Development

In December 2017, Vamsee stated that he wanted to make a biographical film of Tiger Nageswara Rao, who was a thief and lived in the 1970s.^[6] In early March 2018, Rana Daggubati was reported to portray the role of Tiger Nageswara Rao.^[7] However, the sources were dismissed as in early June, Nani was reported to portray the role,^[8] but were later dismissed as in late April 2021, it was reported that Vamsee had met Ravi Teja in Hyderabad, while Teja was filming for Khiladi (2022), and narrated a script which impressed the actor.^[9] However, it was unclear whether it was the script of Tiger Nageswara Rao or a new script. On 3 November, a public announcement was made by Abhishek Agarwal, who is producing the project under the banner Abhishek Agarwal Arts. The announcement further stated that the title is Tiger Nageswara Rao, confirming it to be the biological film, G. V. Prakash Kumar would compose the score, while R. Madhi and Kotagiri Venkateswara Rao would handle the cinematography and editing, respectively.^[10]

Filming

Principal photography of the film began on 2022 at a place of five acres near Shamshabad of Telangana and filming started in Hyderabad.^[11][12] During the shooting of the film, Ravi Teja was injured in an action scene and resumed filming after recovering from injury.^[13] Nupur Sanon and Anupam Kher joined the filming in 2022.^[14][15] The film team wrapped off in July 2023.^[16]

Theatrical

The film was released on 20 October 2023, along with dubbed versions in Tamil, Hindi, Kannada, and Malayalam languages.

Home media

The film's digital rights were bought by Amazon Prime Video in all languages.^[17] On the platform, the film was premiered on 17 November 2023 in Telugu and dubbed versions of Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada languages.^[18]

The Hindi version was trimmed to 144 minutes and released on YouTube, where it received high viewership.^[19]

Critical reception

Raghu Bandi of The Indian Express rated the film with 2/5 stars and wrote "Tiger Nageswara Rao has big ambitions, but the heart of the film is not in the right place. The result is a movie that is not convincing enough."^[20] Janani K of India Today rated the film with 2/5 stars and wrote "‘Tiger Nageswara Rao’ needed more punch to keep the audience glued to their seats throughout the film. Had the team concentrated on the film’s pacing, it could have achieved the desired impact.^[21] Gautaman Bhaskaran of News 18 rated the film with 2/5 stars and wrote "Ravi Teja Starrer Loses Focus And Wanders All Over The Place".^[22]

Balakrishna Ganeshan of The News Minute rated the film with 1.5/5 stars and wrote "presenting a sensitive subject in a commercial format without nuance results in Tiger Nageswara Rao ending up as a lousy film."^[23] Mayur Sanap of Rediff.com rated the film with 1/5 stars and wrote "Despite Ravi Teja's relentless energy, the drama is bogged down by the tedious emotional beats in its dramatic moments. In its final stretch, when the film wants you to be moved, you only feel exasperated."^[24]. The movie was reviewed by the Telugu newspaper Eenadu and they observed that, with the exception of a few scenes, the overall quality of the film falls short of expectations.^[25]