DJ Tillu is a 2022 Indian Telugu-language romantic crime comedy film directed by debutant Vimal Krishna who co-wrote the film with Siddhu Jonnalagadda. Produced by Sithara Entertainments, the film stars Jonnalagadda as the titular character alongside Neha Shetty, Prince Cecil and Brahmaji.
The film was announced in October 2020 under the title Narudi Brathuku Natana. Principal photography began in February 2021 with filming taking place in Hyderabad. The background score was scored by S. Thaman while the soundtrack was composed by Sricharan Pakala and Ram Miriyala. Initially scheduled to be released on 14 January 2022, the film was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in India.
DJ Tillu was released theatrically on 12 February 2022 and received mixed reviews from critics. Despite this, the film became a commercial success at the box office. A sequel titled Tillu Square is scheduled to be released on 15 September 2023 with Jonnalagadda reprising his role.
Plot
Bala Gangadhar Tilak alias DJ Tillu is an aspiring DJ who meets Radhika in a club and asks her for a drink to which she agrees. After the drinks, Tillu drops Radhika at her apartment. While walking towards her apartment, she calls her boyfriend Rohit, but she hears the sound of another girl with him and confirms that he is cheating on her. She decides to pay back Rohit and begins a relationship with Tillu. A few weeks later on Tillu's birthday, Rohit shows images of Radhika and Tillu together and threatens to expose them. On the other hand, Radhika leaks about the affair that Rohit was having and decides to leave the apartment. She then goes into her room to pack her luggage and an enraged Rohit tries to assault her. In self-defense, Radhika pushes Rohit, which causes him to hit his head on the wall and die from the injury.
Radhika calls Tillu and tells him to come to her apartment. Tillu arrives and sees all the photos in the room with Rohit and also Rohit's dead corpse. Tillu gets scared and tells Radhika to call the police, but Radhika does not want to call the police as she is afraid that she will be sentenced to prison for killing Rohit. She explains everything to Tillu and they decide to bury the body somewhere. When they were burying Rohit's body, a drunk man named Chandrakant sees them bury the body and films the entire process. Chandrakant stops Tillu and Radhika, where he blackmails them to provide 25 lakh in two days in order for the video not to be leaked. Radhika suggests that she knows a club and the club's owner Shannon does illegal business and can obtain the money from him. She then manages to seduce Shannon and steals 2 crore. Frustrated on how Radhika obtains the money and seeing the way she seduces Shannon, Tillu gets into an argument with Radhika.
Seeing the fight ensure, CI Rao stops Tillu and Radhika. To escape from the situation, Radhika tells that she does not know Tillu and that she needs to be dropped at her house. Shannon later finds Tillu at a tea stall and asks him about the money. Tillu tells that it was in his car and gets Shannon to drive to the earlier spot, but the car and the money are missing. He then finds the car and Radhika at the spot where they buried Rohit and Shannon finds his money. Radhika explains that Rao actually came into her apartment and found blood and threatened that he would get her arrested and attempts to assault her, but manages to escape. Later, they are chased by Rao and Shannon is thrown out of the car. However, Tillu and Radhika escape and reaches a hotel with the money. Radhika explains to Tillu that she tried to give the money to Chandrakant, but he also tried to assault her, which made her to leave the premises.
Tillu goes to the restroom, while Radhika leaves the hotel with the money. Shannon and Rao thrash Tillu, who goes into a coma and loses his memory. Tillu is then admitted to the hospital, where Shannon and Rao interrogate Tillu for the money and Rao's phone. With Tillu not remembering what happened, Rao files a case in court with Radhika and attempts to get them both arrested for the murder. At court, it is revealed that Tillu actually bribed Chandrakant and Rao's colleague Fish with a video and manages to get both Radhika and Rao arrested. A month later, Tillu visits Radhika in prison and explains that he never lost his memory and made a plan to find Radhika and obtains the money by bribing a music director, who behaved rudely with Radhika. He manages to issue a bail order and gets Radhika released. Tillu explains that he only helped her, because he felt bad for her. Later, Shannon calls Tillu and asks for his money, where Tillu tells him that the money is in Paris and that the plot would continue from there.