''Abbayigaru'' is a 1993 Indian
Telugu
Telugu may refer to:
* Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of South India
** Telugu literature, is the body of works written in the Telugu language.
* Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India
* Telugu script, used to write the Tel ...
-language
comedy drama
Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...
film, produced by M. Narasimha Rao under Raasi Movies and directed by
E. V. V. Satyanarayana.
It stars
Venkatesh Venkatesh is a given name and family name from the Indian subcontinent derived from Venkateswara, a Hindu deity. Notable persons with the name include:
* A. Venkatesh Naik (1936 - 2015), member of the 14th Lok Sabha of India
* A. Venkatesh (direc ...
and
Meena
Meena () is a tribe from northern and western India which is sometimes considered a sub-group of the Bhil community. It used to be claimed they speak Mina language, a
Spurious languages, spurious language. Its name is also transliterated as ' ...
, with music composed by
M. M. Keeravani. The film was as a hit at the box office. It is a remake of the 1987 Tamil film ''
Enga Chinna Rasa
''Enga Chinna Rasa'' ( ) is a 1987 Indian Tamil language, Tamil-language Drama (film and television), drama film written, directed by, and starring K. Bhagyaraj. The story was inspired by the Kannada novel ''Ardhaangi'' by B. Puttaswamayya. It ...
''.
The film was dubbed in Tamil as ''Chinna Yejaman'', despite the original Tamil version's existence.
Plot
Dora Babu is the only child of a multi-millionaire Venkatrayudu, who can provide his son with anything he wants, but he loves his mother who ends up dying and his only desire is his mother's love. Venkatrayudu cheers him up by remarrying a woman Nagamani, a greedy lady who loves money, thinking that she will care for his son as her natural son. Nagamani and her brother make Venkatrayudu paralyzed, consider him as a mental patient and eventually lock him in a room of the family home. Dora Babu becomes devoted to Nagamani, she raises Dora Babu as an uneducated boy since he does anything she says, loves her a lot does whatever she asks of him.
Dora Babu meets Sudha in a marriage and keeps following her. She is being abducted and assaulted at a fair, he rescues her. The two fall in love and despite the villagers believing she is no longer chaste, he marries her and goes to his mother. Nagamani hates that and separates them with her tactics. Sudha discovers that and her motherly love for Dora Babu is a ruse in an attempt to discredit the sanity of Venkatrayudu, and thus is unable to interfere with the plan Nagamani has for the family fortune to be diverted to Dora Babu's step brother Murari, the real son of Nagamani who also shares his mother's greed. A battle of wills between the Nagamani and Sudha ensues.
Nagamani sees that her influence over the family is being challenged by Sudha who insists that Venkatrayudu leave his prison and return to the family circle as there is nothing wrong with him. She makes Dora Babu aware of the intentions of his mother. Nagamani starts to abuse and embarrass Sudha with all the family members present. Sudha is ready to leave, but then, to protect her husband and her house from Nagamani's intentions, she decides to apologize to her mother-in-law. Sudha then cleverly starts exposing Nagamani's every effort and intention in a dignified manner so that her husband will not be offended.
Sudha becoming pregnant prompts Nagamani to attempt to kill her and her unborn child with poison. Sudha discovers this and tells her husband. He continues to refuse to believe the treachery although she takes an oath upon her unborn child's life. Dora Babu defends his mother and offers to prove that Sudha is wrong. Dora Babu drinks the milk, He comes to the realization that what Sudha said was all along his mother's intentions. In his usual innocent manner, he asks her why, when all she had to do was simply ask for the wealth—he would have happily agreed to give it all, his words so deeply touched Nagamani that she realises her cruelty has been directed at the only son, who all along had loved her.
Finally, the film concludes with Dora Babu recovering, agreeing to give up to his mother his worldly possessions and leaving home with his wife. At the last moment, Nagamani begs him not to leave, claiming to have learned the error of her ways. She tears up the legal papers and tells him that all she wants is nothing more than Dora Babu.
