Matrudevobhava

Cast:Madhavi ... SaradaNazar ... SatyamY. Vijaya ... ParvatammaCharu Hasan ... SwamiSubbaraya Sarma ... AnanthaswamiSarathi ... Suryam (Toddy shop owner)'Maharshi' Raghava ... DoctorTanikella Bharani ... ApparaoBaby Seena ... Radha

Other Cast: Allu Ramalingayya, Kota Srinivas Rao, Narayana Rao, Brahmanandam, Niramalamma, Sudha, Dharmavarapu Subrahmanyam, Venu, Satyanarayana, Alla Rambabu, Jhansi, Lalitha, Master Martin, Master PhaniStory: Dennis JosephDialogues: G. SatyamurthyLyrics: Veturi SundararamamurthyPlayback: S.P. Balasubrahmanyam, M.M. Keeravani, ChitraOperative Cameraman: K. ShyamCo-director: SastryCameraman: Chota K. NaiduMusic: M.M. KeeravaniCo-producer: K. BanerjeeProducer: K.S. Rama RaoScreenplay, Direction: K. Ajay Kumar

Story:

Satyam (Nazar) is a jeep driver and his wife Sarada (Madhavi) is a music teacher. They are both orphans brought up by a Seva Ashram (run by Charu Hasan). Sarada and Satyam have four kids. Satyam, though a good guy by heart, is good person, is addicted to liquor. Apparao (Tanikella Bharani), a toddy shop owner, has an eye on Sarada. Satyam bashes Apparao in front of his shop when he knows about Apparao's advances towards Sarada. In a turn of events, Sarada is diagnosed with brain tumor and her days are numbered. At this juncture, Apparao kills Satyam, leaving the family in a saddened state. Sarada wants her children to be brought up in a family atmosphere rather than in the Ashram. How the children get adopted to different families and what happens to Sarada is the rest of the tear-jerking and heart-touching story.

About the film:

The film was a remake of Malayalam hit film Akshadhoodu (1993) by Sibi Malayil. Madhavi played the female lead there too. It was a huge hit in Malayalam, and all reviews raved about Madhavi for her performance. The film has Madhavi at her best. This is her lifetime-best role. K.S. Ramarao saw the film and bought the remake rights for Telugu. Madhavi was the ideal choice for the role, as she has already proven in Malayalam and was also a familiar face to Telugu audience.

K.S. Ramarao recalls that Madhavi had no hang-ups and that she fully co-operated and did an excellent job in the movie. Initially, K.S. Rama Rao wanted to do the role of Murali in the Malayalam original, as Madhavi's husband, but dropped the idea with the advice of Marudhuri Raja who was a close associate of KSR. Finally, they selected Nazar for the role. Nazar did complete justice to the role. All the child artists also did a wonderful job.

Most of the film was shot in the same locations as the original Malayalam film. Camera by Chota K. Naidu is a big plus point. Shyam his brother was operative cameraman for the film. Music is a major plus for the film. During most of the film, the audience can see Keeravani's passion for violin and how effectively it was used. Chitra's aalaapana in some scenes elevates the mood of the scene. Songs are a major plus point. Veturi got the national award for the song raalipoyE puvvaa neeku raagaalendukE... which was also sung effectively by Keeravaani. However, he admits that he personally felt vENuvai vacchaanu bhuvanaaniki... was worthier. This is the only other national award for a Telugu lyric since teluguveera, lEvaraa!... in Alluri Seetharamaraju (SreeSree), before Suddala Ashok Teja got one for his song in Tagore. For the director K. Ajay Kumar who made some other movies here and there, this is a movie that keeps his name up for a long time.

The film was made with a budget of 37 lakhs and was released by the producer himself. The film went on with scant audience for the first three weeks. Some theatre owners wanted to stop the screening as there were no audience, but at the end of the third week all the theatres were full and the movie ran for 100 days in big theatres like Sudarshan 35mm, which happens to be one of the biggest theatres in Hyderabad. The movie brought a huge profit of 1 crore to the producer. The film also got the Nandi Award (third ) from AP Govt. for the best film.

I didn't watch the film for a long time, as I felt it was a sentimental tearjerker. But when I finally watched it, I was completely bowled! A not to be missed film.

The movie is now being remade in Hindi by the same producer-director duo, with Manisha Koirala and Nana Patekar pairing up after long time in the lead roles.