About the film:

Vande Mataram is the debut production of Vauhini banner and is also that of pioneering filmmaker BN Reddy. The elaborate melodrama, based on Reddy's own unpublished short story 'Mangala Sutram', presented the problems of uneven development in terms of an emotional conflict between an innocent feudal rural female and a worldly-wise capitalist urban male.

Hero Raghu (Nagaiah), an unemployed graduate, insists on marrying a village girl Janaki (Kanchanamala) despite the opposition of his scheming mother who wants a dowry. Raghu's unemployment problems continue despite his migration towards city, leaving his wife in the clutches of her mother-in-law. When Raghu wins a lottery for Rs 5 lakhs and returns home, he finds his wife and infant son have left.

Although his mother insists he marry again, Raghu goes to the city and dedicates himself to social work, including building factories in order to create employment opportunities. In this his rich female college friend, provoking gossip around their relationship, assists him. Raghu's wife, now a poor flower seller, sees her husband with his new friend and believes he has married. Eventually the misunderstanding is revolved.

A major commercial hit, this film engages the agenda of reform and nationalistic movements: Raghu names a lottery ticket seller Vande Matharam, which mean 'Hail to the Mother' and one of the India's national anthems, and tramples underfoot his 'foreign' degree in a scene that caused censor problems. The film also introduces numerous stereotypes, e.g. the suave urban crook and stage-stuck villager (who marries the Hero's sister).