''Atha Okinti Kodale'' () is a 1958 Indian

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

-language comedy drama film produced and directed by

K. B. Tilak Korlipara Balagangadhara Tilak (14 January 1926 – 23 September 2010), popularly known as K. B. Tilak, was an Indian independence movement, Indian independence activist, film director and producer. Early life He was born at Denduluru in West ...

. Based on a play by Barampuram Kollady, it features an ensemble cast consisting of

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 ...

, Girija, Ramanamurthy, Prameela,

Ramana Reddy Ramana Reddy (1 October 1921 – 11 November 1974) was an Indian character actor, comedian and producer known for his works predominantly in Telugu cinema. In a career spanning 24 years, he acted in more than 200 movies. Ramana Reddy and Relangi ...

, Hemalatha, Suryakantham, P. Lakshmikanthamma and Perumallu. The film, dealing with the relationship between mothers-in-law and their daughters-in-law, was released on 12 September 1958, and became a major commercial success. It was later remade in

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

as '' Mamiyarum Oru Veetu Marumagale'' (1961) and in

Hindi Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

as '' Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi'' (1970).

Plot

Vardhi Subbarayudu, a spiritual man, is the husband of Tayaramma, an obstinate woman who dislikes her mother-in-law Parvathamma. At a temple, Tayaramma meets a woman named Sobha; impressed by her character, she decides to make her as her daughter-in-law. She is also relieved after realising that her son Raghuram and Sobha are already in love. Sobha's mother Sundaramma is ill-tempered, and disowns her daughter-in-law Lakshmi because her father Rangaiah failed to pay her the requested

dowry A dowry is a payment, such as property or money, paid by the bride's family to the groom or his family at the time of marriage. Dowry contrasts with the related concepts of bride price and dower. While bride price or bride service is a payment ...

. Sundaramma's meek son Chandram is absent-minded, and always involved in playing the fiddle, while ignoring his wife's plight. The good relationship between Sobha and Tayaramma eventually worsens and Sobha returns to her mother's home. The rest of the film deals with how Sobha and Raghu, along with Subbarayudu, pacify the shrewd Tayaramma and Sundaramma, and fix things for both families.

Cast

Credits adapted from ''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...

'': *

as Raghuram * Girija as Sobha * Ramanamurthy as Chandram * Prameela as Lakshmi *

as Vardhi Subbarayudu *

Hemalatha Hemalatha, often credited as Hema, is an Indian actress and dancer. She is acclaimed for her roles as Raghavi in the popular soap opera '' Kana Kaanum Kaalangal'' on STAR Vijay and as Deepa in the superhit Tamil drama serial on Sun TV ''The ...

as Tayaramma * Suryakantham as Sundaramma * P. Lakshmikanthamma as Parvathamma * Perumallu as Rangaiah * Chadalavada as Kotaiah * Sita as Mangi

Production

''Atha Okinti Kodale'' is based on a play by Barampuram Kollady. Film producer-director

hired Pinisetty Sri Ramamurthy to convert Kollady's play into a screenplay. Ch. Venkateswara Rao served as editor, Lakshman Gore was the cinematographer, B. Chalam handled art direction and B. Sathyam was co-director.

K. Bapayya Kovelamudi Bapayya is an Indian film director. He has directed about 80 films in Telugu and Hindi languages. He is the cousin of noted director K. Raghavendra Rao and nephew of director and producer K. S. Prakash Rao. Early life Kovelamudi ...

worked as an assistant director, in addition to making a cameo appearance as a friend of Raghuram (Jaggayya).

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by Pendyala, and the lyrics were written by

Aarudra 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 ...

. Songs that attained popularity were "Asokavanamuna Sita" (sung by

P. Susheela Pulapaka Susheela (born 13 November 1935), popularly known as P. Susheela, is an Indian playback singer associated with the South Indian cinema primarily from Andhra Pradesh for over six decades. She is one of the greatest and best-known playba ...

), "Jodugulla Pistholu Thaa" ( Ghantasala), "Paila Paila Pacheesu" and "Rammante Vachchanu Ammayi Garu" (both sung by P. B. Sreenivas and

Jikki Pillavalu Gajapathy Krishnaveni (3 November 1935 – 16 August 2004), more famously known as Jikki, was an Indian playback singer from Andhra Pradesh. She sang around 10,000 songs in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Hindi, and Sinhalese langua ...

), "Mayadaari Keesulaata" ( Pithapuram Nageswara Rao and Swarnalatha) and the poem "Buddhochenaa Neeku Manasaa" rendered by

Madhavapeddi Satyam Madhavapeddi Satyam (11 March 1922 – 18 December 2000) was an Indian playback singer and actor who predominantly worked in Telugu cinema. He entered films as a singer-actor in Y. V. Rao's Tamil-Hindi bilingual movie ''Ramadas'' in the year 194 ...

Release and reception

''Atha Okinti Kodale'' was released on 12 September 1958, and became a major commercial success. The film was remade by Tilak in

as '' Mamiyarum Oru Veetu Marumagale'' (1961), which did not achieve the same success. It was later remade by Vasu Menon in

as '' Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi'' (1970).

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0333105 1950s Telugu-language films 1958 comedy-drama films 1958 films Indian black-and-white films Indian comedy-drama films Indian films based on plays Telugu films remade in other languages