	Charan Raj
Production companies	Paramvah Studios Pushkar Films Lost and Found Films
Distributed by	Amazon Prime Video
Release date	29 October 2020 (2020-10-29)
Country	India
Language	Kannada

As per the director, the film is "based on six rasas—sweet, sour, salty, bitter, pungent and astringent, and the six characters represent six rasas."^[3] The soundtrack and score was composed by Charan Raj and the cinematography was handled by Ravindranath.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the film was streamed worldwide from 29 October 2020 on Amazon Prime Video^[4] as a part of their Great Indian Festival.^[5]

Cast

• Aravinnd Iyer as Latthesh / Bheemasena Nalamaharaja^[a]
• Aarohi Narayan as Dr. Arohi / Vedavalli Varadarajan
• Priyanka Thimmesh as Vedavalli Varadarajan / Sarah Mary
• Achyuth Kumar as Varadarajan Iyengar
• Vijay Chendoor as Kenda
• Lakshmi Karanth as Saraswathy Varadarajan
• Sandhya Arakere as Kavitha
• Aadya Udupi as Lalli
• Amaan as Dr. Francis
• Pooja Kashyap as Veda's friend
• Chitrali Tejpal as Young Vedavalli
• Praveen Kumar Gasti as Worker at Nadimoola Resort
• Manas Gabriel as Aravind
• Deepa K N as Aravind's mother
• Meese Anjanappa as Hotel Owner
• Tushar Gowda as Young Latthesh
• Vinod Divakar as Church father

Production

The film was officially launched on Varamahalakshmi festival day on 4 August 2017.^[6]

Accolades

Award	Category	Recipient	Result	Ref
67th Filmfare Awards South	Best Actress	Aarohi Narayan	Nominated	[7]
	Best Supporting Actor	Achyuth Kumar	Nominated

Notes

1. The name is a reference to Bhimasena and Nala Maharaja, characters from the Mahabharata regarded as great cooks in Indian tradition. Nala is also attributed as an author of Pakadarpana, a book on ancient Indian cuisine; while the popular Indian stew Aviyal is attributed to Bhima.^[1]