''Adavi Ramudu'' () is a 1977 Indian
Telugu-language
action film
Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include l ...
produced by Satyanarayana and Suryanarayana under their banner of Satya Chitra. It was directed by
K. Raghavendra Rao
Kovelamudi Raghavendra Rao (born 23 May 1942) is an Indian film director, screenwriter, and producer known for his works predominantly in Telugu cinema besides having directed a few Hindi films. He has garnered four state Nandi Awards and fiv ...
. The film stars
N. T. Rama Rao
Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao (28 May 1923 – 18 January 1996), often referred to by his initials NTR, was an Indian actor, filmmaker and politician who served as List of Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh, Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh fo ...
,
Jaya Prada and
Jayasudha in lead roles along with
Nagabhushanam,
Satyanarayana,
Gummadi and
Jaggayya
Kongara Jaggayya (31 December 1928 – 5 March 2004) was an Indian actor, littérateur, journalist, lyricist, dubbing artist and politician known for his works predominantly in Telugu cinema and Telugu theatre. He was known as ''Kanchu Kantham J ...
in other supporting roles.
The film was based on
Vijay's 1973 film ''
Gandhada Gudi
''Gandhada Gudi'' () is a 1973 Indian Kannada-language action drama film directed by Vijay and produced by M. P. Shankar. Rajkumar in his 150th film portrays an honest forest officer Kumar while Vishnuvardhan plays the antagonist, Anand, ...
.''
The film focuses on the need to preserve the flora and fauna at a time when the
CITES
CITES (shorter name for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, also known as the Washington Convention) is a multilateral treaty to protect endangered plants and animals from the threats of interna ...
treaty was signed with an aim to reduce the economic incentive to poach endangered species.
The grand success of ''Gandhada Gudi'' made with a forest backdrop prompted NTR to work on a script and dialogues based on a forest backdrop.
In 1973, when Satyanarayana and Suryanarayana were planning their next production venture ''Gandhada Gudi'', went on to be a blockbuster hit in
Karnataka
Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...
. This prompted the team to suggest that
Jandhyala
Jandhyala Subrahmanya Sastry (14 January 1951 – 19 June 2001), known mononymously by his surname Jandhyala, was an Indian film director, screenwriter, playwright, and actor known for his works in Telugu cinema and Telugu theatre. He is popu ...
should work on the script and dialogues based on a forest backdrop.
They then approached
Raghavendra Rao
Kovelamudi Raghavendra Rao (born 23 May 1942) is an Indian film director, screenwriter, and producer known for his works predominantly in Telugu cinema besides having directed a few Hindi films. He has garnered four state Nandi Awards and fiv ...
to work for them, whom they already knew as an assistant director as he just started taking up direction independently.
Principal photography
Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production.
Personnel
Besides the main film personnel, such as a ...
began in January 1977 and was shot extensivly in and around
Madumalai forest.
The film was edited by
Kotagiri Venkateswara Rao
Kotagiri Venkateswara Rao is an Indian film editor. In the film industry many call him Chanti Garu. He is the younger brother of Kotagiri Gopala Rao, who died on 6 November 2012, a known film editor and producer, who holds the banner of Giri ...
and the music composed by
K. V. Mahadevan, with the lyrics written by
Veturi
Veturi Sundararama Murthy (29 January 1936 – 22 May 2010), known mononymously by his surname Veturi, was an Indian poet, lyricist and journalist who is popular for writing Telugu songs. His career in the Telugu cinema spanned more than four de ...
. The cinematography was done by
A. Vincent.
The film was released on 28 April 1977 to positive reviews. The film was a commercial success, running for 366 days in theatres. This film won the
Filmfare Best Film Award (Telugu)
The Filmfare Award for Best Film is given by the ''Filmfare'' magazine as part of its annual Filmfare Awards for Hindi films.
The award was first given in 1954. Here is a list of the award winners and the nominees of the respective years. Eac ...
. The film re-brought NTR in the league of top heroes of the Telugu film Industry.
It was also a breakthrough for
Raghavendra Rao
Kovelamudi Raghavendra Rao (born 23 May 1942) is an Indian film director, screenwriter, and producer known for his works predominantly in Telugu cinema besides having directed a few Hindi films. He has garnered four state Nandi Awards and fiv ...
and helped him establish himself in the industry. It was recorded an all time blockbuster and was the highest grossing Telugu film of the 1970s until its record was broken by the 1981 film ''
Premabhisekham''.
