Director: E.V.V. Satyanarayana; Writer: Posani Krishnamurali; Producer: K. Devi Varaprasad; Cinematographer: K.S. Hari; Cast: Chiranjeevi, Ramya Krishna, Rambha, Laxmi, Giribabu, Brahmanandam, Kota Srinivasa Rao, Ooha, Chinna, Srihari, Chalapathi Rao, Mahesh Anand
Duration: 02:31:40; Aspect Ratio: 1.778:1; Hue: 4.438; Saturation: 0.197; Lightness: 0.352; Volume: 0.290; Cuts per Minute: 26.115
Summary: A massive censorship controversy transformed
this minor success into a major one. Sitaram
(Chiranjeevi), the son of a respected village
elder, is arrested and condemned to death for
murdering a police officer. The villains are
Vasundhara (Laxmi) and Kota Peddaiah
(Srinivasa Rao). They prevent the hero’s
pregnant sister (Ooha) from marrying her lover,
Peddaiah’s son (Chinna). Sitaram escapes from
custody and forces Pappi (Ramya),
Vasundhara’s elder daughter, to marry him, and
later masquerades as Mr Toyota, a wealthy
expatriate businessman. In this guise he first
tries to marry Vasundhara herself, and then her
second daughter Bobby (Rambha). Eventually,
his true identity revealed, he escapes once
again shortly before he is to be hanged, and
rescues his sister and parents-in-law (including
a now-repentant Vasundhara). In the
deliberately voyeuristic finale, he is seen in a
bedroom with both sisters Pappi and Bobby.
Reminiscent in some ways of Attaku Yamudu
Ammayiki Mogudu (1989) and Gharana
Mogudu (1992), the film’s release was
followed by several protests by women’s and
student groups calling for its ban, and
responses by members of Chiranjeevi’s fan
clubs threatening self-immolation if the film
was withdrawn. The main causes of the
controversy were the sexually explicit
dialogues and the hero’s flirtation with his
mother-in-law. A dance sequence featuring
Chiranjeevi with Laxmi and the two heroines
Ramya and Rambha was accused by film critics
of indecency. The song, however, was retained
and only a few other cuts were imposed by a
Censor revising committee.
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