''America Abbayi'' () is a 1987 Indian

Telugu language Telugu (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken by Telugu people predominantly living in the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, where it is also the official language. It is the most widely spoken member of the Dravidian language fami ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by

Singeetam Srinivasa Rao Singeetam Srinivasa Rao (born 21 September 1931), commonly known as Singeetam, is an Indian film director, screenwriter, producer, composer, and actor. He is widely regarded as one of the most versatile directors of India. He is credited with hav ...

, written by J. Ramachandra Murthy and produced by

D. Madhusudhana Rao Dukkipati Madhusudhana Rao (27 July 1917 – 26 March 2006) was an Indian film producer and screenwriter, known for his works in Telugu cinema. He owned the film production houses named Annapurna Pictures Limited based in Chennai. As a pr ...

. The film was primarily shot in the United States, most notably in the

Midwest The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four Census Bureau Region, census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of ...

area, and surrounding landmarks such as the Hurley Medical Center, the

Renaissance Center The Renaissance Center (also known as the GM Renaissance Center and nicknamed the RenCen) is a group of seven connected skyscrapers in Downtown Detroit, Michigan, United States. The Renaissance Center complex is on the Detroit International Riv ...

, the "Sri Venkateswara Swami Temple of Greater Chicago" in

Aurora, Illinois Aurora is a city in the Chicago metropolitan area located partially in DuPage County, Illinois, DuPage, Kane County, Illinois, Kane, Kendall County, Illinois, Kendall, and Will County, Illinois, Will counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. Locat ...

Cedar Point Amusement Park Cedar Point is a amusement park located on a Lake Erie peninsula in Sandusky, Ohio, United States. Opened in 1870, it is considered the second-oldest operating amusement park in the U.S. behind Lake Compounce. Cedar Point is owned and oper ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

McLaren Flint McLaren Flint is a nonprofit, 378 bed tertiary teaching hospital located in Flint, Michigan. McLaren is affiliated with the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine's medical residency programs, including family medicine, internal me ...

, and

Dow Gardens Dow Gardens is a botanical garden located at 1809 Eastman Avenue, Midland, Michigan, United States. Visitors are invited to leave the pathway and explore the uniquely-designed landscape, take a tour of the historic Pines Home, participate in one o ...

Midland, Michigan Midland is a city in and the county seat of Midland County, Michigan. The city's population was 42,547 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Midland Micropolitan Statistical Area, part of the larger Saginaw-Midland-Bay City Comb ...

Plot

The plot revolves around young Raja (Master Shravan Shankar), the son of an

Indian American Indian Americans or Indo-Americans are citizens of the United States with ancestry from India. The United States Census Bureau uses the term Asian Indian to avoid confusion with Native Americans, who have also historically been referred to ...

medical doctor A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

Jyotsna ( Ashwini). Jyotsna works at the Hurley Medical Center and lives with her father Sivaram (

Kaikala Satyanarayana Kaikala Satyanarayana (25 July 1935 – 23 December 2022) was an Indian actor, producer, director, and politician who predominantly worked in Telugu cinema. He appeared in over 750 films and served as the Member of Parliament in the 11th Lok S ...

) and younger sister Pratima. Jytosna travels to India on a vacation, and meets her friend Sarada (

Radhika Sarathkumar Raadhika Sarathkumar is an Indian actress, entrepreneur, producer and politician who works predominantly in Tamil cinema along with Telugu cinema as well as a few Malayalam, Hindi and Kannada films. She is the founder and CP of the Radaan Me ...

); while Sarada's father Raja Rao ( Gummadi Venkateswara Rao) suffers a heart attack; Jyotsna is then introduced to Sarada's husband Shekhar ( Charan Raj) a businessman who is into international trade. Later, it is revealed that Raja is the son of Sarada, and her first husband Sudhakar ( Chandra Mohan) who died in a road mishap on the day of their wedding. Subsequently, Jyotsna adopts Raja, and requests Sarada to get married and lead a normal life. Upon knowing this truth, Sarada's husband Shekhar vents out his frustration on Sarada for not revealing this before their wedding. In the meantime, Raja Rao's health deteriorates, and the family moves to the U.S. for Raja Rao's treatment with the help of Shekhar and Jyotsna. Raja Rao undergoes surgery in the U.S. and slowly recuperates. Pradeep ( Rajasekhar) along with his friend ( Y. G. Mahendran) work as

Chauffeur A chauffeur is a person employed to drive a passenger motor vehicle, especially a luxury vehicle such as a large sedan or limousine. Originally, such drivers were often personal employees of the vehicle owner, but this has changed to speciali ...

s sponsored by Sivaram. Sivaram introduces Jyotsna to Pradeep, and they both fall in love. On the other hand, Shekhar moves to a different house with his wife Sarada. In a shocking twist, on the night of a dinner party, Raja witnesses the murder of an unidentified woman by Shekhar in the backyard of Shekhar's new home. It is revealed that Shekhar is about to marry Rita (Elizabeth), an American (whose homicide young Raja witnessed), and they are into

drug trafficking A drug is any chemical substance that causes a change in an organism's physiology or psychology when consumed. Drugs are typically distinguished from food and substances that provide nutritional support. Consumption of drugs can be via insuffla ...

in the U.S. Later, when Pradeep confronts Shekhar about these events, and his agenda to kill Raja and divorce Sarada, so that Shekhar can take over the property deed of Raja, Shekhar disagrees Pradeep's allegations. While Raja is performing a Telugu song at his school cultural event, Shekhar tries to shoot Raja, and in the ensuing fight Shekhar kills Sarada. The rest of the plot deals with how Pradeep and Jyotsna rescue Raja from the shackles of Shekhar.

Cast

*Master Shravan Shankar as Raja *

as Sivaram * Rajasekhar as Pradeep * Charan Raj as Shekhar *

as Sarada * Gummadi as Raja Rao * Ashwini as Jyotsna * Y. G. Mahendran as Pradeep's friend

Soundtrack

The soundtrack composed by Saluri Rajeswara Rao with lyrics composed by veterans

C. Narayana Reddy Cingireddi Narayana Reddy (29 July 1931 – 12 June 2017), popularly known as CiNaRe, was an Indian Telugu-language poet and writer. Reddy had produced over eighty literary works including poems, prose-plays, lyrical plays, translations, a ...

and

Aarudhra Arudra (born Bhagavatula Sadasiva Sankara Sastry; 31 August 1925 – 4 June 1998) was an Indian author, poet, lyricist, translator, publisher, dramatist, playwright, and an expert on Telugu literature. He is also known for his works in Telugu cin ...

; the classic track " Edesamegina Endukalidina" received cult following.

References

{{Reflist 1987 films Films shot in Andhra Pradesh Indian thriller drama films Films about women in the Indian diaspora Films set in Michigan Indian-American films Lists of films shot in the United States Films shot in Chicago 1980s Telugu-language films Indian films set in New York City Films directed by Singeetam Srinivasa Rao