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Poola Rangadu
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Wikipedia article
'Poola Rangadu' is a 1967 Indian Telugu-language drama film directed by Adurthi Subba Rao and produced by D. Madhusudhana Rao. It stars Akkineni Nageswara Rao, Jamuna, Sobhan Babu and Vijaya Nirmala, with music composed by S. Rajeswara Rao. The film, loosely based on A. J. Cronin's novel 'Beyond This Place', was released on 24 November and became a box office success. It was remade in Tamil in 1970 as 'En Annan' and in Hindi in 1972 as 'Jeet'.
Plot
Ranga Rao (palyed by Akkineni Nageswara Rao) is a breezy and jovial guy well-known as Poola Rangadu whose livelihood is pulling a horse cart and who loves his associate Venkatalakshmi (palyed by Jamuna). In childhood, his father Veerayya (played by Chittor V. Nagaiah) used to work as a manager at a mill, owned by Purushotham who is slaughtered by his partner Dharma Rao (palyed by Gummadi) and Chalapathi (palyed by Bhanu Prakash). In which, Veerayya is indicted and sentenced to life imprisonment, leaving his children Ranga and Padma alone.
Ranga stands on his own and raises his sister Padma (palyed by Vijaya Nirmala) with love and affection. On the other side, Dharma Rao and Chalapathi become big shots, poses themselves as respectable people, and showing fake adoration towards Purushotham. At present, Padma loves and espouses Dr. Prasad (palyed by Shobhan Babu) who happens to be Purushotham's son. Being aware of it, Narasimhulu (palyed by Chalam), brother of Venkatalakshmi, keeps a grudge as he aspires to marry Padma and divulges the fact to Prasad's mother (palyed by Malathi). Hence, Padma is necked out despite being pregnant. Knowing it, furious, Ranga beats Narasimhulu and gets 1 year of imprisonment.
In jail, Ranga meets his father Veerayya, learns the truth about his indictment and decides to prove his innocence. Time passes, Ranga is released, and by that time, Padma gives birth to a baby boy.
Upon his release, Ranga plants himself in Dharma Rao's house, cooking up conflicts and differences between Dharma Rao and Chalapathi until the truth is finally brought out.
The film ends with Veerayya acquitted, Prasad takes Padma back, and Ranga and Venkatalakshmi marry.
Cast
*Akkineni Nageswara Rao as Ranga Rao
*Jamuna as Venkata Lakshmi
*Sobhan Babu as Dr. Prasad
*Vijaya Nirmala as Padma
*V. Nagaiah as Veeraiah
*Gummadi as Dharma Rao
*Allu Ramalingaiah as Police Punaiah
*Padmanabham as Bujji
*Chalam as Narasimhulu
*Bhanu Prakash as Chalapathi
*Suryakantham as Baby
*Malathi as Prasad's mother
*Geetanjali as Lilly
*Radha Kumari as Punaiah's wife
Production
Producer D. Madhusudhana Rao sought to work on the adaptation of the A. J. Cronin novel 'Beyond This Place', on the suggestion of Gollapudi Maruti Rao. He hired Mullapudi Venkata Ramana to write the story taking a basic plot point from the novel while Ranganayakamma provided the dialogues. Prisons scenes were shot at real locations at Chanchalguda and Musheerabad Central Prisons in Hyderabad with the permission of the state government. Though the film was predominantly filmed in black-and-white, the "Nee Jilugu Paita" song sequence alone was in colour.
Soundtrack
The music was composed by S. Rajeswara Rao.
Release and reception
Griddaluru Gopalrao of 'Zamin Ryot', in his review dated 1 December 1967, criticised the film for its poor direction and performances. The film ran for more than 100 days in 11 centres in Andhra Pradesh.
Awards
* Mullapudi Venkata Ramana won the Nandi Award for Second Best Story Writer (1967).
References
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