Cast
*
Venkatesh Venkatesh is a given name and family name from the Indian subcontinent derived from Venkateswara, a Hindu deity. Notable persons with the name include:
* A. Venkatesh Naik (1936 - 2015), member of the 14th Lok Sabha of India
* A. Venkatesh (direc ...
as Dora Babu
*
Meena
Meena () is a tribe from northern and western India which is sometimes considered a sub-group of the Bhil community. It used to be claimed they speak Mina language, a
Spurious languages, spurious language. Its name is also transliterated as ' ...
as Sudha
*
Srikanth as Murari
*
Jayachitra
Jayachitra (born 5 September 1957) is an Indian actress films who works mostly in Tamil, Telugu and Kannada films.
Early life
Her father Mahea was a veterinary doctor, who had earlier worked as a lawyer. Her mother Ammaji (a.k.a. Jayasree) ...
as Nagamani
*
Nutan Prasad
Tadinada Varaprasad popularly known as Nutan Prasad (12 December 1945 – 30 March 2011) was an Indian actor who worked predominantly in Telugu cinema and Telugu theatre. He was a native of Kaikaluru, Andhra Pradesh, India. He started his fil ...
as Venkatrayudu
*
Kota Srinivasa Rao
Kota Srinivasa Rao (born 10 July 1942) is an Indian character actor known for his work primarily in Telugu cinema and Telugu theatre. He has also starred in a few films in Tamil cinema, Tamil, Hindi cinema, Hindi, Kannada cinema, Kannada and Ma ...
*
Brahmanandam
Kanneganti Brahmanandam (born 1 February 1956) is an Indian actor and comedian known for his work in Telugu cinema. Recognised as one of India's finest and highest-paid comic actors, he holds the Guinness World Record for the most screen cred ...
as Obayya
*
Babu Mohan
Pally Babu Mohan commonly known as Babu Mohan is an Indian actor and politician formerly from the Bharatiya Janata Party. He prominently works in Telugu films as a comedian and is a former Minister for Labour in Andhra Pradesh. He won Nandi ...
as Bush
*
Mallikarjuna Rao
*
AVS as Gumastha
*
P. L. Narayana
P. Lakshmi Narayana (10 September 1935 – 3 November 1998) was an Indian actor, dialogue writer, and playwright, known for his works predominantly in Telugu cinema and a few Tamil films. He has received one National Film Award and five state Na ...
as Sudha's father
*
Sivaji Raja
Sivaji Raja (born 26 February 1962) is an Indian actor who primarily appears in Telugu films and television series. He appeared in more than 400 films. He is also known for his work in TV serials '' Amrutam'', ''Alasyam Amrutham Visham'', ''Mr.R ...
as Sivaji
*
Jeeva
*
Tirupathi Prakash
Timmapuram Karanam Ravi Prakash Rao, popularly known as Tirupathi Prakash, is an Indian actor in Telugu cinema.
Tirupathi Prakash started his career in the television and film industry as comedy artist and supporting artist.
He has acted in m ...
*
Y. Vijaya
* Chidatala Appa Rao
* K. K. Sarma
* Ironleg Sastry
* "Fight Master" Raju
* Lathasri
* Siva Parvathi as Pramila
Production
''Abbayigaru'' is a remake of the 1987 Tamil film ''
Enga Chinna Rasa
''Enga Chinna Rasa'' ( ) is a 1987 Indian Tamil language, Tamil-language Drama (film and television), drama film written, directed by, and starring K. Bhagyaraj. The story was inspired by the Kannada novel ''Ardhaangi'' by B. Puttaswamayya. It ...
'', directed by and starring
K. Bhagyaraj
Krishnaswamy Bhagyaraj (born 7 January 1953) is an Indian film director, screenwriter, actor, composer, film producer and politician active mainly in Tamil films. He has also written and directed Hindi films and TV serials. As an actor, he has ...
.
The original, a low-budget production co-starring
Radha
Radha (, ), also called Radhika, is a Hindu goddess and the chief consort of the god Krishna. She is the goddess of love, tenderness, compassion, and devotion. In scriptures, Radha is mentioned as the avatar of Lakshmi and also as the Prak� ...