Plot
Dharma Raju and his son Nagaraju run a smuggling and illegal transport racket of forest produce. Ramu opposes and raises the villagers to fight against him. Padma who is the daughter of forest officer loves him. One tribal lady Chilakamma also loves Ramu as a brother. Dharma Raju takes the help of one Jaggu to send Ramu away from the forest. The second half of the film reveals that Ramu is, in fact, a forest officer in a secret mission to investigate the case of forest affairs. The story finally leads to the arrest of all criminals.
Cast
*
N. T. Rama Rao
Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao (28 May 1923 – 18 January 1996), often referred to by his initials NTR, was an Indian actor, filmmaker and politician who served as List of Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh, Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh fo ...
as Ramu
*
Jaya Prada as Padma
*
Jayasudha as Chilakamma
*
Nagabhushanam as Dharmaraju
*
Satyanarayana as Nagaraju
*
Gummadi as Raja Shekaram
*
Jaggayya
Kongara Jaggayya (31 December 1928 – 5 March 2004) was an Indian actor, littérateur, journalist, lyricist, dubbing artist and politician known for his works predominantly in Telugu cinema and Telugu theatre. He was known as ''Kanchu Kantham J ...
*
Raja Babu as Bheemanna
*
Sridhar as Jaggu
*
Mada
Mada ( sa, मद) is a term used in both Hindu theology and mythology. It is one of the Arishadvargas. It refers to one of the six enemy of the mind or a vice according to the Hindu scriptures. It is the Hindu equivalent of Pride from the seve ...
*
Pandari Bai
Pandari Bai (1930 – 29 January 2003) was an Indian actress who worked in South Indian cinema, mostly in Kannada cinema during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. She is considered Kannada cinema's first successful heroine. She has acted as both heroi ...
*
Rama Prabha
Rama Prabha is an Indian actress who performs in Telugu, Tamil and Hindi films. She has acted in more than 1,400 films and is credited as a character artist who shared screen space with superstars across all generation of South Indian Cinem ...
*
Kavitha
*Baby Rohini as Gowri
Soundtrack
Music composed by
K. V. Mahadevan. Lyrics were written by
Veturi
Veturi Sundararama Murthy (29 January 1936 – 22 May 2010), known mononymously by his surname Veturi, was an Indian poet, lyricist and journalist who is popular for writing Telugu songs. His career in the Telugu cinema spanned more than four de ...
.
Production
Development
The grand success of
Rajkumar's 1972 Kannada film ''
Gandhada Gudi
''Gandhada Gudi'' () is a 1973 Indian Kannada-language action drama film directed by Vijay and produced by M. P. Shankar. Rajkumar in his 150th film portrays an honest forest officer Kumar while Vishnuvardhan plays the antagonist, Anand, ...
'' made with a forest backdrop prompted NTR to work on a script and dialogues based on a forest backdrop.
Producer Suryanarayana said, "After a disastrous ''
Prema Bandham'', we planned ''Adavi Ramudu'' with Ramarao gaaru, and a two-films old
Raghavendra Rao
Kovelamudi Raghavendra Rao (born 23 May 1942) is an Indian film director, screenwriter, and producer known for his works predominantly in Telugu cinema besides having directed a few Hindi films. He has garnered four state Nandi Awards and fiv ...
. His much-celebrated ''
Jyothi'' didn't start by that time. But Ramarao gaaru knew KRR well enough from the time Raghavendra Rao assisted 'pouraaNika brahma'
Kamalakara Kameswara Rao
Kamalakara Kameswara Rao (14 October 1911 – 29 June 1998) was an Indian film director known for his works predominantly in Telugu cinema, and a few Tamil and Hindi films. Widely known as ''Pauranika Chitra Brahma'' (), Kameswara Rao directed fi ...
in ''
Pandava Vanavasamu'' and agreed readily to do the film. After completing the shooting, he just complemented us saying that shooting of this film shall remain as one of the best memories in his life. The film was such a big success that people of that generation speak volumes of it and feel nostalgic even today, wherever I go. I am really happy that I made such a film with my cousin Satyanarayana".
Satya Chitra banner (of producers Nekkanti Veera Venkata Satyanarayana and Arumilli Suryanarayana) started their first film with
Sobhan Babu
Sobhan Babu (born Uppu Sobhana Chalapathi Rao; 14 January 1937 – 20 March 2008) was an Indian actor known for his works in Telugu cinema.Bangaru Panjaram in Venditera Paatalu, Krishnasastri Sahityam, third volume, Vishalandhra Publishing House ...
