Annamayya (film)

Infobox Film
name = Annamayya


director = K. Raghavendra Rao
writer = J.K. Bharavi
dialogues =
Lyrics =
starring = Akkineni Nagarjuna Ramya Krishnan Mohan Babu
producer = Doraswamy Raju
production =
distributor =
country = India
released = 1997
runtime = 130 min
cinematography = Ajay Vincent
language = Telugu
music = Keeravani
imdb_id = 0249361
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"This article is about the film. For the famous composer, click here."

"Annamayya" ( _te. అన్నమయ్య) is a 1997 Tollywood film directed by K. Raghavendra Rao starring Akkineni Nagarjuna, Ramya Krishnan, Mohan Babu, and Roja. The music director is Keeravani. It is the cinematic of life of the famous composer, Annamacharya.

ynopsis

Lord Vishnu (Suman) listens to requests from his consort Lakshmi (Banupriya) that there weren't many people singing songs in praise of the Lord in Telugu language. In response, the Lord sends Nandaka (His sword) to be born as Annamacharya to a childless couple in Tallapaka village, Kadapa District. Growing as a normal young man, Annamayya(Nagarjuna) is in love with his 2 cousins Timakka and Akkalamma (Ramya Krishna and Kasturi) and thinks that his cousins are the most beautiful creations of god.

Lord Vishnu appears in front of Annamayya in disguise and accepts a challenge from him to show someone more beautiful than his cousins - GOD in the form of Lord Venkateswara in a temple in his village. Upon discovering the beauty of Lord, Annamayya is lost in a different world and ends up making a pilgrimage to Tirumala Venkateswara Temple without planning or informing his parents. As his find pilgrims enter the holy hills, he is lost and is helped by Goddess Lakshmi herself in the form of an old lady by informing him that his footwear was preventing his progress. Also weakened by fasting, Annamayya accepts Laddu - a prasadam from the food consecrated by the Lord himself. Upon reaching Tirumala, he is enthralled by the beauty of God and settles there to write and sing hymns in praise of the Lord.

Meanwhile, Annamayya's parents get worried regarding Annamayya's whereabouts. Then, the Lord Venkateshwara, hearing the prayers of Lakkavaamba (Annamayya's mother), himself comes in the disguise of a Hunter along with his consorts and tells them that Annamayya lives in Tirumala. Then, Annamayya's parents, cousins, aunt, uncle and his 2 friends come to Tirumala and watch him worship the Lord.

When Annamayya is asked to marry his 2 cousins, he refuses saying that his life is dedicated to the service of the Lord and marriage would become a hindrance to it. But, he is then convinced by the Lord himself who has now taken the form of a Brahmin. The Lord personally conducts the wedding of Annamayya with his cousins - Timakka and Akkalamma. After the birth of children, Annamayya settles in Tirumala leaving his children in the care of his parents. Through encounters with the local administrator (Tanikella Bharani), he comes in contact with the ruler of the country - Saluva Narasimha(Mohan Babu) who becomes a fan of his songs and make him the court poet. On hearing a "Sringara Sankeertan", the King and Queen (Roja) request that Annamayya sing a sankeertan in their praise as well, something Annamayya rejects as he would sing only for the Lord and not for any human being. Jailed for not heeding to the King, Annamayya invokes Lord in the form of "Narashima" (human-lion) and to the surprise of the King, jailors and everyone - the iron rods burst into flames and releases Annamayya.

Realising that their husband was born for humanity and Lord's service, his wives give up their lives freeing Annamayya of any earthly attachment. Annamayya realizing the divine order takes to writing poems and sankirtans and reaches old age. Priests and Brahmins unhappy with his social inclusion of lower caste people in the temple try to destroy his writings. When Annamayya decides to sacrifice his life because all his works were lost, a significant portion of his work is saved by Lord's grace from the fire. Saluva Narasimha and Annamayya's sons convert his work from palm to copper encriptions thus preserving his works for eternity. On completion and dedication of the work in the temple sanctum sanctorum, the Lord and his consorts appears one last time, in their divine form. The Lord grants salvation and Annamayya's soul returns back as Nandaka (Sword).

Box-office

*The film turned out to be a hit with a 100 day run in 42 centres [ [http://idlebrain.com/celeb/bio-data/bio-nag.html Telugu cinema - Nagarjuna - bio data ] ] .
*The film had a 176-day run in 2 centres. [ [http://www.cinegoer.com/nagarjuna175.htm CineGoer.com - Box-Office Records And Collections - Nagarjuna's 175-Day Centres List ] ]
*The film was a big hit in Karnataka too. [ [http://www.rediff.com/movies/sep/05nag.htm#05anna6 Rediff On The Net, Movies: Nagarjuna plays a religious poet in Annamayya ] ]
*The film album is the highest sold Telugu music album till date. [ [http://www.idlebrain.com/news/2000march20/keeravani-sriramadasu.html Keeravani on Sri Ramadasu songs - Telugu and Hindi film music director ] ]
*It was dubbed in Hindi as Tirupathi Sri Balaji [ [http://sify.com/movies/telugu/fullstory.php?id=14302904 `Annamayya` in Hindi! - Sify.com ] ] .

Awards

* National Film Award for Special Jury Award (1997) for Nagarjuna.
*National Film Award for Best Music Direction (1997) for Keeravani M.M..
*Nandi Award for Best Actor (1997) for Nagarjuna.
*Nandi Award for Special Jury Award (1997) for Suman
*Nandi Award for Best Male Dubbing Artist (1997) for S.P.Balasubrahmanyam

Trivia

*Many directors;including Jandhyala ventured on making a movie on Annamacharya;which however turned out to be unfruitful. [ [http://www.totaltollywood.com/articles/nag3.html TotalTollywood - Destination Telugu Cinema - One stop for Telugu Movies and Music ] ] .
*The producer of the film Doraiswamy Raju was a TDP legislator. [ [http://www.rediff.com/news/1998/jan/27star.htm Rediff On The NeT: Star wars in Andhra Pradesh ] ]

Footnotes

External links

* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0249361 Imdb page]