''Punnami Naagu'' is an 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

horror drama 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 ...

film directed by Rajasekhar and produced by

AVM Productions AVM Productions is an Indian film production studio founded by A. V. Meiyappan. It is the final oldest survived studio in India. The filming studios are located in Vadapalani, Chennai. It has produced over 300 films in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, ...

. The film brought recognition to

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 his first Filmfare nomination. The other leads in the film, including

Rati Agnihotri Rati Agnihotri (born 10 December 1960) is an Indian actress, known for acting in Hindi, as well as in Telugu and Tamil language films. Her roles in the cult-tragedy film ''Ek Duuje Ke Liye'' (1981) and the drama film ''Tawaif'' (1985) earned h ...

, Narasimha Raju and

Padmanabham Padmanabham mandal is one of the 46 mandals in Visakhapatnam District in India. It is under the administration of Visakhapatnam revenue division and the headquarters is located at Padmanabham. The Mandal is bounded by Bheemunipatnam, Anandapuram ...

played important roles. The film was released on 13 June 1980. It is a remake of the director's own Kannada film ''

Hunnimeya Rathriyalli ''Hunnimeya Rathriyalli'' () is a 1980 Indian Kannada-language film, directed by Rajasekhar and produced by R. M. Subramanyam, Radha Narayanan and Jalaja Shanmugam. The film stars Lokesh, Ashok, Roopa Chakravarthi and M. S. Vasantha. The film w ...

''. It also marked the Telugu debut for

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam was des ...

actress, Menaka G. Suresh.

Plot

Naagulu (

), a snake charmer, falls in love with Menaka, whose adopted brother Raju ( Narasimha Raju) is in love with Naagulu's cousin Laxmi (

). Naagulu's father has been mixing snake venom into his food since childhood, making Naagulu immune to any snake bite. Every full moon, Naagulu behaves like a cobra and searches for a woman and every woman he meets dies from his poison. On one such full moon, he kills Menaka and Raju gets suspicious about this, as there are no marks of a snake bite on her body. A young teacher comes to the village and becomes Naagulu's victim. Raju investigates with the help of film in her still camera and discovers that Naagulu has become a snake. Naagulu's father reveals his secret before dying and Naagulu tries to find a remedy, but it's too late for that. His skin starts peeling off like a snake and Raju advises him to leave the village before villagers find and kill him. Naagulu prefers death to the life of a snake and commits suicide from a hilltop.

Cast

as Naagulu * Narasimha Raju as Raju *

as Lakshmi *

Menaka Menaka () is an Apsara (heavenly nymph) in Hindu literature. Legends Menaka was born during the churning of the ocean by the devas and asuras. She is one of the most mesmerising apsaras (celestial nymphs) in the three worlds, with quick intel ...

as poornima *

Jayamalini Jayamalini (or Jaya Malini) is an Indian actress who has acted in more than 500 Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi movies. Career She was introduced to Tollywood in 1975 by Vittalacharya in the movie he produced, ''Aadadani Adrustam ...

* Sumangali *

* Mikkilineni *

Dhulipala Dhulipala Sitarama Sastry (24 September 1921 – 13 April 2007), known mononymously by the surname Dhulipala, was an Indian actor and thespian, known for his works predominantly in Telugu cinema. He was noted for playing mythological roles, ...

Balakrishna Bala Krishna ( sa, बाल कृष्ण, lit=child Krishna/divine child Krishna, translit=Bālakṛṣṇa). Present day Krishna worship is an amalgam of various elements. According to historical testimonies Krishna-Vasudeva worship alread ...

* Ramadas

References

External links

* 1980 films 1980s Telugu-language films Films scored by K. Chakravarthy Telugu remakes of Kannada films Films about snakes Films about shapeshifting Films directed by Rajasekhar (director) {{1980s-Telugu-film-stub