Poola Rangadu (1967 film)

Poola Rangadu is a 1967 Indian Telugu-language crime thriller film, produced by D. Madhusudhana Rao under Annapurna Pictures and directed by Adurthi Subba Rao and produced by D. Madhusudhana Rao. It stars Akkineni Nageswara Rao, Jamuna, Sobhan Babu, Vijaya Nirmala, with music composed by S. Rajeswara Rao. The film, loosely based on A. J. Cronin's novel Beyond This Place, was released on 24 November and became a box office success. It was remade in Tamil in 1970 as En Annan and in Hindi in 1972 as Jeet.

Plot
The film begins with breezy & jovial Ranga Rao, well-known as Poola Rangadu, whose livelihood is pulling a horse cart and is in love with a plucky Venkata Lakshmi. In childhood, his father, Veerayya, used to work as a manager at a mill owned by Purushotham, who was slaughtered by his sly partners Dharma Rao & Chalapati and incriminated Veerayya, leaving his children Ranga & Padma as orphans. However, Ranga stands alone and raises his sibling under the light of affection. Besides, Dharma Rao & Chalapati grow big shots and pose as respectable. Presently, Padma loves and espouses Dr. Prasad, who happens to be Purshotham's son. Knowing it, Narasimhulu, brother of Venkata Lakshmi, keeps a grudge as he aspires to marry Padma and divulges the fact to Prasad's mother. Hence, Padma is necked out despite being pregnant. Knowing it, furious, Ranga beats Narasimhulu and gets one year of imprisonment. In jail, Ranga meets his father, Veerayya, learns the truth, and decides to prove his innocence. Time passes, Ranga is acquitted, and by that time, Padma gives birth to a baby boy. Upon his release, Ranga plants himself in Dharma Rao's house, cooking up a rift between miscreants until the truth is finally revealed. At last, Veerayya is proven guiltless; Prasad takes Padma back. Finally, the movie ends on a happy note with the marriage of Ranga & Venkata Lakshmi.

Production
Producer D. Madhusudhana Rao sought to work on the adaptation of the A. J. Cronin novel Beyond This Place, on the suggestion of Gollapudi Maruti Rao. He hired Mullapudi Venkata Ramana to write the story taking a basic plot point from the novel while Ranganayakamma provided the dialogues. Prisons scenes were shot at real locations at Chanchalguda and Musheerabad Central Prisons in Hyderabad with the permission of the state government. Though the film was predominantly shot in black-and-white, the "Nee Jilugu Paita" song sequence alone was in colour.

Soundtrack
The music was composed by S. Rajeswara Rao.

Release and reception
Griddaluru Gopalrao of Zamin Ryot, in his review dated 1 December 1967, criticised the film for its poor direction and performances. The film ran for more than 100 days in 11 centres in Andhra Pradesh.

Awards
Mullapudi Venkata Ramana won the Nandi Award for Second Best Story Writer (1967).