Summary: Debut production of Vauhini’s predecessor,
Rohini Pics, launching a local, Madras-based Telugu
film industry with the first Telugu reformist social
made in the same year as the equally influential
Raitu Bidda (1939). The film tells of a
decadent dancer, Madhuri (Kanchanmala), who
seduces the upright Dr Krishna Rao
(Ramanujachari) into leaving his good wife Radha
(Kannamba). The doctor becomes an alcoholic and
is framed for the murder of Vishwasa Rao, the
trustee of his father’s estate. Krishna Rao’s brother-
in-law Gopinath (Nagaiah) helps the hero and later
offers shelter to a destitute Radha. Radha has a
scuffle with Madhuri, falls down the stairs and
becomes mentally unbalanced, ending up walking
the streets of Madras denouncing god, truth and
justice. Nagaiah’s sensational debut included the
two hits
Kallu manandoyi (Leave this drinking) and the
upbeat nationalist
Lendu bharata veerulara (Arise,
soldiers of India). The film’s narrative style became a
key model for Vauhini’s sprawling melodramas,
among the best-known Indian films in the genre.
The film was apparently adapted from the popular
stage play
Rangoon Rowdy.
