''Vaddante Dabbu'' () is a 1954 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

screwball comedy Screwball comedy is a subgenre of the romantic comedy genre that became popular during the Great Depression, beginning in the early 1930s and thriving until the early 1940s, that satirizes the traditional love story. It has secondary characteristi ...

film directed by Y. R. Swamy. It was produced by Moola Narayana Swamy and presented by

H. M. Reddy Hanumappa Muniappa Reddy (12 June 1892 – 14 January 1960), known as H. M. Reddy, was an Indian film director and producer, known for his works in Telugu cinema. He directed the first Indian multilingual sound film ''Kalidas'' (1931), shot in ...

on Rohini Pictures banner. 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 ...

Sowcar Janaki Sankaramanchi Janaki (born T. Janaki; 12 December 1931), popularly known as Sowcar Janaki (Tamil) or Shavukaru Janaki (Telugu) or Sahukar Janaki (Kannada), is an Indian actress who has appeared in over 300, films, predominantly in Tamil, Telug ...

and Jamuna, with music composed by T. A. Kalyanam. It is based on the

George Barr McCutcheon George Barr McCutcheon (July 26, 1866 – October 23, 1928) was an American popular novelist and playwright. His best known works include a series of novels set in Graustark, a fictional East European country, and the novel ''Brewster's Millio ...

novel '' Brewster's Millions'' (1902). Despite originally opening to a mixed response, it attained

cult status A cult following refers to a group of fans who are highly dedicated to some person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The lattermost is often called a cult classic. ...

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 ...

, and was remade in the same language as '' Babai Abbai'' (1985).

Plot

Syam and Rama Rao are close friends and start living together, their lifestyle is to make debts for their survival and escape from lenders. Syam is an artist, Saroja, the daughter of a multimillionaire Rao Saheb Hemachalapathi is an admirer of his paintings, she meets him to draw her portrait and both of them fall in love. Hemachalapathi assigns a task for Syam by giving a huge amount of ₹1

lakh A lakh (; abbreviated L; sometimes written lac) is a unit in the Indian numbering system equal to one hundred thousand (100,000; scientific notation: 105). In the Indian 2,2,3 convention of digit grouping, it is written as 1,00,000. For ex ...

and asks him to spend it within the timeline of 30 days and also keeps some conditions that he should not donate or destroy the money. Syam starts spending the money with the help of Rama Rao's ideas such as racing, gambling, making a drama, constructing a house, etc. But their income grows day by day and Syam gets fed up with this money. Finally, he gives all the money back to Hemachalapathi, at that time Hemachalapathi explains to him that he has kept this task to study Syam's character and he should also understand how dangerous the money is and the film ends with the marriage of Syam and Saroja.

Cast

as Syam *

as Saroja * Jamuna as Rekha * Rajanala as Rao Saheb Hemachalapathi *

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 Rama Rao *

Allu Ramalingaiah Allu Ramalingaiah (1 October 1922 – 31 July 2004) was an Indian character actor, comedian, and producer known for his works in Telugu cinema. In 1990, He was honoured with the Padma Shri for his contribution to Indian cinema. In 1998, he r ...

as Master Baddanki *

Hemalatha Hemalatha, often credited as Hema, is an Indian actress and dancer. She is acclaimed for her roles as Raghavi in the popular soap opera '' Kana Kaanum Kaalangal'' on STAR Vijay and as Deepa in the superhit Tamil drama serial on Sun TV ''The ...

as Yashoda

Production

''Vaddante Dabbu'' was adapted from

's English-language novel '' Brewster's Millions'' (1902), and was among the earliest

screwball comedies Screwball comedy is a subgenre of the romantic comedy genre that became popular during the Great Depression, beginning in the early 1930s and thriving until the early 1940s, that satirizes the traditional love story. It has secondary characterist ...

of Telugu cinema.

Music

Music was composed by T. A. Kalyanam. Lyrics were written by Devulapalli,

Vempati Sadasivabrahmam Vempati Sadasivabrahmam shortly Sadasivabrahmam () (b: 1905 – d: 1968) was a writer of film stories, dialogues and lyrics in the early period of Telugu cinema.Sadasivabrahmam Vempati, Luminaries of 20th Century, Part II, Potti Sriramulu Telugu U ...

, and Sri Sri.

Release and reception

''Vaddante Dabbu'' was released on 19 February 1954. Despite originally opening to a mixed response, it attained

, and was remade in the same language as '' Babai Abbai'' (1985).

References

External links

* {{Brewster's Millions 1950s screwball comedy films 1950s Telugu-language films 1954 comedy films 1954 films Films based on Brewster's Millions Indian black-and-white films Indian screwball comedy films