's ''Tahsildar Gaari Ammaayi'' (12 November 1971), which was based on a serial by Kavilipati Vijayalakshmi in
Andhra Prabha
''Andhra Prabha'' - ''Journalism first'' is a Telugu language daily newspaper of India sold mostly in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. The newspaper is one of the oldest running Telugu-language daily newspapers of India. The newspaper ...
titled ''Vidhi Vinyaasaalu''. The film was directed by
K.S. Prakasha Rao, father of K. Raghavendra Rao; Raghavendra Rao was an assistant director for that film. The film was one of the big hits in Sobhan Babu's career in which he played a dual role. After that film, they made ''Prema Bandham'' (12 March 1976 – the same day as NTR's ''
Aaradhana'') with Sobhan Babu and
Vanisree
Vanisri (born Rathna Kumari) is an Indian actress known for her works predominantly in Telugu, Tamil, and Kannada films. In a film career spanning 40 years, she has received three Filmfare Awards South, the Nandi Awards and the Tamil Nadu Sta ...
under the direction of
K. Viswanath
Kasinadhuni Viswanath (born 19 February 1930) is an Indian film director, screenwriter and actor, known for his works primarily in Telugu cinema. He is recipient of five National Film Awards, seven state Nandi Awards, ten Filmfare Awards South ...
. but it was declared a flop as it could not sustain the craze of ''Aaradhana''.
Casting
When they were planning their next film, they approached Raghavendra Rao to work for them, whom they already knew as an assistant director as he just started taking up direction independently. NTR had already given them dates in September 1976. At that time,
Rajkumar's movie ''
Gandhada Gudi
''Gandhada Gudi'' () is a 1973 Indian Kannada-language action drama film directed by Vijay and produced by M. P. Shankar. Rajkumar in his 150th film portrays an honest forest officer Kumar while Vishnuvardhan plays the antagonist, Anand, ...
'', made with a forest backdrop, went on to be a blockbuster hit in
Karnataka
Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...
. This prompted the team to suggest that
Jandhyala
Jandhyala Subrahmanya Sastry (14 January 1951 – 19 June 2001), known mononymously by his surname Jandhyala, was an Indian film director, screenwriter, playwright, and actor known for his works in Telugu cinema and Telugu theatre. He is popu ...
should work on the script and dialogues based on a forest backdrop.
Jayasudha, who already worked with K. Raghavendra Rao for his film ''Raja'', was chosen for an important role.
Jayaprada was a new sensation in Telugu film industry and a budding artist at that time with her ''
Sirisirimuvva'' being a super hit. Thus, she was taken for the heroine role.
Sridhar was approached to do an important role opposite Jayasudha. Jayasudha was not aware that she was doing the second role until the last minute, but since she had already agreed to do the film, she just went ahead keeping faith in Raghavendra Rao. She got a lot of letters after the film's release from her fans requesting her to not do a second lead role again in any of her future films, though she had a good role in the film (People were not aware that she signed this film before she did ''Jyothi'', as ''Jyothi'' hit the screens earlier than ''Adavi Ramudu'' and brought Jayasudha a good name.).
Though he had given the dates for ''Adavi Ramudu'', NTR was doing ''
Daana Veera Soora Karna
''Daana Veera Soora Karna'' () is a 1977 Indian Telugu-language Hindu mythological film co-written, produced and directed by N. T. Rama Rao under his banner, Ramakrishna Cine Studios. Based on the life of Karna from the ''Mahabharata'', ...
'' at the same time, which he planned to complete before January in order for it to be ready for
Sankranthi
Makar(a) Sankranti (), also referred to as Uttarayana, Maghi, or simply Sankranti, is a Hindu observance and a festival. Usually falling on the date of January 14 annually, this occasion marks the transition of the Sun from the zodiac of Sag ...
release. He called the producers Satyanarayana and Suryanarayana to inform them that he'd give bulk dates once he completed the shooting of ''Daana Veera Soora Karna''.
Filming
![Jungle_trek,_Wild_planet_resort,_Mudumalai_10](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/38/Jungle_trek%2C_Wild_planet_resort%2C_Mudumalai_10.jpg)
Except for the opening shot, the entire film's filming was done in
Madumalai forest. The opening shot was done in
Madras in a studio on 9 January 1977. ''Adavi Ramudu'' was the first film for which NTR had given dates for more than a month (35 days) out of Madras. It is NTR's first color film shot in
Cinemascope. This was also the first film that used a Cinemascope lens imported from Japan by Prasad Labs (Madras). Earlier Cinemascope films ''
Alluri Seetharamaraju'' and ''
Kurukshetram'' were done with a lens brought from
Mumbai
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...
. Cameraman Vincent first worked with NTR much earlier, for the film ''Sontha Ooru'' produced by Sree Ghantasala, and this was the second film for him with NTR after a long time.
