Movie Retrospect
Retro - Soggadu (1975)
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Feb 25, 2009 - 9:57:42 AM

Vijaya and Suresh Productions
Soggadu (1975)

Technical:
Reels: 18
Censor Date: December 18, 1975

Cast:
Sobhan Babu ... 'Soggadu' Sobhanadri
Jayasudha ... Saroja
Jayachitra ... Latha
Satyanarayana ... Bhupathi
Santha Kumari ... Latha's mother
Rajababu ... Rajendra Prasad
Nagesh ... Sanyasi Rao
Anjali Devi ... Sobhan Babu's mother
Allu Ramalingayya ... Paramesham
T. Subbirami Reddy ... Collector
Ramaprabha ... Gajalakshmi
Padmanabham ... Saleem
Manjubhargavi ... Savithri
Gummadi Venkateswara Rao ... Simhadri
Giribabu... Prasad
Arja Janardhana Rao... Pothuraju (Kabaddi player)
Jhansi ... Doctor
Other Cast: Ravikumar, P.J. Sarma, Kalpana, Kavitha, Modukuri Satyam, Gokina Ramarao, Baby Varalakshmi
Guest Artistes: Gummadi Venkateswara Rao, Dhulipala, Koka Sanjeeva Rao

Story: Balamurugan
Dialogues: Modukuri Johnson
Lyrics: 'Acharya' Athreya
Music: K.V. Mahadevan
Music Assistant: Puhalendi
Playback: S.P. Balasubrahmanyam, P. Susheela
Associate Director: K. Muralimohana Rao
Editing: Narashimha Rao
Cameraman: Vincent, K.S. Prakash
Producer: D. Ramanaidu
Screenplay, Direction: K. Bapayya

Songs:
avvaa buvvaa kaavaalanTE ayyEdEnaa abbaayii!
Playback: S.P. Balasubrahmanyam, P. Susheela
Cast: Sobhan Babu, Jayasudha

chali vEstOndi, champEstOndi, korikEstOndi
Playback: S.P. Balasubrahmanyam, P. Susheela
Cast: Sobhan Babu, Jayasudha

EDukonDalavaaDaa, vEnkaTESaa, OrayyO, enta pani chEsaavu, tirumalESaa!
Playback: S.P. Balasubrahmanyam, P. Susheela
Cast: Sobhan Babu, Jayachitra

EDukonDalavaaDaa, vEnakTESaa, OrayyO, enta pani chEsaavu, tirumalESaa! (pathos)
Playback: S.P. Balasubrahmanyam, P. Susheela
Cast: Sobhan Babu, Jayachitra

OlE OlE, Olammii uffanTEnE ulikkipaDDaavu
Playback: S.P. Balasubrahmanyam, P. Susheela
Cast: Sobhan Babu, Jayachitra

sOggaaDu lEchaaDu, choochi choochi nee dummu lEputaaDu!
playback ; S.P. Balasubrahmanyam, P. Susheela
Cast: Sobhan Babu, Manjubhargavi, Jayachitra, Jayasudha

Story:
Sobhanadri (Sobhan Babu), popularly known as 'Soggadu' in his village, loves his maradalu Saroja (Jayasudha) who is studying in the nearby town. Saroja's father Paramesham does not like this as he wants Saroja to be married to a highly qualified and well-educated individual than to a farmer like Sobhanadri. Sobhanadri challenges Paramesham that he will marry a girl educated as much as Saroja is and leaves to the town, where he meets Saroja's classmate Latha. Latha has run away from a forced marriage with her evil uncle Bhupathi (Satyanarayana), who is after her property. Latha and Sobhanadri gets married in a hotel in town, but Bhupathi files a case against Sobhanadri and makes the marriage void. How Sobhanadri and Latha reunite and what happens to Saroja is the rest of the story.

About the film:
This is Sobhan Babu's 114th film. One of the luckiest year for Sobhan Babu. He had seven releases in this year: Devudu Chesina Pelli (11.01.1975), Andaruu Manchivaare! (11.04.1975), Babu (02.05.1975), Jeevana Jyothi (16.05.1975), Balipeetham (17.07.1975), Jebudonga (14.08.1975), Gunavanthudu (14.11.1975), and Soggadu (19.12.1975). Out of these seven, Devudu Chesina Pelli, Jeevana Jyothi, Balipeetham, Jebu Donga, Soggadu were super hits while Babu and Gunavanthudu were average at the box-office.

