There have been films like Ardhangi and Baatasari starring ANR and Kalisi unte Kaladhu Sukham starring Sr.NTR which didn’t feature them in glamorous roles but in realistic characters. In fact Kamal Hassan also acted in such roles where the hero is deglamorized, not good looking and totally innocent. In the same way Sobhan Babu acted in a hero’s role which is totally sans glamour and extremely innocent looking. Producer turned actor Balayya produced this film Chelleli Kapuram from his home banner and penned the story as well.
Story Details:
Ramu (Sobhan Babu) is a dark and not so good looking villager who knows nothing but poetry. His only talent is to roam around the lush green fields of the village and write poems. He doesn’t have parents but has a sister Seetha(Manimala) and he plans to get her married. In order to earn money for his sister’s marriage, he decides to publish his poetry work and leaves for the city. He incidentally meets his childhood friend Sriram (Nagabhushanam) in the city. While Ramu is totally innocent, Sriram is a clever individual and is quite untruthful. He snatches Ramu’s poetry and publishes it as his own work. He gives some share from the profits to Ramu and even marries Seetha. Desipte getting little profit to his hands, Ramu is happy to get some financial base and mainly for his sister’s marriage. It is when the story takes a twist where Radha (Vanisri), a cultured woman becomes a fan of Ramu’s poetry which is published under the name of Sriram. She even writes a huge fan mail for Ramu and he reads them along with replying to her letters. Ramu starts loving Radha and at the same time feels worried for his not so good looks and thinks he is not right for her. In one moment Radha plans to meet Ramu and when she realizes it is indeed him who writes as a shadow writer for Sriram, she admires the innocence of Ramu. She plans to bring the truth out in one event featuring Sriram and the film comes to a happy ending with the marriage of Ramu and Radha.
Performances:
Sobhan Babu is highly believable in a complex character like Ramu. The variations in his performance such as anger, sentiment, sadness, love for poetry was brilliantly shown. Being a naturally good looking actor, it was indeed a challenge for him to look not so good looking on screen and he pulls it off greatly. Vanisri is adorable as usual with the confident female lead role. Her histrionics are an asset for the film. Nagabhushanam excels in the role of Sriram who exploits Ramu’s writing talent. Manimala is decent as the sister of the hero.
Technical Aspects:
Music is a huge asset and lifeline of the film with songs like ‘Kanula Mundhu Neevunte’ sung by SPB and Suseela becoming an all time hit. SPB’s ultimate solo ‘Charana Kinkinulu Ghallu Ghallu Mana’ is still remembered as one of his best renditions. SPB in fact frequently sings this song in most of his performances till date. C.Narayana Reddy was the one who suggested that SPB could the singer who can do complete justice for the complex words in the song. Gollapudi Maruthi Rao’s skillful dialogues give life to the film. K.Vishwanath’s crisp direction and usage of drama element with subtlety gives the film a great look.
Cast and Crew:
Ramu- Sobhan Babu
Radha- Vanisri
Sriram- Nagabhushanam
Seetha- Manimala
Dialogues- Gollapudi Maruthi Rao
Lyrics- Devulapalli, Arudra,Dr.C.Narayana Reddy, Kosaraju and Dasaradhi