Maa Balaji

Maa Balaji is a 1999 Indian Telugu-language comedy-drama film directed by Kodi Ramakrishna. The film stars Vadde Naveen, Maheswari, and Laya. The music was composed by Vandemataram Srinivas. The film was released on 23 September 1999 and was commercially successful. It is a remake of the Malayalam film Punjabi House (1998).

Plot
Balaji is a young and ambitious man. But he is unsuccessful in his trials to make money and ends up in debt of ₹10 lakh. Unable to repay the amount, he jumped off into the sea to commit suicide after insuring an amount of ₹10 lakh for his debtors with the LIC. However, he is saved and lands up in the house of a rich Punjabi man Balwinder Singh whose mute daughter Pooja falls in love with him.

Music
Music was composed by Vandemataram Srinivas. The lyrics were written by Sirivennela Sitarama Sastry and Bhuvana Chandra.

Reception
Jeevi of Idlebrain.com rated the film 4 out of 5 and noted, “First half is in a lighter vein and second half is very gripping. Climax is the heart and soul of the film”. Griddaluru Gopala Rao of Zamin Ryot gave the film a negative review criticising the story, characterisations, dialogues, and direction as clichéd, and artificial. A critic from Sify wrote that "A remake of the Malayalam movie, `Punjabi House`, it is meant to be a rib-tickler but the Telugu version, `Maa Balaji` comes out a cropper as the theme has nothing much to boast by way of being a comedy".