Poola Rangadu (1967 film)

Poola Rangadu
Theatrical release poster
Directed byAdurthi Subba Rao
Written byRanganayakamma (dialogues)
Screenplay byAdurthi Subba Rao
Story byMullapudi Venkata Ramana
Based onBeyond This Place
by A. J. Cronin
Produced byD. Madhusudhana Rao
StarringAkkineni Nageswara Rao
Jamuna
Sobhan Babu
Vijaya Nirmala
CinematographyP. S. Selvaraj
Edited byT. Krishna
Music byS. Rajeswara Rao
Production
company
Release date
  • 24 November 1967 (1967-11-24)
Running time
165 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageTelugu

Poola Rangadu is a 1967 Indian Telugu-language crime drama film, produced by D. Madhusudhana Rao under Annapurna Pictures and directed by Adurthi Subba Rao and produced by D. Madhusudhana Rao. It stars Akkineni Nageswara Rao, Jamuna, Sobhan Babu, 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.[1][2]

Plot

Ranga Rao is a carefree jovial person and is better known as Poola Rangadu. He makes a living pulling horse carts and is in love with Venkatalakshmi. When both he and his sister were children, their father Veerayya used to work as a manager at a mill, owned by Purushotham. Purushotham was murdered by his business partners Dharma Rao and Chalapathi. Veerayya is framed by them and is sentenced to life imprisonment leaving his children completely helpless. Despite hardships, Ranga has managed to raise his sister Padma with great care and loves her very much. Venkatalakshmi's no-good brother, Narasimhulu, has an eye for Padma, but she falls in love with Dr. Prasad. Ranga gets her married to the doctor. However, he happens to be the son of Purushotham. A vengeful Narasimhulu uses the fact that Padma is Purushotham's alleged murderer Veerayya's daughter to poison her mother-in-law against her who promptly throws the now pregnant Padma out of the house. Ranga becomes furious at this and beats up Narasimhulu. This ends up getting Ranga arrested and he is sent to prison for a year. In jail, Ranga bumps into his father who tells him about how he was framed. Once his one-year sentence is up, Ranga decides to prove his father's innocence at all cost. With this intention, he makes his way into Dharma Rao's house where he cleverly stirs up trouble between Dharma Rao and Chalapathi. Through various schemes, Ranga finally manages to prove his father's innocence. Padma is reunited with her husband and Ranga marries Venkatalakshmi.

Cast

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 shot in black-and-white, the "Nee Jilugu Paita" song sequence alone was in colour.[2]

Soundtrack

The music was composed by S. Rajeswara Rao.[3]

Song Title Lyrics Singers length
"Neetiki Nilabadi Nijayiteega" Kosaraju Ghantasala 4:13
"Neevu Raavu Nidura Raadu" Dasaradhi P. Susheela 3:49
"Nee Nadumupaina Cheyi Vesi" C. Narayana Reddy Ghantasala, P. Susheela 3:50
"Chigurulu Vesina Kalalannee" C. Narayana Reddy P. Susheela, Mohan Raju 4:11
"Chillara Rallaku Mokkutu" Kosaraju Ghantasala, V. Nagayya 3:24
"Misamisalade Chinadana" C. Narayana Reddy Ghantasala, P. Susheela 3:59
"Siggenduke Pilla" C. Narayana Reddy Madhavapeddi Satyam, Vasantha 3:18
"Eyra Sinnodeyra" C. Narayana Reddy P. Susheela 3:49
"Burrakatha" C. Narayana Reddy Ghantasala. P. Susheela 6:08

Release and reception

Griddaluru Gopalrao of Zamin Ryot, in his review dated 1 December 1967, criticised the film for its poor direction and performances.[4] The film ran for more than 100 days in 11 centres in Andhra Pradesh.[5]

Awards

Mullapudi Venkata Ramana won the Nandi Award for Second Best Story Writer (1967).[6]

References

  1. ^ APK (11 October 2007). "Poolarangadu (1967)". CineGoer. Archived from the original on 22 April 2009. Retrieved 27 August 2009.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Narasimham, M. L. (6 July 2018). "Poola Rangadu (1967)". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 18 April 2021. Retrieved 20 August 2021.
  3. ^ "Poolarangadu (1967)-Song_Booklet". Indiancine.ma. Archived from the original on 16 January 2023. Retrieved 20 August 2021.
  4. ^ Gopalrao, Griddaluru (1 December 1967). "అభిప్రాయం: పూల రంగడు" [Opinion: Poola Rangadu] (PDF). Zamin Ryot (in Telugu). p. 9. Archived (PDF) from the original on 28 June 2021. Retrieved 6 August 2021.
  5. ^ Ram (14 January 2007). "Sobhanbabu's 100 Days Films List". CineGoer. Archived from the original on 27 September 2012. Retrieved 12 July 2012.
  6. ^ "నంది అవార్డు విజేతల పరంపర (1964–2008)" [A series of Nandi Award Winners (1964–2008)] (PDF) (in Telugu). Information & Public Relations of Andhra Pradesh. Archived (PDF) from the original on 23 February 2015. Retrieved 21 August 2020.