Soggadu marks the debut for Jayachitra in Telugu. Jayasudha was just an upcoming artiste at that time and this was her first film with a star hero at that time. It was also her first film for Suresh Productions. Manjubhargavi played a vamp-like character in the film and has a song sOggaaDu lEchaaDu... along with Sobhan Babu, Jayachitra, and Jayasudha. Mahadevan's songs were all super duper hits in the film. Ole Ole Olammii, uffanTEnE ulikkipaDDaavu..., EDukonDalavaaDaa vEnkaTESaa..., chali vEstundi... and sOggaaDu lEchaaDu... were a rage at that time! The songs were played very commonly at every marriage. T. Subbirami Reddy played the role of District Collector in the film. Koka Sanjeeva Rao, a retired judge, appears as the judge in the film. K. Muralimohana Rao was an associated director for this film and graduated to a director later. K.S. Prakash was an assistant cameraman for the film. Later, he did many film along with his brother Raghavendra Rao and also directed a couple of films before he died suddenly.

Soggadu hit the theaters just a week after Eduru Leni Manishi, which was also directed by K. Bapayya and had NTR in a different role in those times. But Soggadu broke many records even with the tough competition from Eduru Leni Manishi. The film was later remade in Hindi titled Dildaar with Jithendra doing the role of Sobhan Babu, Rekha doing Jayachitra's role, Mumtaz playing Jayasudha's part, Prem Chopra donning Satyanarayana's role and Jeevan appearing in Alluramalingayya's role. The Hindi version was also a huge hit, specially in northern part of India in states like Rajasthan and Gujarat, but was an average fare in Mumbai though. Venu, son of B. Nagireddy gaaru, was a part of the production for this film. Soggadu was made with a tie-up of Vijaya and Suresh banners and is credited so in the title card, but the name Vijaya was surprisingly found missing in the wall posters!

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.

Article: Sri Atluri
Edited by: NaChaKi

Next page Soggadu Records by Vijayabhaskar

Soggadu had a direct 100 days run in 17 theaters plus two shift centers (see table) and created several new records at the box-office:

No.	Center	Theater	Days	Description	Collections (Rs.)
01	Vijayawada	Alankar	131	Direct	5,50,000
02	Guntur	Saraswathi	131	Direct	4,20,000
03	Nellore	Radha	120	Direct	3,80,000
04	Vishakhapatnam	Navarang	110	Direct	3,75,000
05	Rajahmundry	Swamy	110	Direct	3,25,000
06	Hyderabad	Basanth	110	Direct	6,50,000
07	Machilipatnam	Radhika	103	Direct	2,00,000
08	Anakapalli	Satyanarayana	103	Direct	1,75,000
09	Kakinada	Anand	100	Direct	3,10,000
10	Eluru	Gopalakrishna	100	Direct	2,00,000
11	Bhimavaram	Venkatrama	100	Direct	2,25,000
12	Tanuku	Padmasri	100	Direct	1,30,000
13	Vizianagaram	Minerva	100	Direct	2,00,000
14	Ongole	Ratna Mahal	100	Direct	1,50,000
15	Chirala	Bhavani	100	Direct	1,25,000
16	Warangal	Saroj	100	Direct	2,75,000
17	Kurnool	Victory	120	Direct	2,00,000
18	Tirupathi	V.V. Mahal, I.S. Mahal	100	Shift	2,25,000
19	Chittoor	Srinivasa, Lakshmi	100	Shift	1,75,000

Collection Records - By number of theaters in Andhra Pradesh:

