''Rechukka'' () is a 1955 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 swashbuckler film directed by P. Pullaiah. The film stars

N. T. Rama Rao Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao (28 May 1923 – 18 January 1996), often referred to by his initials NTR, was an Indian actor, filmmaker and politician who served as List of Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh, Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh fo ...

and

Anjali Devi Anjali Devi (; 24 August 1927 – 13 January 2014) was an Indian actress, model and producer in Telugu and Tamil films. She was well known for her role as the Devi Sita in ''Lava Kusa'' as well as for the titular roles in movies like Chenchu ...

, with music composed by

Aswatthama In the Hinduism, Hindu epic the ''Mahabharata'', Ashwatthama ( sa, अश्वत्थामा, Aśvatthāmā) or Drauni was the son of guru Drona and Kripi (sister of Kripa, Kripacharya). He was the grandson of the sage Bharadwaja. Ashwa ...

. The story was inspired by ''

The Prince Who Was a Thief ''The Prince Who Was a Thief'' is a 1951 American adventure film directed by Rudolph Mate and starring Tony Curtis and Piper Laurie. A technicolor swashbuckler, it was the first film Curtis featured in as a star. It was produced and distributed b ...

'' (1951), starring

Tony Curtis Tony Curtis (born Bernard Schwartz; June 3, 1925September 29, 2010) was an American actor whose career spanned six decades, achieving the height of his popularity in the 1950s (Kansas Raiders, 1950) and early 1960s. He acted in more than 100 f ...

. The film 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 ...

and titled ''Naattiya Thara''. The Tamil version was released in 1955. Thanjai N. Ramaiah Dass wrote the dialogues and lyrics for the Tamil version, while G. Ramanathan scored the music. It was also a commercial hit. Aaroor Dass, who was a successful screenplay writer later, started his career as an assistant to Thanjai N. Ramaiah Dass in 1955 and assisted in writing the dialogues for this film. He has said that he named his first child as Arokyamary and also gave a pet name, ''Thara Devi'' in remembrance of the film ''Nattiya Thara''.

Plot

The film begins with the birthday ceremony of Prince Kumara Rayalu son of King Devarayalu. On this occasion, Mahamantri expresses his desire to couple up his daughter Lalitha Devi with the Prince but Devarayalu scorns him. Offended Mahamantri ploys with his henchmen Nagulu and seizes the King when Veeranna aide of the King, absconds with the prince. To distract the chasers' attention, he hides the prince and runs in a different direction. Here a snake bites Kumararayalu when he is rescued by a tribal leader Jogulu and recognizes him but maintains secrecy. On the other side, Veerana, failing to find Kumararayalu returns home, explains the turbulence to his wife & daughter Nana, and moves to extricate the king but he was caught. Years roll by, and Kumararayalu grows up as Kanna in the tribal hamlet, and Nana, becomes a street dancer. In the prison, Veeranna passes away, utilizing the situation the King escapes in the bag kept for Veeranna and takes shelter at Nana's house. Once, on the occasion of Lalitha Devi's birthday, Nana entertains her when she notices Mahamantri bestowing a diamond necklace of the former queen to the princess and snatches it. Then, Kanna lands at the fort and promises to get back the necklace. Kanna retrieves it from Nana, and in that process, both of them fall in love. Thereafter, Kanna handovers it to the princess when she too starts loving him. Learning it, Kanna meets Lalitha and tries to explain to her as a wrong deed to love him when he is captured by soldiers. Meanwhile, Mahamantri & Nagulu finds out that the king is alive, they even mistake Kanna as his ally and torture him. Nana overhears the conversation and recognizes the person staying in her home as the king. On his guidance, Nana steals the royal assent ''Rajamudra'' and releases Kanna. Kanna delivers the royal assent to the king when a quarrel erupts between them as he left Nana alone in the fort. In combat, the king recognizes Kanna as his son. Nevertheless, Kanna takes an oath to safeguard Nana, so, he again checks into the fort but clawed. During that plight, the king reaches the tribal hamlet by which he surrounds the fort. Parallelly, Kanna plays a trick, attacks the soldiers, and ceases Mahamantri. On the verge of death, Mahamantri kills Nagulu leaving his daughter's responsibility to King Devarayalu. Finally, the movie ends on a happy note with the marriage of Kanna & Nana.

Cast

as Kumarayalu / Kannaiah *

as Nana *

Devika Devika Devadoss (born Prameela Devi) (25 April 1943 – 2 May 2002) was an Indian actress who worked in Tamil, Telugu with few Malayalam, Kannada, Hindi film industry. She was a popular lead actress in the 1960s. Devika is the grand daughter ...

as Lalitha Devi * Mukkamala as Maharaju Devarayalu * Nagabhushanam as Veeranna * Sadasiva Rao as Mahamantri *

Peketi Sivaram Peketi Sivaram (Telugu: పేకేటి శివరాం) (8 October 1918 – 30 December 2006) was an Indian actor and director.http://www.cinegoer.com/archives/december2006/peketi.htm Life sketch He was born on 8 October 1918 in Pekeru ...

as Annayya * Joga Rao as Chandrayya * Y. V. Raju as Nagulu

Soundtrack

Music composed by

. Lyrics by

Malladi Ramakrishna Sastry Malladi Ramakrishna Sastry M.A. ( te, మల్లాది రామకృష్ణశాస్త్రి) (16 June 1905 – 12 September 1965) was a Telugu writer. Lifesketch Their family has settled in Bandar (Machilipatnam) during his chi ...

. Music released by Audio Company.

Production

The Rechukka film is an outcome of Ghantasala Balaramaiah, Telugu film producer of Pratibha Pictures and General Manager and Production Executive of the company Thopalli Venkata Sundara Shivarama Sastry (better known as Pratibha Sastry). Sastry has seen the English film entitled ''

'' in Mount Road. Balaramaiah prepared a story to suit the local audience. The story was given to Malladi Ramakrishna Sastry, who wrote the screenplay, dialogues and lyrics for the film. The shooting was started with

and supporting staff and Ashwathamma as Music director. After shooting three reels including two songs, Ghantasala Balaramaiah died suddenly due to

Heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...

on 29 October 1953. Ghantasala Krishna Murthy, the elder son of Balaramaiah has taken the charge of Pratibha pictures. Nageshwara Rao wished to be a part of the film after the demise of his mentor Balaramaiah. He made a cameo appearance. The film is completed with the financial involvement of Sunderlal Nahata and director P. Pullaiah. Most of the film was shot at Revathi Studios at Madras. Prakash Studios was used for few important scenes. The forest scenes are pictured at Jamal Gardens (Now Vijaya Gardens). For the role of Lalitha Devi, they wanted to take a new actress. They have chosen Prameela, the grand daughter of

Raghupathi Venkaiah Raghupathi Venkaiah Naidu (15 October 1869 – 15 March 1941), was an Indian filmmaker, screenwriter, director, graphic artist, lyricist, author, educationist and entrepreneur considered as the father of Telugu cinema. Regarded as one of the pio ...

to portray the character besides N. T. Rama Rao. She changed her name as

and became a big star in later years.

Box-office

The film was a commercial hit and ran for more than 100 days in three centres in Andhra Pradesh. Centenary celebrations are organized at Vijayawada.

References

External links

* * {{youTube, DOdnbg29cQA, Padi Panivome - song scored and sung by G. Ramanathan 1954 films 1950s Telugu-language films Films directed by P. Pullayya Indian drama films 1954 drama films Indian black-and-white films