Note: Atiloka Sundari Sridevi's first hit in Telugu - Padaharella Vayasu - completes 30 years on Sunday. It was released on August 31, 1978. This trendsetting movie (remake of Bharatiraja's Tamil film) is best remembered for Sridevi's innocent face, beauty, great performances by Sridevi and Chandramohan, and great music. Read retro..
Rajalaxmi Art Films
Padaharella Vayasu (1978)
Technical:
35 mm
Color
Cast:
Sridevi ... Malli
Chandramohan ... Chandram
Mohan Babu ... Simhachalam
Nirmalamma ... Gangamma
Navakanth ... Doctor
Other Cast: Apparao, K.K. Sarma, Chalapathi Rao, Seeta Latha, Halam
Art: Thota Hemachander
Playback: S.P. Balasubrahmanyam, S. Janaki
Story: Bharati Raja
Music: Chakravarthy
Asst. Music Directors: Chandrasekhar, Chakradhara Rao
Operative Cameraman: V. Jayaram
Asst. Directors: N.B. Chakravarthy, K. Sarathbabu
Camera: K.S. Prakash
Producers: Midde Rama Rao, Angara Satyam, Angara Lakshmana Rao
Direction: K. Raghavendra Rao
Release Date: August 31, 1978
Songs
sirimallepoovaa, sirimallepoovaa! (pathos)
Playback: S. Janaki
Cast: Sridevi
puvvu laanTi malli pushpinchenamma
Playback: Chorus
sirimallepoovaa, sirimallepoovaa! chinnari chilakammaa! naa vaaDu evarE
Playback: S. Janaki
Cast: Sridevi
vayasanta muDupu gaTTi vastanTaalE aaDukundaam!
Playback: S. Janaki
Cast: Halam
kaTTukathalu nEnu cheppi navvistE
Playback: S.P. Balasubrahmanyam, S. Janaki
Cast: Chandramohan, Sridevi
panTachElO paalakanki navvindi, pallakeelO palle yenki navvindi!
Playback: S.P. Balasubrahmanyam, S. Janaki
Cast: Chandramohan, Sridevi
Story:
Malli, a teenager girl who just passed her tenth class, has only one dream from her childhood, which is to become a teacher. As a teenager, she falls in love with the doctor who comes to the village. but her dreams are shattered when she finds out about the real character of the doctor. She realizes what life really is after the death of her mother and get settled with innocent Chandram who rescues her from Simhachalam.
About the film:
The film was a remake of the super hit Tamil film Padunaaru Vayadinile.
Producer Midde Rama Rao speaks:
Hailing from Gokavaram 30 kilometers away from Rajahmundry, I wanted to do something pertaining to films since my early childhood! After discontinuing my graduation, I started contracts and constructed a touring theatre named Sushma in our village. After ten years as an exhibitor I joined hands with my brothers-in-law, who were also exhibitors, and planned to work on making films. Initially, we dubbed a couple of films like Kondaveeti Veerudu (from Malayanati Mangai starring Gemini Ganeshan and Vijayasri), Kaksha-Siksha (from Ingapottan SottuPrachanda Veerudu (from Kannada film Bahadur Gandu starring Rajkumar, Jayanthi). The first film was an average fair but the two that followed were super hits. And now, success made me consider doing a film in Telugu.
As I didn't have enough experience in judging the script, we wanted to go for a remake this time, choosing a movie that's already a proven hit at the BO. Bharati Raja was a big name in Tamil filmdom at that time, partly due to his great hit of the times, Padunaaru Vayadinile. Tamil producer Rajkannu was a lorry driver by profession. He had an ambition to make at least one film in his lifetime! When Bharati Raja said he can make a film with four and half lakhs, Rajkannu agreed and started the film, but the film was not finished within the planned budget, and he had to sell off his lorry in order to complete the film. However, as the film reached its completion, no one seemed to come forward to release the film, and the producer was forced to release the movie himself with six prints.
The film carried an average talk for four weeks, and then it became such a sensational hit that the producer went into hiding in order to avoid income tax personnel, while all top producers from other languages were searching for him to acquire the remake rights, but he was literally not traceable. Finally, with the help of a manager we found out that he joined in a hospital to avoid income tax raids. We went to the hospital and met Bharati Raja also there; with Bharati Raja's convincing, we finally got the rights for the film at 1.25 lakhs of rupees, which was a very huge offer for remake rights back then, since most remake rights were sold at a maximum of about Rs.40,000/-. This irked many big wigs then...
After getting the remake rights, we approached Raghavendra Rao gaaru for direction, but we had our hesitation as he was already a big director that gave a super hit film Adavi Ramudu, but he agreed instantly! ...Kamal Hasan and Rajinikanth did a very good job in the Tamil version, but we opted for native Telugu artistes while remaking, as they were known only through some popular dubbing films then. Sobhan Babu gaaru showed interest in the role but we were unable to imagine him doing such a deglamourized role and we approached Chandramohan.
He was quite ready to do the role and he did good in the film too! For the role of Rajini, which he wanted to do in Telugu himself, we felt Mohan Babu is a better known face in Telugu. For the heroine role, Jayaprada was considered as just appeared in a big hit Adavi Ramudu, but then the idea was dropped as we needed a teenaged heroine for the film. After much discussion with Raghavendra Rao gaaru, we chose the original heroine Sridevi. She was just 15 at that time! After a disaster Anuraagaalu, this was her second Telugu film as a lead artiste. Later, Raghavendra Rao gaaru showed a special screening of this film to Ramarao gaaru and got her a chance for his film Vetagaadu.
Chakravarthy became permanent music director for our movies after this film. Initially, he did not want to use the original's tunes for the film. But when S. Janaki won the National Award for her song in the Tamil version, he was forced to opt for the original tune for the famous sirimallepoovaa... song, and it became a big hit in Telugu also. He is one person who was my lifelong best friend in the film field. The film in fact opens with his words as an introduction, and he also dubbed for Navakanth who played the doctor role in the film.
The film was completed in four months. Overall, with all expenses for rights and remunerations, the film costed us 10.5 lakh rupees, and we got a table profit of six lakhs. The film celebrated hundred days in almost all centers it was released.
After this film, my brothers-in-law and I started our own banners. I started making films under Sree Rajyalakshmi Art banner and they started under Rajyalakshmi Movies banner. Angara Satyam died in 1996 and Angara Lakshmana Rao gaaru passed away in 2001.
The film was later remade in Hindi under the direction of Bharati Raja himself, again with Sridevi in the lead along side Amol Palekar (in lieu of Chandramohan/Kamal Hasan), but the film was a disaster in Hindi. starring Jayashankar), and
Article By
Sri Atluri
Compiled and Edited by Nachaki