• 1 theater: Rs. 6.5 lakhs (Basanth, Hyderabad - 110 days)
• 2 theaters: Rs. 12 lakhs (Basanth, Hyderabad - Rs. 6.5 lakhs; Alankar, Vijayawada - Rs. 5.5 lakhs)
• 3 theaters: Rs. 16.2 lakhs (Basanth, Hyderabad - Rs. 6.5 lakhs; Alankar, Vijayawada - Rs. 5.5 lakhs; Saraswathi, Guntur - Rs. 4.2 lakhs)
• 4 theaters: Rs. 20 lakhs (Basanth, Hyderabad - Rs. 6.5 lakhs; Alankar, Vijayawada - Rs. 5.5 lakhs; Saraswathi, Guntur - Rs. 4.2 lakhs; Radha, Nellore - Rs. 3.8 lakhs)
• 5 theaters: Rs. 23.75 lakhs (Basanth, Hyderabad - Rs. 6.5 lakhs; Alankar, Vijayawada - Rs. 5.5 lakhs; Saraswathi, Guntur - Rs. 4.2 lakhs; Radha, Nellore - Rs. 3.8 lakhs; Navarang, Vishakhapatnam - Rs. 3.75 lakhs)
• 6 theaters: Rs. 27 lakhs (Basanth, Hyderabad - Rs. 6.5 lakhs; Alankar, Vijayawada - Rs. 5.5 lakhs; Saraswathi, Guntur - Rs. 4.2 lakhs; Radha, Nellore - Rs. 3.8 lakhs; Navarang, Vishakhapatnam - Rs. 3.75 lakhs; Swamy, Rajahmundry - Rs. 3.25 lakhs)
• 7 theaters: Rs. 30.1 lakhs (Basanth, Hyderabad - Rs. 6.5 lakhs; Alankar, Vijayawada - Rs. 5.5 lakhs; Saraswathi, Guntur - Rs. 4.2 lakhs; Radha, Nellore - Rs. 3.8 lakhs; Navarang, Vishakhapatnam - Rs. 3.75 lakhs; Swamy, Rajahmundry - Rs. 3.25 lakhs; Anand A/C, Kakinada - Rs. 3.1 lakhs)
• 8 theaters: Rs. 32.85 lakhs (Basanth, Hyderabad - Rs. 6.5 lakhs; Alankar, Vijayawada - Rs. 5.5 lakhs; Saraswathi, Guntur - Rs. 4.2 lakhs; Radha, Nellore - Rs. 3.8 lakhs; Navarang, Vishakhapatnam - Rs. 3.75 lakhs; Swamy, Rajahmundry - Rs. 3.25 lakhs; Anand A/C, Kakinada - Rs. 3.1 lakhs; Saroj, Warangal - Rs. 2.75 lakhs)
• 9 theaters: Rs. 35.1 lakhs (Basanth, Hyderabad - Rs. 6.5 lakhs; Alankar, Vijayawada - Rs. 5.5 lakhs; Saraswathi, Guntur - Rs. 4.2 lakhs; Radha, Nellore - Rs. 3.8 lakhs; Navarang, Vishakhapatnam - Rs. 3.75 lakhs; Swamy, Rajahmundry - Rs. 3.25 lakhs; Anand A/C, Kakinada - Rs. 3.1 lakhs; Saroj, Warangal - Rs. 2.75 lakhs; Bhimavaram - Rs. 2.25 lakhs)

• Soggadu is the first Telugu film to collect 3 lakh rupees or more in 7 centers (single theater): Hyderabad, Guntur, Vijayawada, Kakinada, Rajahmundry, Vishakhapatnam, and Nellore.
• Soggadu is the first Telugu film in Telugu film industry to collect 2 lakh rupees in 14 centers (single theater): Hyderabad, Warangal, Guntur, Tenali, Vijayawada, Machilipatnam, Eluru, Kakinada, Rajahmundry, Bhimavaram, Vishakhapatnam, Vizianagaram, Nellore, Kurnool, and Tirupathi.
• Soggadu is the first Telugu film to collect 1 lakh rupees in 30 centers: Hyderabad, Secunderabad, Warangal, Nizamabad, Khammam, Ongole, Chirala, Guntur, Tenali, Gudivada, Vijayawada, Machilipatnam, Eluru, Kakinada, Rajahmundry, Bhimavaram, Thanuku, Amalapuram, Tadepalligudem, Vishakhapatnam, Vizianagaram, Anakapalli, Srikakulam, Nellore, Kurnool, Anantapur, Kadapa, Chittoor, Tirupathi, and Bellary (33 days).

• Soggadu is the first title role film to have direct 110-day run in as many as 7 centers, while no other heroes' films had not crossed 4 centers: Vijayawada (Alankar, 131 days), Guntur (Saraswathi, 131 days), Nellore (Radha, 120 days), Kurnool (Victory, 120 days), Hyderabad (Basanth, 110 days), Vishakhapatnam (Navarang, 110 days), and Rajahmundry (Swamy, 110 days). The only exceptions were in the form of NTR and in Chiranjeevi's Gang Leader.
• Soggadu is the first Telugu film to be houseful for 5 weeks continuously in 4 centers: Vijayawada (Alankar, 57 days), Vishakhapatnam (Navarang, 39 days), Guntur (Saraswathi, 39 days), and Rajahmundry (Swamy, 35 days).
• Soggadu is the first social color film to have minimum respectable run in as many as 75 centers in the whole of Andhra Pradesh: Ceded (18), Nizam (14), Guntur (10), East Godavari (10), Uttara-Andhra (8), West Godavari (7), Krishna (5), and Nellore (3).
• While Soggadu celebrated its 100 days of run in 19 centers, no other leading hero's film in the same year (1975) had a 100-day run in at least half the number of centers!
• In the year 1975, Soggadu is the only direct 100 days film in the following centers: Ongole, Chirala, Anakapalli, and Chittoor.
• In Hospet (Karnataka), Soggadu was the first Telugu film to run for 50 days!

