Mantri Gari Viyyankudu

Mantri Gari Viyyankudu s a 1983 Telugu-language film released directed by Bapu and stars Chiranjeevi in the lead role and Poornima Jayaram, Nirmalamma and Allu Ramalingaiah in important roles. This was actress Poornima’s first and only Telugu as a leading lady, after which she made a comeback so many years later to supporting roles.

Plot
Kobbarikayala Subba Rayudu (Allu Ramalingaiah) is a self-made millionaire, who after attaining a high status, forgets the people who helped him initially and spends life counting his successes. A chance meeting several years later between his son, Siva (Subhalekha Sudhakar) and his former friend Ravulapalem Rambhadraiah's (Raavi Kondala Rao) daughter (Tulasi) leads to both of them falling in love. Subba Rao invites his friend and his wife Annapoornamma (Nirmalamma) to his mansion and insults them reminding of their lower status in society. The rest of the movie is about how Annapoornamma- who challenges Subba Rao that he would one day come to her house begging for their help - gets it done with the main lead taken by her son Babji (Chiranjeevi) with help from others.

Cast

 * Chiranjeevi .... Babji
 * Poornima Jayaram .... Anuradha
 * Allu Ramalingaiah .... Kobbarikayala SubbaRao
 * Nirmalamma .... Annapoornamma
 * Nutan Prasad
 * Raavi Kondala Rao .... Ravulapalem Rambhadraiah
 * Subhalekha Sudhakar .... Siva
 * Tulasi .... Suseela
 * Kaikala Satyanarayana.... Kappala Appa Rao
 * Rallapalli
 * Srilakshmi
 * Potti Prasad
 * Vijayan ...special appearance

Crew

 * Lyrics: Veturi
 * Playback Singers: S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, S. Janaki
 * Songs Recording: S. P. Ramanathan
 * Dialogue Recording: K. D. Sathisan
 * Re-recording: Pandu (Prasad Studios)
 * Make-up: Mallikharjuna Rao & Siva
 * Costumes: T. Kondala Rao & Krishna
 * Hair Stylists: Adavi Subba Rao & Kalavathi
 * Stills : Syamala Rao
 * Publicity: Lanka Bhaskar
 * Press Relations: I. Arjuna Rao
 * Dance Directors: Siva-Subramaniam
 * Art Director: Bhaskar Raju
 * Stunt Director: Vijayan
 * Production Manager: K. V. Narasaiah
 * Production Controller: M. Rama Rao & D. Yoganand
 * Operative Cameraman: Sarath
 * Assistant Directors: Ammineni Madhavi Rao & K. Mahesh Raju
 * Associate Director: K. V. Rao
 * Editor: Anil Malnad
 * Cinematography: Lok Singh
 * Composer: Ilaiyaraaja
 * Screenplay & Dialogues: Mullapudi Venkata Ramana
 * Producer: Jaya Krishna
 * Director: Bapu

Production Companies

 * Production company: Muddu Art Movies
 * Cassettes & Gramophone recording & Release: Echo recording Company
 * Studios: Prasad Studios & AVM Studios
 * Outdoor Units: Srikrishna Outdoor Unit & Sarada Enterprises
 * Printing & Processing: Prasad Film Labs
 * Special Effects: Prasad Studios
 * Film Lab: AVM Studios
 * Press Publicity: L.A. Advertisers
 * Poster Printing: National Litho Printers
 * Radio Publicity: Sri Prabhakara Advertisers

Soundtrack
All songs were composed by Maestro Ilaiyaraaja.

Production
While Bapu-Ramana wanted to have K. V. Mahadevan (who was their usual choice) as the composer, producer Jaya Krishna insisted on having Ilaiyaraaja as the composer, since Ilaiyaraaja-Chiranjeevi's first combination, Abhilasha (1983 film) was a major musical and commercial success. Mantri Gari Viyyankudu was the only movie with Ilaiyaraaja-Bapu/Ramana combination. Heroine Poornima Jayaram was the top heroine in Malayalam and was introduced to Telugu movies through this movie. The budget was 22 lakh rupees [2.2 million] and Chiranjeevi's remuneration was 1.5 lakh rupees. Both Ilaiyaraaja and Poornima Jayaram were given 60,000 Rupees. Cinematographer Lok Singh was paid 50,000 INR. The shooting was done mostly in and around Chennai except for a couple of songs [Emani Ne Cheli Paduduno] and one fight, which were shot in Ooty. The shooting was completed in 40 days.

Reception
The movie was both a critical and commercial success and completed 50 days in most of the centers it was released. While the movie was the first foray for Bapu/Ramana combination into pure commercial cinema, it was praised for still having the Bapu/Ramana touch. The movie became a rage among youth, especially the college scenes and the songs endeared the youth of Andhra to the movie. The movie would have done even better had it not released a week after Khaidi, which was breaking all kinds of industry records at that time.