''Maa Daivam'' () is a 1976 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 ...

, produced by Maniyan and Vidyas Lakshman under the Udayam Productions banner and directed by S. S. Balan. 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 Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh for seven years over three terms. He starred ...

and

Jayachitra Jayachitra is an Indian actress films who works mostly in Tamil, Telugu and Kannada films. Early life Jayachitra was born in 1957. Her father Mahendra was a veterinary doctor, who had earlier worked as a lawyer. Her mother Ammaji (a.k.a. Ja ...

, with music composed by

K. V. Mahadevan Krishnankoil Venkadachalam Mahadevan (14 March 1918 – 21 June 2001) was an Indian composer, singer-songwriter, music producer, and musician known for his works in Tamil cinema, Tamil, Telugu cinema, Telugu, Malayalam cinema, Malayalam, and Kann ...

. 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 ''

Do Aankhen Barah Haath ''Do Aankhen Barah Haath'' () is a 1957 Indian Hindi-language drama film directed by V. Shantaram, who also starred. It is considered to be one of the classics of Hindi cinema and is based on humanistic psychology. It won a Silver Bear at the 8 ...

'' (1957).

Plot

Raju is a jail warden who decides to rehabilitate six hardcore, notorious prisoners by releasing them on parole. The government approves it on an ultimatum that Raju will be arrested if even one of the prisoners escapes. He takes them to a dilapidated country farm and makes them work hard with kindly guidance as they eventually produce a great harvest. They all come across Saroja, an itinerant seller after they save her from a corrupt businessman Govinda Swamy. As Saroja is homeless, the six prisoners plead with Raju to let the girl stay with them and he subsequently agrees. Naganna, one of the prisoners, coincidentally runs into his long-lost family, and he tearfully reunites with them. But they appear homeless, and so Raju allows them also to stay with them, which angers the other prisoners who feel that Raju did not give them freedom, compelling them to try killing him to escape. They plan to kill Raju through one of the prisoners, Simhadri, a barber using a trick to cut his neck while shaving, but Simhadri sees Raju's magical eyes and gets hypnotized, thus compelling him to abort the idea of murder. The prisoners who are attempting to escape see a statue of

Venkateswara Venkateswara, also known by various other names, is a form of the Hinduism, Hindu god Vishnu. Venkateswara is the presiding deity of the Tirumala Venkateswara Temple, located in Tirupati, Sri Balaji District, Andhra Pradesh, India. Etymology ...

in a temple and because they see Raju's spirit in it, they get hypnotized and eventually return. The prisoners gradually turn into good people and become attached to Raju, who dreams of marrying Saroja, in his mother's presence. One day, Raju sends the prisoners to the market for selling vegetables cultivated by them. There, Govinda Swamy and his henchmen mix up alcohol in their tea; while they return in a drunken state, they attack Raju and Saroja. Raju is not pleased with their status and commands them to kill him if that is what they want. Hypnotism and conscience again strike the prisoners, causing them to drop their weapons. The next morning, the prisoners fall at Raju's feet and earn the forgiveness of both Raju and Saroja. Later, Govinda Swamy orders that Raju and the prisoners surrender, or else their plantation and home will be destroyed. Raju refuses, so the Govinda Swamy sends his thugs and elephants to destroy everything in sight. However, Raju and his men vigorously battle all the thugs and emerge victorious, while the local police capture the corrupt. Raju, having been praised for transforming the six prisoners into reformed people, frees the prisoners and tearfully sees them off.

Cast

as Raju *

as Saroja *

Nagabhushanam Nagabhushanam may refer to: *Shiva, major Hindu deity, also known as Nagabhushana (adorned with snakes) * Nagabhushanam (actor), Indian actor in Telugu cinema * T. D. J. Nagabhushanam, Indian agriculturalist * Nagabhushan Rao Machiraju, Indian-A ...

as Simhadri *

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 ...

as Govinda Swamy *

M. N. Nambiar Manjeri Narayanan Nambiar (7 March 1919 – 19 November 2008) was an Indian actor who worked predominantly in Tamil cinema, known mostly for his villain roles in an eight decade long career. He has also appeared in a few Malayalam films. ...

as Bhairavudu *

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 ...

as Sanyassi *

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 Naganna * Rajanala as Superintendent *

Pandari Bai Pandari Bai (1930 – 29 January 2003) was an Indian actress who worked in South Indian cinema, mostly in Kannada cinema during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. She is considered Kannada cinema's first successful heroine. She has acted as both heroi ...

as Raju's mother *Thyagaraju as David *Bheema Raju as Khadar *K. V. Chalam as Gopala Swamy *

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 ...

as Veeranna *

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 ...

as Prisoner No. 108 *Jagga Rao

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0371803 Films scored by K. V. Mahadevan Indian drama films Telugu remakes of Hindi films