Collection/Run Records - By Distribution Area:

Nizam Distribution Area:

• Soggadu was the first social film and the first title role film to have 7 centers for direct 50-day run in Nizam region: Hyderabad, Warangal, Secunderabad (at Chitrani), Khammam (at Sundar), Nizamabad (at Ramesh), Karimnagar (at Balakrishna), and Mahabubnagar (at Ashok).
• In twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad, Soggadu was the first Telugu film to collect 4 lakh rupees over the first 5 weeks of run, with a share of 2.5 lakhs in just four theaters! It ran for a total of 110 days in the first release and collected 10 lakh rupees in the twin cities. This was the first film to have seen 4.2 lakh rupees in collections for 50 days (single theater) in Hyderabad. In Secunderabad, it was the first film to have collected 1.75 lakh rupees in 50 days.
• In Khammam, Soggadu collected 1 lakh rupees in 6 weeks.
• In Karimnagar, Soggadu created a record with a 50-day run in the high-capacity theater, Balakrishna. A previous 100-day film in that theater collected Rs. 45,000/- while 50-day run of Soggadu witnessed a collection record that exceeded the 100-day run of that film! Never in the history of the theater was there such a super hit as Soggadu!
• Even in Ramesh theater of Nizamabad, another huge theater there, Soggadu had 56 days of running, creating a record for itself among films made in color! In the first 40 days, it completed 1 lakh rupees in collection, which is also a record!
• Warangal had a full-run collection record of 2 lakh rupees, and Soggadu crossed it in just 8 weeks!
• In Mahabubnagar, Soggadu released on Jan. 04, 1976, 16 days later than in other major centers, and ran for 62 days in Ashok theater.

• Soggadu was the first social (color) film to run for 50 days in 12 centers in Ceded region.
• Soggadu was the first title role film to run for 120 days, and the first color film to run for 100 days direct in Victory talkies in Kurnool. (The direct 100 days record was the only one until Yamudiki Mogudu also achieved it in 1988.)
• While Tamil star MGR's film Ulagam Chutru Vaaliban was the first film to collect over 1 lakh rupees in Chittoor in its total run, that record was broken by Soggadu in just 35 days, during which time it went on to collect Rs. 1.04 lakhs! Thus, Soggadu also marked the first social film and the first title role film to run for 100 days in Chittoor.
• Soggadu was the first film to collect 1 lakh rupees (single theater) in Tirupathi in just 25 days!
• In Jyothi theater at Madanapalle, Soggadu crossed 1 lakh rupees in collections within 50 days! Prior to Soggadu, only NTR's films collected 1 lakh rupees, and that too in 100-day run.
• Soggadu was the first title role film to run for 50 days (direct) in the history of Hindupur.

• In Kakinada, Soggadu ran for 100 days and recorded a collection of over 3 lakh rupees in Anand A/C theater. (In mid-'70s when Soggadu released, this theater was the largest theater in the town and was notoriously noted for discouraging business! The population of the town itself was about 2 lakhs in the '70s! The theater is now converted into two theaters.) Only Bobbili Brahmanna (1984) celebrated 100 days in that theater of such a huge capacity, though several star heroes films released there! The film boasted of 2 lakh rupees in collections within 36 days of its run in Kakinada!
• In Rajahmundry, Soggadu was houseful in Swamy theater for 5 weeks. The film was the first to collect 3 lakh rupees in 100 days of run at Rajahmundry.
• In Amalapuram, Soggadu collected 1 lakh rupees in just 37 days.
• In Ramachandrapuram, Soggadu became the first film to collect over 1 lakh rupees. Notably, the film released late here and still became the first social (color) film to be played for 10 weeks!
• In Penugonda, Soggadu ran for 38 days in 1976. Never before was there another film in that center that was such a great hit, and the record stayed with Soggadu for a long time thereafter too!
• Mandapeta saw a run of 75 days in Surya Picture Palace - a record for Eastman Color films and social films made in color.

