''Aha! Naa Pellanta!!'' () is a 1987 Indian

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of South India ** Telugu literature, is the body of works written in the Telugu language. * Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Tel ...

-language

comedy drama Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...

film written and directed by

Jandhyala Jandhyala Subrahmanya Sastry (14 January 1951 – 19 June 2001), known mononymously as Jandhyala, was an Indian film director, screenwriter, and playwright known for his work in Telugu cinema and Telugu theatre, theatre. Popularly referred to a ...

, and produced by D. Ramanaidu under his banner

Suresh Productions Suresh Productions (also known as Suresh Movies, Vijaya Suresh Combines) is an Cinema of India, Indian film production company, production and Film distributor, distribution company known for its works in Telugu cinema. It is established in 19 ...

. The film stars

Rajendra Prasad Rajendra Prasad (3 December 1884 – 28 February 1963) was an Indian politician, lawyer, journalist and scholar who served as the first president of India from 1950 to 1962. He joined the Indian National Congress during the Indian independen ...

and Rajani while

Kota Srinivasa Rao Kota Srinivasa Rao (born 10 July 1942) is an Indian character actor known for his work primarily in Telugu cinema and Telugu theatre. He has also starred in a few films in Tamil cinema, Tamil, Hindi cinema, Hindi, Kannada cinema, Kannada and Ma ...

Nutan Prasad Tadinada Varaprasad popularly known as Nutan Prasad (12 December 1945 – 30 March 2011) was an Indian actor who worked predominantly in Telugu cinema and Telugu theatre. He was a native of Kaikaluru, Andhra Pradesh, India. He started his fil ...

, and

Brahmanandam Kanneganti Brahmanandam (born 1 February 1956) is an Indian actor and comedian known for his work in Telugu cinema. Recognised as one of India's finest and highest-paid comic actors, he holds the Guinness World Record for the most screen cred ...

play supporting roles. The film has music composed by

Ramesh Naidu Pasupuleti Ramesh Naidu (1933–1987) was an Indian music composer, multi instrumentalist, and singer known for his works predominantly in Telugu cinema. He garnered the National Film Award for Best Music Direction for the film ''Meghasandesam' ...

. An adaptation of Adivishnu's novel ''Satyam Gaari Illu'' (), the film's title is based on a song from the

epic fantasy High fantasy, or epic fantasy, is a subgenre of fantasy defined by the epic nature of its setting or by the epic stature of its characters, themes, or plot. Brian Stableford, ''The A to Z of Fantasy Literature'', (p. 198), Scarecrow Pres ...

film ''

Mayabazar ''Mayabazar'' () is a 1957 Indian epic film, epic Hindu mythological film directed by K. V. Reddy. It was produced by Nagi Reddi and Chakrapani (filmmaker), Chakrapani under their banner, Vijaya Vauhini Studios, Vijaya Productions. The film w ...

'' (1957). The film released on 27 November 1987. ''Aha! Naa Pellanta!!'' is considered one of the best comedy films of all time in

Telugu cinema Telugu cinema, also known as Tollywood, is the segment of Cinema of India, Indian cinema dedicated to the production of Film, motion pictures in the Telugu language, widely spoken in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Based in Film N ...

. Kota Srinivasa Rao's character as a miser and his mannerism "Naakenti?" () became famous. Brahmanandam's role as 'Ara Gundu' received wide appreciation from both critics and audience and it became his

breakthrough role A breakthrough role, also known as a breakout role, is a term in the theatre, film and television industry to describe the performance of an actor or actress which contributed significantly to the development of their career and beginning of crit ...

. Made on a budget of 16

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. F ...

, the film grossed over 5

crore Crore (; abbreviated cr) denotes the quantity ten million (107) and is equal to 100 lakh in the Indian numbering system. In many international contexts, the decimal quantity is formatted as 10,000,000, but when used in the context of the India ...

at the box office and became a blockbuster. Producer D. Ramanaidu mentioned that the profits from the film helped him in the establishment of Ramanaidu Studios. The film was remade in

Kannada Kannada () is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, and is additionally a ...

as '' Challenge Gopalakrishna'' (1990).

