Poola Rangadu is a 1967 Indian Telugu-language crime thriller film directed by Adurthi Subba Rao and produced by D. Madhusudhana Rao. It stars Akkineni Nageswara Rao, Jamuna, Sobhan Babu and Vijaya Nirmala, with music composed by S. Rajeswara Rao. The film, loosely based on A. J. Cronin's novel Beyond This Place, was released on 24 November and became a box office success. It was remade in Tamil in 1970 as En Annan and in Hindi in 1972 as Jeet.[1][2]

Poola Rangadu
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Adurthi Subba Rao
Written by	Ranganayakamma (dialogues)
Screenplay by	Adurthi Subba Rao
Story by	Mullapudi Venkata Ramana
Based on	Beyond This Place by A. J. Cronin
Produced by	D. Madhusudhana Rao
Starring	Akkineni Nageswara Rao Jamuna Sobhan Babu Vijaya Nirmala
Cinematography	P. S. Selvaraj
Edited by	T. Krishna
Music by	S. Rajeswara Rao
Production company	Annapurna Pictures
Release date	24 November 1967 (1967-11-24)
Running time	165 minutes
Country	India
Language	Telugu

Plot

Ranga Rao is a breezy and jovial man well-known as Poola Rangadu whose livelihood is pulling a horse cart and who loves his associate Venkatalakshmi. In childhood, his father Veerayya used to work as a manager at a mill, owned by Purushotham who is slaughtered by his partner Dharma Rao and Chalapathi. Veerayya is indicted and sentenced to life imprisonment, leaving his children Ranga and Padma alone.

Ranga stands on his own and raises his sister Padma with love and affection. On the other side, Dharma Rao and Chalapathi become big shots, poses themselves as respectable people, and showing fake adoration towards Purushotham. At present, Padma loves and espouses Dr. Prasad who happens to be Purushotham's son. Being aware of it, Narasimhulu, brother of Venkatalakshmi, keeps a grudge as he aspires to marry Padma and divulges the fact to Prasad's mother. Hence, Padma is necked out despite being pregnant. Knowing it, furious, Ranga beats Narasimhulu and gets one year of imprisonment. In jail, Ranga meets his father Veerayya, learns the truth and decides to prove his innocence.

Time passes, Ranga is released, and by that time, Padma gives birth to a baby boy. Upon his release, Ranga plants himself in Dharma Rao's house, cooking up conflicts and differences between Dharma Rao and Chalapathi until the truth is finally brought out. Veerayya is acquitted, Prasad takes Padma back, and Ranga and Venkatalakshmi marry.

Cast

• Akkineni Nageswara Rao as Ranga Rao[2]
• Jamuna as Venkata Lakshmi[2]
• Sobhan Babu as Dr. Prasad[2]
• Vijaya Nirmala as Padma[2]
• V. Nagayya as Veeraiah[2]
• Gummadi as Dharma Rao[2]
• Allu Ramalingaiah as Police Punaiah
• Padmanabham as Bujji
• Chalam as Narasimhulu
• Bhanu Prakash as Chalapathi[2]
• Suryakantham as Baby
• Malathi as Prasad's mother[2]
• Geetanjali as Lilly
• Radha Kumari as Punaiah's wife[2]

Production

Producer D. Madhusudhana Rao sought to work on the adaptation of the A. J. Cronin novel Beyond This Place, on the suggestion of Gollapudi Maruti Rao. He hired Mullapudi Venkata Ramana to write the story taking a basic plot point from the novel while Ranganayakamma provided the dialogues. Prisons scenes were shot at real locations at Chanchalguda and Musheerabad Central Prisons in Hyderabad with the permission of the state government. Though the film was predominantly filmed in black-and-white, the "Nee Jilugu Paita" song sequence alone was in colour.[2]

Soundtrack

The music was composed by S. Rajeswara Rao.[3]

Release and reception

Griddaluru Gopalrao of Zamin Ryot, in his review dated 1 December 1967, criticised the film for its poor direction and performances.[4] The film ran for more than 100 days in 11 centres in Andhra Pradesh.[5]

Awards

• Mullapudi Venkata Ramana won the Nandi Award for Second Best Story Writer (1967).[6]

References

External links

• Poola Rangadu at IMDb