''Erra Mallelu'' () is a 1981 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

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 Dhavala Satyam from a story written by Madala Ranga Rao. The film stars Ranga Rao,

Murali Mohan Maganti Murali Mohan (born 24 June 1940) is an Indian actor, producer, politician, and business executive from Telugu cinema. In 1973, Murali Mohan debuted in ''Jagame Maya'', produced by Atluri Poornachandra Rao. He gained recognition with the ...

Giri Babu Yerra Seshagiri Rao, popularly known as Giri Babu, is an Indian actor, producer, and director who primarily woks in Telugu films. His son, Raghu Babu, is a notable actor-director. Career Giri Babu hails from a middle class agricultural famil ...

and Ranganath. It 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 ...

. In the film, two men start a revolution against their village chiefs and the owner of a factory in the neighbouring village. ''Erra Mallelu'' was released on 1 May 1981 coinciding with the

International Workers' Day International Workers' Day, also known as Labour Day in some countries and often referred to as May Day, is a celebration of labourers and the working classes that is promoted by the international labour movement and occurs every year on 1 May, ...

(May Day), and emerged successful at the box office. The film is noted to inspire several other

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

-themed films in

Telugu cinema Telugu cinema, also known as Tollywood, is the segment of Indian cinema dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Telugu language, widely spoken in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Telugu cinema is based in Film Nagar, Hy ...

. It was 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 '' Sivappu Malli'' (1982)

Plot

Cast

* Madala Ranga Rao as Ranga *

as Soori Babu *

as Factory owner * Ranganath as Ramanna *

P. L. Narayana P. Lakshmi Narayana (10 September 1935 – 3 November 1998) was an Indian actor, dialogue writer, and playwright, known for his works predominantly in Telugu cinema and a few Tamil films. He has received one National Film Award and five state N ...

as Kamayya *

Sakshi Ranga Rao Sakshi Ranga Rao (born Rangavajhula Ranga Rao; 15 September 1942 – 27 June 2005) was an Indian character actor who worked in Telugu cinema and Telugu theatre. He appeared in about 450 films over a career spanning four decades, majority of ...

as Karanam *

P. J. Sarma Pudipeddi Jogeswara Sarma was an Indian film dubbing artist, turned actor and writer, known for his works predominantly in Telugu cinema. He has worked for over 500 films as an actor and dubbing artist. He is the father of actors Sai Kumar (Ka ...

as Ramayya *

Sai Chand Sai or SAI may refer to: Companies * Science Applications Incorporated, original name of Leidos * ICAO designator for Shaheen Air, a Pakistani airline * Skandinavisk Aero Industri, a former Danish aeroplane manufacturer * Software Architects, In ...

as Kistanna *

Chalapathi Rao Chalapathi Rao (8 May 1944 – 24 December 2022) was an Indian actor and producer known for comedy and villainous roles in Telugu cinema. He acted in different roles in more than 600 films. Personal life and death Rao hailed from Baliparru, K ...

Narra Venkateswara Rao Narra Venkateswara Rao was an Indian actor known for his works in Telugu cinema. He hailed from Agraharam village (Ramachandrapuram) in Zarugumalli Mandal, Prakasam district of Andhra Pradesh, India. Career He acted in over 500 films spanning ...

* Nalluri Venkateswarlu as Master * MP Prasad *

Sutti Veerabhadra Rao Sutti Veerabhadra Rao or Mamidipalli Veerabhadra Rao was a very popular south Indian film actor who played comedians and character artists, as well as a renowned radio and theater artist. Early life Veerabhadra Rao was the only son, and had tw ...

as Lawyer * Pushpa Kumari * Krishnaveni * Lakshmi Chitra *

Sri Lakshmi Lakshmi (; , sometimes spelled Laxmi, ), also known as Shri (, ), is one of the principal goddesses in Hinduism. She is the goddess of wealth, fortune, power, beauty, fertility and prosperity, and associated with ''Maya'' ("Illusion"). Alo ...

* Navata * Siva Parvati * K. Vijaya * T. Krishna

Soundtrack

composed the film score and original soundtrack. Lyrics are written by

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 ...

Kondaveeti Venkatakavi Kondaveeti Venkatakavi is an Indian poet, scholar, and film writer from Andhra Pradesh. He is well known for writing dialogues in the movie Daana Veera Soora Karna. Childhood Venkata Kavi was born as Venkatayya to ''Narayana'' and ''Seshamma'' ...

, Adrustha Deepak, Prabhu, and Dhavala Satyam. Gudipoodi Srihari, in his review for ''Sitara'' praised compositions like "Nampally Station Kada", "May Day Idi May Day", and "Jigibigi Jigijigi."

Release and reception

''Erra Mallelu'' released on 1 May 1981 coinciding with the

(May Day). Reviewing the film for ''

Andhra Patrika Andhra Patrika was the weekly newspaper of the nationalist movement in the Telugu speaking region founded by Kasinadhuni Nageswara Rao in 1908. It later transformed into a daily newspaper before it closed down in 1991. It helped to shape both mo ...

'' on 6 May 1981, Venkatrao appreciated the writing and direction, in addition to the performances. Gudipoodi Srihari of ''Sitara'' on 17 May 1981 praised writer-actor Madala Ranga Rao for addressing the various issues like terrorism, corruption in judicial system, worker rights etc. The film was successful at the box office. Released in 23 centres, ''Erra Mallelu'' had a 50-day theatrical run in 17 centres.

Legacy

Rentala Jayadeva of ''Sakshi'' identified ''Erra Mallelu'' as a landmark amongst the

-themed films in

. Jayadeva also stated that commercial success of ''Erra Mallelu'' inspired several films in the same vein, most notably, ''Erra Sainyam'' (1994) and ''

Osey Ramulamma ''Osey Ramulamma'' is a 1997 Indian Telugu-language action drama film written and directed by Dasari Narayana Rao. The film is based on a woman's rebellion in Telangana and stars Vijayashanti as the title character. Rao and Rami Reddy also star ...

'' (1997). The film marked first on-screen appearance of filmmaker T. Krishna. Krishna grew full beard for the role and maintained the same look until his death. Singer S. P. Sailaja got her breakthrough with the song "Nampally Station Kada." ''Erra Mallelu'' was remade in

language as '' Sivappu Malli'' (1982) which had a favourable reception. In April 2019, Kavel Alpaslan of the Turkish news outlet Gazete Duvar, identified the song "May Day Idi May Day" in his article featuring the

May Day May Day is a European festival of ancient origins marking the beginning of summer, usually celebrated on 1 May, around halfway between the spring equinox and summer solstice. Festivities may also be held the night before, known as May Eve. T ...

songs from the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...

. Alpaslan felt the "enthusiastic performance" of the two lead roles played by Madala Ranga Rao and Murali Mohan made it special.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 6147094 1980s Telugu-language films 1981 drama films Films about communism Films scored by K. Chakravarthy Indian drama films Telugu films remade in other languages