''Chantabbai'' () is a 1986 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 written and directed by

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 ...

. It is based on the novel of same name by

Malladi Venkata Krishna Murthy Malladi Venkata Krishna Murthy (born 13 November 1949 in Vijayawada) is a Telugu writer known for writing thriller plots. Writings Murthy wrote many novels and short stories. The film ''Jyothi Lakshmi'' (2015) is based on one of his novels, ...

. Produced by Jyothi Art Pictures, the film stars

Chiranjeevi Chiranjeevi (born Konidela Sivasankara Varaprasad; 22 August 1955) is an Indian actor, film producer and former politician, who predominantly works in Telugu cinema. Chiranjeevi starred in over 150 feature films in Telugu language, Telugu, as ...

and

Suhasini Suhasini Maniratnam (born 15 August 1961) known mononymously as Suhasini, is an Indian actress, director, producer and writer in the Tamil film industry. She has worked as an actress in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada films. She made her ...

while

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 ...

and Mucherla Aruna play supporting roles. The film has music composed by

K. Chakravarthy K. Chakravarthi (born Kommineni Appa Rao; 8 September 1936 – 3 February 2002) was an Indian music director who primarily worked in Telugu cinema. He made his debut with in 1971 with ''Mooga Prema'' and went on compose music for over 949 films ...

. Released on 22 August 1986, the film received critical acclaim and was commercially successful and attained a Cult Classic Status among movie lovers. The film has acquired a cult status over the years.

Plot

Panduranga "Pandu" Rao is an amateur detective employed at Universal Detective Agency in

Visakhapatnam , image_alt = , image_caption = From top, left to right: Visakhapatnam aerial view, Vizag seaport, Simhachalam Temple, Aerial view of Rushikonda Beach, Beach road, Novotel, Novotel Visakhapatnam, INS Kursura (S20), INS ...

, which is run and managed by Ramachandra Murthy. He considers

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...

as his idol, and models himself after him in terms of appearance and gives himself the name "James Pond". Neither the police nor his colleagues take Pandu seriously, including his assistant Ganapathi and the local police inspector Saumitri. Pandu harbours feelings for Jwala, a self-employed telephone cleaner. She considers him as a good friend, but does not take his professional abilities seriously. Once, Jwala visits the house of a businessman to clean his telephone, but finds herself holding a hand gun instead of telephone receiver. She is accused of killing the businessman and theft of diamonds he possessed. Pandu takes up the case, but is interrupted by Murthy, who was appointed by the police to help them as a detective. Pandu refuses to give up and continues to investigate unofficially. Meanwhile, Jwala's friend Nischala, a surgeon, arranges her release on bail. As a part of his investigation, Pandu calls Jwala to his office for an interrogation, which goes horribly wrong. However, Pandu gets to know that Jwala spotted a chocolate brown-coloured Maruti car parked outside the businessman's house on the day of murder. He notices Murthy using a similar car and contacting jewellers outside Visakhapatnam. Pandu grows suspicious, and spies on Murthy with Saumitri's help. They eventually catch Murthy confessing his crime to a jeweller and arrest him. Pandu is subsequently appointed as the head of Universal Detective Agency. Upon Jwala's recommendation, Nischala approaches Pandu with a case: to find her missing half brother who was nicknamed Chantabbai (younger one). Chantabbai was born to Nischala's father Gangadharam and his love interest Sharmishta out of wedlock. Gangadharam was later coerced to marry Nischala's mother, who managed to keep them apart until her demise. With Gangadharam's health deteriorating severely, Nischala wants to bring Chantabbai before him and make him happy. Pandu takes up the case and finds that Gangadharam's friend Ramkoti took care of Sharmistha and Chantabbai for a while. Upon investigating, Pandu learns that Ramkoti had two sons Kalyan and Pattabhi, and favoured the former more. Pandu concludes that Kalyan is Gangadharam's son and introduces him to the family. Days later, Pattabhi comes to Gangadharam's house and claims himself as Chantabbai. Pandu finds himself challenged with the outcome and tries several ways to deduce the real heir. All of them fail due to several loopholes, but the results of a blood test manipulated by both makes Pandu believe that both of them are fraudsters. Gangadharam expels both from his house, and the brothers swear revenge. Meanwhile, Pandu and Jwala fall in love and plan for their marriage. One day, Pandu learns from Nischala that Chantabbai's aunt Bala has arrived to Visakhapatnam for a family function. Pandu goes to meet Bala and learns that his mother was the Sharmistha whom Gangadharam loved. Realising that he is Chantabbai, Pandu recalls the hardships he faced as a child and how he was ostracized by the society for his illegitimate origins. Pandu refuses to return to Gangadharam's place as his son, unless the share of wealth he would inherit be donated to the orphanage he runs in the city. Nischala agrees to the condition and mediates. Meanwhile, Kalyan and Pattabhi kidnap Pandu and demand ransom from Gangadharam. Pandu sens a letter explaining his plight and requests to save him. However, Ganapathi notices number '1' written on the sheet and starts reading the first letters of the message together; they reveal an instruction to tell the kidnappers that he is not the real heir to Gangadharam. Gangadharam executes the plan, and Pandu leads the brothers to a house. There, they notice Gangadharam playing cards with his friend, and proceed to kidnap him. However, Saumitri enters the scene and arrests them. The film ends with Gangadharam accepting Pandu as his son, and his marriage with Jwala.

Cast

Reception

Karthik Keramulu of ''Dailyo'' called opined that the film was a casting coup in that

, who was an action hero, was cast as a bumbling private detective in a full-length comedy.

Soundtrack

The music of the film was composed by

and 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 ...

. Vocals were provided by

S. P. Balasubrahmanyam Sripathi Panditaradhyula Balasubrahmanyam (4 June 1946 – 25 September 2020), also referred to as SPB or SP Balu or Balu, was an Indian playback singer, television presenter, actor, music composer, dubbing artist, and film producer. He is wi ...

, S.P. Sailaja, and

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 ...

References

External links

* {{Jandhyala Subramanya Sastry, state=collapsed 1986 films Films directed by Jandhyala Films scored by K. Chakravarthy 1980s Telugu-language films Films based on Indian novels 1980s police comedy films 1980s comedy thriller films 1980s crime comedy films 1980s comedy mystery films 1980s crime thriller films Indian comedy thriller films Indian crime comedy films Indian detective films Indian comedy mystery films Indian mystery thriller films Indian crime thriller films 1980s masala films 1986 comedy films