, was a critical and commercial success. Its emotional mother-son storyline and box office performance inspired remakes in several languages, including the
Hindi
Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...
adaptation
''Beta'' (1992), starring
Anil Kapoor
Anil Kapoor (born 24 December 1956) is an Indian actor and producer who works primarily in Hindi cinema, Hindi films, in addition to Indian television and international films. In a career spanning over 40 years as an actor and since 2005 as a ...
and
Madhuri Dixit
Madhuri Dixit Nene (Maiden and married names, née Dixit, ; born 15 May 1967) is an Indian actress and television personality. She has appeared in Madhuri Dixit filmography, over 70 Hindi films. Praised by critics for her performances and danc ...
, which became the highest-grossing
Hindi film
Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, is primarily produced in Mumbai. The popular term Bollywood is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (former name of Mumbai) and " Hollywood". The industry, producing films in t ...
of that year.
Actor
Krishna
Krishna (; Sanskrit language, Sanskrit: कृष्ण, ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme God (Hinduism), Supreme God in his own right. He is the god of protection, c ...
initially acquired the Telugu remake rights for ''Enga Chinna Rasa'' and planned to produce and star in it under his
Padmalaya Studios
Padmalaya Studios is an Indian film production company and studio facility established by actor Krishna and his brothers. Based in Hyderabad, it primarily focuses on the production and distribution of Telugu and Hindi films. The studio's opera ...
banner. He envisioned senior actress
Vanisri
Vanisri (born Rathna Kumari) is an Indian actress known for her works predominantly in Telugu, Tamil, and Kannada films. In a film career spanning 40 years, she has received three Filmfare Awards South, the Nandi Awards and the Tamil Nadu St ...
in the key role of the mother. However, Vanisri declined the offer due to a previous dispute with Krishna's wife,
Vijaya Nirmala
Vijaya Nirmala (born Nidudavolu Nirmala; 20 February 1946 – 27 June 2019) was an Indian actress, director, and producer known for her works predominantly in Telugu cinema along with a few Malayalam and Tamil films. In a career spanning over si ...
, leading to delays. Producers Ankapparaju Chowdary and Annaraju, who had previously collaborated with Krishna on ''Nagastram'' (1990), later showed interest in remaking the film with him, but the project did not progress.
Eventually, producer M. Narasimha Rao of Raasi Movies purchased the remake rights from Padmalaya Studios for ₹30
lakh
A lakh (; abbreviated L; sometimes written lac) is a unit in the Indian numbering system equal to one hundred thousand (100,000; scientific notation: 105). In the Indian 2, 2, 3 convention of digit grouping, it is written as 1,00,000. F ...
. He recast the film with
Venkatesh Venkatesh is a given name and family name from the Indian subcontinent derived from Venkateswara, a Hindu deity. Notable persons with the name include:
* A. Venkatesh Naik (1936 - 2015), member of the 14th Lok Sabha of India
* A. Venkatesh (direc ...
in the lead role and titled it ''Abbayigaru''. Krishna attended the film's launch event, gave the inaugural clap, and expressed confidence that the film would surpass the box office records of Venkatesh's earlier hit,
''Chanti'' (1992). Released on September 30, 1993, ''Abbayigaru'' was a commercial success, surpassing ''Chanti''
's collections in some regions as predicted by Krishna.
Music
Music was composed by
M. M. Keeravani. Audio was released on Surya Audio Company. The song "Koosindi Koyilamma" is based on the song "Konda Cheval" from ''Enga Chinna Rasa''.
Reception
Released on September 30, 1993, ''Abbayigaru'' was a commercial success.
References
External links
*
{{E. V. V. Satyanarayana
1993 films
1990s Telugu-language films
1990s Indian films
Indian drama films
Telugu remakes of Tamil films
Films scored by M. M. Keeravani
Films directed by E. V. V. Satyanarayana
1993 drama films