Plot

Krishna Murthy, the son of industrialist Kasthuri Satyanarayana, leads an eccentric competitive lifestyle with his father. Murthy has been raised by his father in luxury, ever since his mother died in childbirth. Due to his wife's ostracism from her family, Satyanarayana had made a promise with her before her death that when Murthy gets married, it will be with consent from both families. As such, Satyanarayana imagines every girl he sees as a potential suitor for Murthy. While attending his friend's wedding, Murthy meets Padma. He gradually falls in love with her, but worries about his father's response. After his initial attempts to notify him are thwarted by his servant Appanna, a staunch supporter of his father, Murthy succeeds in having his father see him with Padma. After confronting Murthy, Satyanarayana reveals that Padma is the daughter of Lakshmipati, a notorious miser in the adjacent village, and that wooing him for Padma's hand is not easy. Not willing to accept defeat, Murthy wagers with his father that if he can make Lakshmipati accept him as his son-in-law, he will have to accept defeat, and leaves for the village. Murthy reaches Lakshmipati's village and meets ''Aragundu,'' Lakshmipati's long suffering bonded labor. After being caught by ''Aragundu'', Murthy decides to rent out in the adjacent living space that Lakshmipati's neighbour Subba Rao lives in, asking his family to allow him room as one of their own. Murthy then begins the process of wooing Lakshmipati by acting like a miser himself. He claims to be the local head of the All India Miser Community, and leads Lakshmipati into a series of comical acts under the guise of saving money, which also include deterring any prospective suitors for Padma, who Lakshmipati continually ackmails by threatening to kill himself. Murthy also offers to coach Sundaram, Lakshmipati's son, who's in love with Subba Rao's sister Sita. Subba Rao catches Sundaram and Sita together one day and hits her until Murthy intervenes. He tells Subba Rao that he's taking his anger on the wrong person and offers to pay the dowry for Sita and Sundaram's wedding on Subba Rao's behalf. Meanwhile, after Murthy successfully manages to convince Lakshmipati to give his daughter's hand in marriage, Satyanarayana shows up under the guise of seeking Lakshmipati for a business partnership, and tries to sabotage Murthy's efforts. On the day of the wedding, Lakshmipati declares to everyone that the wedding is void because the dowry wasn't paid. Lakshmipati also insults and assaults Murthy when he tries to intervene, earning Satyanarayana's ire. Despite the setback, Murthy refuses to give up, and asks his father for one last chance. ''Aragundu'', having grown tired of Lakshmipati's antics, resigns and joins up with Murthy. Both of them convince an earlier suitor, Kukkuteswarao, into offering Lakshmipati reverse dowry for Padma's hand. Additionally, Subba Rao's transport company goes on strike, driving their buses through the village, creating a nuisance until Sundaram and Sita's wedding ceremony is conducted. Consequently, four other suitors offer increasing reverse dowry amounts for Padma, all of which Lakshmipati agrees to. On the day of the wedding ceremony, all four grooms turn up and accuse Lakshmipati of deceiving them. Padma confronts her father over his greed blinding him to his daughter's welfare, and his treatment of her like a commodity rather than a human. Lakshmipati's wife joins in and offers to kill themselves so that he can sell their bodies to science for money, which he always wanted. His eyes opened, Lakshmipati realizes the error of his ways, and requests the grooms to choose among themselves who would be marrying Padma. The grooms instead tell him that there's one person who they all unanimously vote to marry Padma: Murthy, which Lakshmipati agrees to. Showing up at the wedding ceremony, an elated Satyanaraya happily accepts his defeat, and reveals his relationship with Murthy to a shocked Lakshmipati, who in turn shocks Satyanarayana more by offering to pay for refreshments. An epilogue states that Lakshmipati passed peacefully after donating his wealth to charity, while Murthy and Padma had a son, who Murthy is shocked to discover has inherited his grandfather's miserly behavior.

