Articles : Movie Retrospect : Retro

Jayachitra on her debut film:
Though I was really busy at that time in Tamil, Ramanaidu gaaru was adamant and made me sign the movie. I debuted in 1972 and was busy in Tamil doing a lot of movies. I was supposed to do Nomu and Bantrothu Bharya before this film, but I had to lose those films to others due to clashes of dates. Though Soggadu was mostly shot in outdoor locations of Andhra Pradesh, my role did not have many scenes in outdoor locations, and thus they shot my scenes first so that my role will be completed. I was hardly 15 at that time! Later, I did two more films with Sobhan gaaru, Nindu Manishi (26.01.1978) and Manchi Babai (22.04.1978), as a heroine and one film as a sister (Kaksha, 28.03.1980)

Jayasudha on Soggadu:
This was my first film with Sobhan gaaru. I was doing a Tamil film when I was offered this role. I got a lot of recognition for my role as it was a sacrificing character. Sobhan gaaru encouraged me a lot while we were shooting. It helped me a great extent to continue to do sacrificing roles, thus promising me long innings on the screen. It was also my first film in Suresh banner.

K. Bapayya on Soggadu:
I worked as an assistant on Suresh banner for Ramudu-Bheemudu, Pratij~naa Paalana, and Sreekrishna Thulabharam before Ramanaidu gaaru gave me break as a director with the film Drohi (1970), but that film was a disaster at the box-office. After Drohi, I used to work again with Suresh banner under my father. I worked for all three versions (Telugu, Tamil, and Hindi) of Premnagar and I was doing films for other banners too at that time. Ramanaidu gaaru called me when I was doing the film Eduru Leni Manishi and offered me Soggadu with Balamurugan as the storywriter.

The film was mostly shot in Mandapeta, Sakinetipalli, Karamchedu, Kolavennu, and Elamarru. During the first schedule, we did nothing for most of the time but just sat in our rooms at the hotel as the costal region was totally deluged in rains. But Ramanaidu gaaru wanted to shoot the film outdoors for most time, and thus we were doing nothing but praying to God that the rains should stop. All the indoor shots were done in AVM Studios (including the song chali vEstundi...) and in Vijaya-Vauhini Studios (house set and hotel set). We shot a couple of days in Hyderabad (Tank bund shots where Jayachitra meets Nagesh and Sobhan Babu when they come to the town for the first time, and other shots) The ox in the film belongs to Sree Mandapeta Chowdary who has a lot of oxen and was very interested in training them. The race was shot in Karamchedu. We shot the Hindi version too in almost the same locations.

Sobhan Babu was really busy at that time and was having good hits. Before we started the shooting, his Devudu Chesina Pelli and Jeevana Jyothi were hits that year. The film showed Sobhan Babu at his best without any doubt.

The 100-days function was celebrated on the 115th day at Vijayawada Municipal Grounds. Sivaji Ganesan was the chief guest while Vanisree gave mementos to the film's artistes.

Sobhan got the third Filmfare Award in a row with this film, for Khaidi Babai (1974), Jeevana Jyothi (1975), Soggadu (1976). He's the only South Indian actor who got Filmfare award thrice in a row, only after thespian Dilip Kumar in North India.