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About
the film:
LV
Prasad's comedy stages the victory of nationalist-modern alliance
over decadent feudalism, with all the ingredients of comic-social
film. The villain is a Jamindar, Ramadasu (Anjaneyulu), who has
recently acquired colonial title of Rao Bahadur and lives in borrowed
splendor, hosting lavish dinners while, in a back room, his wily
manager Bhajagovindam (Relangi) keeps a crowd of creditors at bay
with intimidation and false promises.
His
son Raghu (Jaggaiah) is scheduled to return from England, but the
father has reduced Raghu's wife Leela (Jamuna) to penury, planning
instead a new, more profitable alliance for his foreign educated
son with Manjiri (Savitri), the daughter of Diwan Bahadur Mukunda
Rao (SV Rranga Rao). The unsuspecting Diwan Bahadur supports the
marriage, but Manjiri knows the truth. Leela's brother Raja Rao
(NTR), an imprisoned freedom fighter, is Manjiri's lover.
On
the day of his release from prison, Manjiri explains the situation
to Raja Rao and emphasis the need to reform the family before reforming
the nation. With the help of Bhajagovindam, revealed as a schizophrenic
character that doubles as the friend of goodies as well as Sutradhari
(chorus), they stage a drama in order to reform the families and
restore the order and justice.
Bhajagovindam
then takes charge of the plot. Leela refuses to leave her husband's
place and Rao Bahadur allows her to remain as a mute maid servant.
The England returned Raghu, a modern figure that although apposed
to his father's machinations and aware of the mute maid's real identity,
nevertheless continues to play his assigned role by wooing Manjiri,
occasioning a few safely erotic scenes as Manjiri is courted by
two men.
As
the narration progresses, Raja Rao and Bhajagovindam adopt different
disguises and enact several didactic-comic episodes intended to
expose greed: Raghu produces a demanding foreign wife who forces
Rao Bahadur to devise various methods of raising money until his
creditors eventually catch up with him.
As
the earlier Pelli Chesi Choodu(1952),
three couples are formed or reunited at the end. The film's most
remarkable sections focus mainly on the multiple roles of Bhajagovindam,
extending to the staging of a play with in the plot, which itself
is 'staged' by his presence as the commentator/chorus. The barely
coherent plot is given a semblance of unity by Relangi's initial
declaration that a didactic plot is to be staged, which in turn
allows various characters to indulge in actions that would be considered
'unbecoming' in a more realistic idiom.
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