Cast

as Krishna Murthy * Rajani as Padma *

as Lakshmipati *

as Satyanarayana * Rallapalli as Appanna *

Bramhanandam Kanneganti Brahmanandam (born 1 February 1956) is an Indian actor and comedian known for his work in Telugu cinema. Recognised as one of India's finest and highest-paid comic actors, he holds the Guinness World Records, Guinness World Record f ...

as Govindu a.k.a. Ara Gundu * Suthi Veerabhadra Rao as Collector Venkat Rao *

Suthi Velu Kurumaddali Lakshmi Narasimha Rao (7 August 1947 – 16 September 2012), better known by his stage name Suthi Velu, was an Indian actor and comedian known for his works in Telugu cinema. He has acted in more than 200 films, and won four state ...

as Pinaasi Sangham Head *

Subhalekha Sudhakar Suravajhala Sudhakar (born 19 November 1960), known by his stage name Subhalekha Sudhakar, is an Indian actor who worked in Telugu and Tamil language films. Sudhakar's first Telugu film '' Subhalekha'' (1982) gained him wide recognition throug ...

as Kukkuteswara Rao *

Babu Mohan Pally Babu Mohan commonly known as Babu Mohan is an Indian actor and politician formerly from the Bharatiya Janata Party. He prominently works in Telugu films as a comedian and is a former Minister for Labour in Andhra Pradesh. He won Nandi ...

as a member of RTC bus union * Vidyasagar as Subba Rao *

Gundu Hanumantha Rao Gundu Hanumantha Rao (10 October 1956–19 February 2018) was an Indian actor and comedian who worked predominantly in Telugu films, theatre, and television. Career Gundu Hanumantha Rao was in confectionery business before stepping into the e ...

as Bridegroom's father *

Ashok Kumar Ashok Kumar (born Kumudlal Ganguly; 13 October 1911 – 10 December 2001), was an Indian actor who attained iconic status in Indian cinema. He is regarded as one of the greatest actors of Indian cinema. He is considered to be the first Super-st ...

as Kaviraju, Hotel manager * Chitti Babu as Chitti, Krishna Murthy's mate * Jenny as Hotel server *

Telangana Shakuntala Telangana Shakuntala (27 March 1951 – 14 June 2014) was an Indian actress who worked in the Telugu cinema. She was known chiefly for playing comedy and villainous characters in Tollywood. Her performances in movies like '' Osey Ramulamma'', ...

as Hostel warden * Sumithra as Rajyam *

Dubbing Janaki Dasari Janaki, known professionally as Dubbing Janaki, is an Indian actress and voice artist. She has appeared in several films and television shows in various South Indian languages. Early life Janaki was born in Peddapuram, East Godavari ...

as Janaki * Sandhya as Sita * Jhansi * Vishwas as Sundaram *

Kuyili Veeramangai Kuyili (died 1780) was an army commander of queen Velu Nachiyar who participated in campaigns against the East India Company in the 18th century. She is considered the first suicide bomber and "first woman martyr" in Indian hist ...

as a special appearance as jogging girl * Savitri as a special appearance as Sasirekha from

in the song "Aha Na Pellanta" * S. V. Ranga Rao as a special appearance as Ghatotkacha from

in the song "Aha Na Pellanta"

Soundtrack

Music composed by

. Music released on AVM Audio Company.

Reception

Griddaluru Gopalrao of ''

Zamin Ryot ''Zamin Ryot'' is an Indian Telugu-language weekly newspaper published from Nellore. It was started by N. Venkatrama Naidu in . It has been called the longest continuously running Telugu newspaper. It is one of the notable district newspapers ...

'', writing his review on 4 December 1987, appreciated the way Jandhyala imbibed humour in the film's dialogues, "Though the comedy scenes are far from reality at times, they are very close in making the audience laugh nowiki/>''sic''">sic.html" ;"title="nowiki/>''sic">nowiki/>''sic''" Gopalrao added.

Legacy

Jahnavi Reddy of ''The News Minute'', wrote that the film is noted for its dialogues and unique insults, which came to be used commonly in conversations. "While more recent films and their dialogues are frequently woven into conversations, there has been a big change in the kind of Telugu used in these popular dialogue," she added.

References

External links

* {{Jandhyala Subramanya Sastry, state=collapsed 1980s feminist films 1980s Telugu-language films 1980s Indian films 1987 comedy films 1987 films Films about Indian weddings Films directed by Jandhyala Films scored by Ramesh Naidu Films shot in Hyderabad, India Indian comedy-drama films Indian feminist films Films about social realism Suresh Productions films Telugu films remade in other languages