• Soggadu was the first title role (color) film to run for 50 days in West Godavari district at five centers: Eluru (at Gopalakrishna), Bhimavaram (at Venkataramana), Thanuku (at Padmasri), Tadepalligudem (Relangi Chitra Mandir), and Palakollu (at Gajalakshmi). It went on to be the first title role film to celebrate 100 days in three centers: Eluru, Bhimavaram, and Thanuku.
• In Eluru, Soggadu was the first film to collect 1 lakh rupees in 5 weeks!
• In Tadepalligudem, Soggadu was the first Eastman Color film and the first title role film to run for 10 weeks.
• In Thanuku, Soggadu was also the first title role film (in color) to have a direct run for 100 days. Also, it was the first film to collect 1 lakh rupees in 50 days!
• In Bhimavaram, the film enjoyed 31 shows in the first one week, which is also a record! Also, the film was the third to cross 2 lakh rupees in collection. (The first two films also starred Sobhan Babu in the lead role - Manchi Manushulu in 1974 at Sreelakshmi, and Jeevana Jyothi in 1975 at Satyanarayana.)

• Soggadu was the first title role (color) film to celebrate 100 days in 3 centers in this region: Vishakhapatnam, Vizianagaram, and Anakapalli.
• Soggadu was the first to run for 66 days with three shows in four centers in Uttara-Andhra (Northern Andhra Pradesh) region.
• At Srinivasa theater in Srikakulam, the film collected 1 lakh rupees in 50 days.
• In Vizianagaram, Soggadu was the first film to collect 1 lakh rupees in 5 weeks!
• In Vishakhapatnam, Soggadu ran for 39 days house-full! The film collected 3.6 lakh rupees in 100 days, thus creating the record for second-most collections in the city. (The record for highest collections in the city is also held by Sobhan Babu's film in the same year - Jeevana Jyothi - at Rs. 4.17 lakhs.)
• In the small town of Anakapalli, Soggadu was the second film to run for 100 days, with a gap over 10 years after Lavakusa celebrated its 100-day run. Soggadu was thus the first social film that celebrated 100 days in Anakapalli, followed by ANR's Premabhishekam (1981). Soggadu was also the first title role film to celebrate 100 days in Anakapalli, followed by NTR's Kondaveeti Simham (1981). Soggadu was the first to gross 1.75 lakh rupees in Anakapalli, a record that was broken by Premabhishekam. Other movies that ran significantly in Anakapalli around that time include Khaidi Babai (1974 - 70 days), Daana Veera Soora Karna (1977 - 9 weeks), and Adavi Ramudu (1977 - 8 weeks).
• Soggadu ran for 36 days in Chodavaram, creating a record in collections!
• Tekkali housed Soggadu for 6 weeks, creating a record in collections!

• Soggadu was the first film to cross 1 lakh rupees in collection at Gudivada within 35 days of run!
• In Machilipatnam, Soggadu was the first to collect 2 lakh rupees (at Radhika theater).

• Soggadu was the first title role (color) film to run 84 days in 4 centers in Guntur area: Guntur, Ongole, Chirala, and Tenali (at Ratna).
• Soggadu was also the first color film to have run house-full for 39 days in Guntur!
• Soggadu was the first Telugu film to collect 1.5 lakh rupees in Rathna Mahal theater at Ongole, where it enjoyed a 100-day run. It's interesting to note that the next film to run for 100 days here was Chiranjeevi's blockbuster Gharana Mogudu, 17 years later! (Rathna Mahal, which was in the outskirts of Ongole in 1975 when Soggadu released, became the heart of the town by the early 1990s, when Gharana Mogudu released.)
• In Bhavani theater at Chirala, Soggadu was the first title role (color) film to run for 100 days. The film collected 1 lakh rupees in 8 weeks at Chirala.

• In the 33-year history of the huge Radha Talkies of Nellore, only 4-5 films ran for 100 days! Soggadu was released in this theater 15 weeks after its inauguration, and it ran for 120 days at a stretch with record collections. When no other hero's films had earlier seen a collection of 2.5 lakh rupees there, Soggadu collected 3.8 lakh rupees, breaking the previous records by an easy 1.5 lakh rupees! The film collected 2 lakh rupees in just 40 days in Nellore, thus creating a record!

Compiled by: Vijayabaskar
Edited by: NaChaKi