''Monagallaku Monagadu'' () is a 1966 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

action thriller 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 lif ...

film directed by S. D. Lal and produced by Rama Sundaram. It is a remake of the

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 de ...

film '' Ustadon Ke Ustad'' (1963) and its

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 ...

version ''

Vallavanukku Vallavan ''Vallavanukku Vallavan'' () is a 1965 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film, directed by R. Sundaram, son of T. R. Sundaram, and written by A. L. Narayanan. Music was by Vedha. It has an ensemble cast including Gemini Ganesan, Thangavelu ...

'' (1965). The film stars

S. V. Ranga Rao Samarla Venkata Ranga Rao (3 July 1918 – 18 July 1974), popularly known as SVR, was an Indian actor, producer, and director known for his works majorly in Telugu and Tamil films. He is regarded as one of the finest actors in the history of ...

, Haranath, Prabhakara Reddy,

Raavi Kondala Rao Raavi Kondala Rao (11 February 1932 – 28 July 2020) was an Indian actor, screenwriter, playwright, and journalist who worked in Telugu cinema and Telugu theatre. He acted in over 400 films. He won Nandi Award for Best Story Writer for '' Pe ...

, Krishna Kumari and G. Rathna. It was released on 14 January 1966, and became a commercial success.

Plot

Ramesh, an engineer, impresses Madhava Rao, a businessman, with his plan to build a factory. Madhava Rao's daughter Geetha falls in love with Ramesh. Partners in crime Bhujangam and Mala loot a bank. With some of the looted money, Mala travels in a bus in which Ramesh also happens to be seated. Their suitcases get interchanged, and Ramesh, now suspected of committing the bank robbery, is arrested. To avoid his own arrest, the actual culprit, Bhujangam hires Kathula Rathaiah, an assassin, to kill Ramesh. Geetha had earlier saved Rathaiah, who has since considered her his sister. After learning of her love for Ramesh, he promises to help Ramesh to clear his name. After a few disguises by both Ramesh and Rathaiah and many more incidents, Bhujangam and Mala are brought to justice.

Cast

as Kathula Rathaiah * Haranath as Ramesh *

Prabhakar Reddy Mandadi Prabhakar Reddy (1935–1997) was an Indian film character actor and doctor known for his works in Telugu cinema. He acted in over 472 films over three decades. He wrote stories for several acclaimed films, including '' Karthika Deepa ...

as Bhujangam *

as Madhava Rao * Krishna Kumari as Geetha * G. Rathna as Mala * Savitri as a

qawwali Qawwali ( Punjabi: (Shahmukhi), (Gurmukhi); Urdu: (Nasta'liq); Hindi: क़व्वाली (Devanagari); Bengali: কাওয়ালি (Bengali)) is a form of Sufi Islamic devotional singing, originating from the Indian subcontinent ...

dancer * Balayya * Chalam

Production

After the commercial success of ''

'', the

remake of the

film '' Ustadon Ke Ustad'' (1963), its producer Rama Sundaram decided to remake the film in

under the same banner,

Modern Theatres Modern Theaters Ltd was an Indian film studio in Salem, Tamil Nadu started by T. R. Sundaram Mudaliar in 1935. The studio produced over more than 150 films until 1982 in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Hindi, Sinhalese and even English of w ...

. S. D. Lal was signed on to direct the remake, titled ''Monagallaku Monagadu'', and his brother S. S. Lal was signed as cinematographer, while Pinisetty wrote the dialogues. L. Balu worked as editor. Savitri, who made a guest appearance as a

dancer in ''Vallavanukku Vallavan'', was chosen to reprise the role in ''Monagallaku Monagadu''.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by

Vedha ‌ ''Vedha'' is a 2008 Indian Tamil language action drama film, directed by R. Nithyakumar starring Arun Vijay and Sheela. The music is composed by Srikanth Deva. The film opened to negative reviews. Plot Vijay (Arun Vijay) is crazy about his ...

. The song "Nenunnadi Neelone" is based on "Sau Baar Janam Lenge" from ''Ustadon Ke Ustad''.

Release and reception

''Monagallaku Monagadu'' was released on 14 January 1966, and became a commercial success.

References

External links

* {{Modern Theatres 1960s action thriller films 1960s Telugu-language films Films about organised crime in India Indian action thriller films Indian black-and-white films Telugu remakes of Hindi films Films directed by S. D. Lal