Sri Murali Krishna Art Creations
Nelavanka (1983)
Technical:
35 mm
Color
Reels: 14
Censor Date: October 14, 1982
Release Date: January 25, 1983
Cast:
Gummadi Venkateswara Rao ... Srirama Raju
J.V. Somayajulu ... Raheem
Rajesh (debut) ... Saleem
Kiran (debut) ... Kiran
Tulasi ... Lalita
Rajyalakshmi ... Savitri
Master Ali ... Ali
Muddali Susheela ... Rameswari
C. Rammohana Rao ... Brother of Srirama Raju
K. Sambasiva Rao ... Servant Seshayya
Prameela Rani ... Srirama Raju's wife
Potti Prasad ... Gurrala Guravayya
Eswara Rao ... Ravi
sutti Velu... Ayurveda doctor Dongre Sastry
sutti Veerabhadra Rao ... Dongre Sastry's compounder
Gangarathnam ... Raheem's mother
Other Cast: Shyam,
Sakshi Rangarao, Vinnakota Vijayaram, Dham, Balaji, Nagamani, Sabharanjani, Sivaramireddy, Ch. Krishnamurthy
Editing: Gautham Raju
Assistant Editor: Mutyala Naani
Art: Thota Tarani
Lyrics: Indraganti Srikantha Sarma, Udaybhaskar Rao (
sutti song)
Songs: S.P. Balasubrahmanyam, S. Janaki, Prakash Rao, Jitmoham Mitra, Ramola
Camera: S. Gopala Reddy
Associate Cameraman: M.V. Raghu
Assistant Cameramen: Diwakar, Srinivas Reddy
Music: Ramesh Naidu
Co-Director: U.V. Pani
Associate Directors: E.V.V. Satyanarayana, B.S. Nishtala
Assistant Directors: Battula Ramakrishna, J. Pullarao
Producer: A.S. Anjaneyulu, M. Narasimha Rao
Story, Screenplay and Direction: Jandhyala
Songs:
enta cheppinaa vinavEmiraa (
lankaa dahanam tOlubommalaaTa)
Playback: Ramola , Jitmohan mitra, Prakash Rao
Cast: Rajesh, Master Ali,
etc.
gO gummaDi gO gummaDi
Playback: S.P. Balasubrahmanyam, S. Janaki, Jitmohan Mitra,
etc.
Cast: Kiran, Tulasi
mehfil mE aaj dhoom uThii (
ee gaaraala sirimogga mee eduTa poochindi)
Playback: S. Janaki, S.P. Balasubrahmanyam
Cast: Rajesh, Tulasi, Kiran,
etc.
sogasari bomma kOyilallO
Playback: S.P. Balasubrahmanyam
Cast: Rajesh and group
kanubommala pallakilOna kanne siggu vadhuvayindi
Playback: S.P. Balasubrahmanyam, S. Janaki
Cast: Rajesh, Tulasi
Edi matam, Edi hitam?
Playback: S.P. Balasubrahmanyam
Cast: J.V. Somayajulu
sutti Song
Playback: S.P. Balasubrahmanyam, Prakash Rao
Cast:
sutti Velu,
sutti Veerabhadra Rao
Story:
Srirama Raju (Gummadi) is the zamindar of the village. Raheem (J.V. Somayajulu), his classmate and a friend, also works as his carriage-driver. The zamindar has two daughters Savitri (Rajyalakshmi) and Lalitha (Tulasi) and a son Ravi (Eswara Rao). Savitri is a born mute, while Tulasi goes to college. Tulasi meets Kiran (Kiran) who traps her in the name of love and later marries Savitri for money. Raheem's son Saleem (Rajesh) rescues Lalitha from Kiran. A couple of villagers who had grudges on Raheem create Hindu-Muslim clashes between the otherwise peaceful villages. How all issues were resolved and what price they had to pay to regain peace in the village as well as in their lives forms the rest of the story.
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| Kiran and Tulasi in Nelavanka |
About the film:
This was Jandhyala's fourth film as a director. The film was mostly shot in Muktyala palace owned by Vasireddy Rajyalakshmamma. Like most of the Jandhyala's movies, even this film was completed in a single schedule. The film was started on the new moon day of June 23, 1982 in Vedadri (symbolizing the movie's title) and completed the shooting part by August 5, 1982.
S. Gopala Reddy did a wonderful job in the movie with his camera. In the song
kanubommala pallaki lOna... , a stanza mentions
"kanureppala goDugu" (meaning eyelash-umbrella), Tulasi is shown below Rajesh's eyelashes superbly! Associate cameraman M.V. Raghu became a cameraman later and worked for films like Vamsy's
Sitara and then later became director with the films
Kallu and
Arthanadham. Recently, he worked as the cameraman for A.S. Geethakrishna's
Koffi Bar using RED Camera. Two other assistants who worked under S. Gopalareddy for this film, Diwakar and Srinivas Reddy, also became cameramen later. Srinivas Reddy also became a producer and made films like Balakrishna's
Krishnababu. Co-director U.V. Pani later assisted Mani Rathnam for some films and is presently living a retired life in Guntur, away from filmdom. Associate Director E.V.V. later became a popular director and is directing his 50th film
Buridi at this time. Another Associate Director, B.S. Nishtala, is a close friend of S.P. Balu and looks after the latter's dates now. For Assistant Director J. Pullarao, this film marked the debut. He later produced films along with his brother Bhagavan and eventually made films like
Juniors; they are planning their next movie now.
S. Gopal Reddy introduced Rajesh to Jandhyala Rajesh, the son of Late Amarnath (and thus the brother of popular comedian Sreelakshmi, who also shot to fame with Jandhyala's movie
Rendu Jella Seetha), noted artiste and hero of yesteryears. (Amarnath had super hits such as
Naa Chellelu and Adurti's debut film
Amara Sandesham to his credit.) Rajesh acted in several movies but he also passed away with heart attack at a young age. S.P. Balasubrahmanyam dubbed his voice in the film. Kiran's, whose actual name is Anoor, is the nephew of S. Gopal Reddy and also elder brother to cameraman-director Rasool. He only did two films,
Nelavanka and a small role in
Rendu Jella Seetha. Later, he went to England and is currently running an electronics factory there. Rajayalakshmi's mother Sabharanjani played a small role in the film. This is the only film where she appeared. She was a popular stage artiste before Rajyalakshmi entered into films. The role of Rajesh's assistant in puppet show was actually was meant for Jitmohan Mitra, who sang the first song in the movie along with Ramola and Prakash Rao (from Vizag) but it came to Balaji due to an issue with dates. (Balaji is brother of Rohini who started as a child artiste and later graduated to sister roles in films such as
Devanthakudu and later married Late Raghuvaran.
