Doctor Babu story at a glance
Doctor Babu is a film which came at an interesting time when Jayalalitha’s acting career was coming to an end and Sobhan Babu’s acting career going to heights! This film is based on a Bollywood film HImalay Ki Godh Mein by prominent production house Ravindra Art Pictures. The director Lenin Babu is the son of producer of this film. Tammareddy Bharadwaj, another popular director is another son of the producer named Krishnamurthy. Jayalalitha adorned a role of a tribal woman who sings and dances freely in the lap of nature. Her role had good scope to perform as it deals with journey of a woman who fall in love and marries a doctor and the difficulties she faces later in life.
Story Details:
There existed a Seth (Kasinath Tata) who has an assistant named Pothuraju (Rajanala) and a servant named Mallu (SVR). Mallu’s wife gets into fatal condition during her delivery and the former asks his owner for financial help. When the Seth refuses to help, the servant gets aggressive. The Seth gets unconscious at one situation and the servant snatches some money from the treasury. The assistant witnesses this and he murders the Seth. To make things worse, he loots all the money in the treasury and throws the crime over Mallu. The police start off in search for Mallu and in the mean time Mallu’s wife gives birth to a baby girl but dies in the delivery. Unable to figure out any way, Mallu gives the baby girl to his friend Dharmanna (Mukkamala) and goes off to the forest becoming a member of a dacoit group. He becomes a Robin Hood sort of a person by establishing his own robbery gang which loots the corrupt rich and distributes the money to the poor.
As time passes by, Mallu’s daughter Gowri (Jayalalitha) grows up in Dharmanna’s house. Cut from there..
Narayana Rao (Gummadi) is a police officer and his wife Malathi (G.Varalakshmi) has a brother Jagannadha Rao (Relangi). Narayana Rao’s son Sekhar (Sobhan Babu) and Jagannadha Rao’s daughter Leela (Vijayalalitha) study medicine in US and when they are returning to their homeland, the flight lands in an obscure destination due to technical trouble. One of the passengers suffer from heart attack and Sekhar goes off to search for a hospital in the place. But he is captured by Mallu’s dacoit group and Sekhar gets injured during the confrontation. Gowri , who stays in the nearby village rescues Sekhar and takes care of him. During his stay at Gowri’s place, Sekhar understands the cheating done by a folklore doctor Devayya (Allu Ramalingaiah). Even after leaving her place, Sekhar comes back to the village in Gowri’s memories and establishes a hospital there. But this development isn’t liked by Sekhar’s cousin Leela and his father Narayana Rao. Leela visits the village hospital once and feels jealous of Gowri. Moreover, Devayya’s business plummets because of Sekhar’s hospital. He joins with Pothuraju and teach a lesson to Sekhar. In the mean time, Mallu observes his daughter in secret. He understands that she is in love with a city bred Sekhar and fears that the latter might cheat his daughter some day. With the same fear he attacks Sekhar. Rest of the story is about how Sekhar realizes his dream of serving the poor and fighting over the opposition, along with winning his love.
Performances:
Sobhan Babu is wonderful as the sensible doctor with good ideals. He shares a good chemistry with his co-star Jayalalitha. Jayalalitha gets a role of a good balance between glamour and performance. SVR is excellent as the dacoit Mallu. Allu Ramalingaiah gets a typical role as Devayya. Vijayalalitha is adequate as Leela. Gummadi, Mukkamala, Rajanala, G.Varalakshmi suited their respective roles.
Technical Aspects:
Though the film’s storyline is based on a Bollywood film, it has the nativity of Telugu films. Dialogues by Modhukuri Johnson are good and aid the film’s value. Music by T.Chalapathi Rao is adequate with songs like Allo Neredu Chettu Kaada Ammalala, Nenanukonnadhi, Virise Kannullo (Happy and Sad versions) became good hits.
Cast and Crew:
Sekhar- Sobhan Babu
Gowri- Jayalalitha
Mallu- SVR
Pothuraju- Rajanala
Seth- Kasinath Tata
Devayya- Allu Ramalingaiah
Devayya’s Assistant- Rajababu
Narayana Rao- Gummadi
Jagannadha Rao- Relangi
Leela- Vijayalalitha
Chempa- Leela Rani
Dialogues- Modhukuri Johnson
Lyrics- Dr.C.Narayana Reddy, Dasaradhi, Modhukuri Johnson
Music- T.Chalapathi Rao
Producer- Tammareddy Krishnamurthy
Direction- Tammareddy Lenin Babu
Banner- Ravindra Art Pictures
Release Date- 4th November 1973