There were only three Government Guesthouses in Madumalai forest, and the producers could not accommodate the 300 plus cast and crew in that dense forest. So the producers took carpenters, molders, painters, etc. to the forest, worked for fifty days to build new guesthouses and took special permission for electricity in the middle of the forest. The nearest town or airport was 250 km away from the forest, and for every small thing, they had to go all the way to Mysore. Thus, they used to get all of a day's needs each morning from Mysore.
Jayasudha recollects two accidents during this shooting: one was while doing a scene where she and Jaya Prada were sitting on elephants. Junior artistes were practising a Dappu scene right then, and the elephants got panicked by the noise and threw down both the lead ladies with their trunks. Luckily, they escaped with minor injuries. Another one was a chase scene where she and Jaya Prada were chased by villains while they were trying to escape on a horse cart. The cart's axle broke and both of them were injured and were forced to rest for a couple of days.
Release
The film was released on 28 April 1977 to positive reviews.
Reception
The film collected in its 50 days theatrical run and within 67 days which was a then record later broken by NTR's own ''
Vetagaadu
''Vetagadu'' () is a 1979 Indian Telugu-language action film, produced by M. Arjuna Raju and K. Sivarama Raju under the Roja Movies banner and directed by K. Raghavendra Rao. It stars N. T. Rama Rao and Sridevi, with music composed by Chakra ...
'' in 1979. The film was the first Telugu film to collect Rs. 3 crores (Rs. 30 million). It had a 100-day run in 32 centres,
a 175-day run in 16 centres,
and a 200-day run in 8 centres.
The film had a run for 302 days in Apsara theatre,
Vijayawada
Vijayawada, formerly known as Bezawada, is the second largest city in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh and is a part of the state's Capital Region. It is the administrative headquarters of the NTR district. Its metropolitan region comprises N ...
. The film had a run for 365 days in four centers. The film still holds the record for the longest run with regular shows in Secunderabad (161 days). The film collected approximately in its 366 days theatrical run from
Waltair
, image_alt =
, image_caption = From top, left to right: Visakhapatnam aerial view, Vizag seaport, Simhachalam Temple, Aerial view of Rushikonda Beach, Beach road, Novotel Visakhapatnam, INS Kursura submarine museu ...
, in its 115 days run from
Eluru
Eluru is a city and the district headquarters of Eluru district in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is one of the 14 municipal corporations in the state and the mandal headquarters of Eluru mandal in the Eluru revenue division. The cit ...
, in its total run from
Kakinada
Kakinada ( formerly called Kakinandiwada, Coringa, and Cocanada; ) is the sixth largest city of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh and serves as the district headquarters of the Kakinada District. It lies on the coast of the Bay of Bengal. J. ...
, from
Rajahmundry
Rajahmundry, officially known as Rajamahendravaram, is a city in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh and District headquarters of East Godavari district. It is the sixth most populated city in the state. During British rule, the District of Rajah ...
, from
Hyderabad
Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India ...
, from
Srikakulam, from a single theatre in
Kurnool and from its 100 days run in
Tirupathi. In Hyderabad, the film was housefull for 47 days in Andhra Pradesh's then biggest film hall, Venkatesa 70 mm where it collected 1.3 million, an amount twice the figure of the previous single theatre record collection. The film had such a euphoria among the people that it created a new unbroken record by completing 100 days theatrical run in two "''shift''" theatres while in Kanaka Mahal theatre at
Nellore
Nellore is a city located on the banks of Penna River, in Nellore district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It serves as the headquarters of the district, as well as Nellore mandal and Nellore revenue division. It is the fourth most p ...
where it was very difficult for a film to get four screenings a day, Adavi Ramudu was screened for five times a day until its 102nd day and held this record for almost nine years until broken by NTR's son, Nandamuri Balakrishna's Seetharama Kalyanam.
Legacy
The film re-brought NTR in the league of top heroes of the Telugu film Industry The success of the film made K. Raghavendra Rao an established director in Telugu cinema. The title of the film was used for
a 2004 Prabhas starrer movie.
Awards
*
Filmfare Award for Best Film - Telugu
''Filmfare'' is an Indian English-language fortnightly magazine published by Worldwide Media. Acknowledged as one of Indian most popular entertainment magazines, it publishes pieces involving news, interviews, photos, videos, reviews, events, a ...
- N.V.V. Satyanarayana (1977)
*
Nandi Award for Best Cinematographer -
A. Vincent (1977)
[(in Telugu)]
Notes
References
External links
*
{{K. Raghavendra Rao
1977 films
Films directed by K. Raghavendra Rao
Films scored by K. V. Mahadevan
Films set in forests
1970s Telugu-language films