''Ankuram'' () is a 1993

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

-language

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

written and directed by C. Umamaheswara Rao. It stars

Revathi Asha Kelunni Nair (born 8 July 1966), better known by her stage name Revathi, is an Indian actress and director, known for her works predominantly in Tamil & Malayalam cinema - in addition to Telugu, Hindi & Kannada films. She has won severa ...

Sarath Babu Sathyam Babu Dixithulu (born 31 July 1951), known by his stage name Sarath Babu, is an Indian actor known for his works predominantly in Tamil and Telugu cinema. He has worked in more than 200 films. He has appeared in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada an ...

and

Om Puri Om Prakash Puri (18 October 1950 – 6 January 2017) was an Indian actor who appeared in mainstream commercial Hindi films as well as Bengali, Kannada, English,Punjabi and one Telugu film, as well as independent and art films and also starr ...

. The film is about an inspiring journey of a middle-class woman to return an abandoned child to his father. ''Ankuram'' runs, in the background, issues like social stigmas,

feudalism Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of structu ...

, naxalism, bureaucracy and

human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...

. The film was premiered at the 1993 International Film Festival of India in the mainstream section. The plot unfolds like a Chinese puzzle; it's a journey where we discover gradually the reason for the lead being harassed by the police, the blocks she faces uncovering a father's identity, and the darker side of an authoritarian police force and its brutality towards tribals. The film has received the

National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Telugu The National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Telugu is one of the National Film Awards presented annually by the Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India. It is one of several ...

for that year.

Plot

The movie starts with the marriage of a young couple. The bride Sindhura (Revathy) finds a child on a train. She wants to support the child, against the wishes of her husband's family, until she locates the child's parents. She starts enquiring about the passenger who left his child on the train. Satyam (Om Puri), father of the child, has been on the chase by feudals and police. The police are unable to find him and arrest his pregnant wife. Tribals protested and planned to attack the police. They were stopped by Dr. Mitra (Charuhasan), a pro-tribal doctor. A sadistic officer forced the mother to do situps, resulting in loss of her life. Angered crowd killed the police officer, which caused more violence between officials and tribals. During the course of the search, Sindhura is implicated in a false case and loses her married life. She faces the threats by rowdies to her own parents and sisters. She persists with the help of Rao (Sarat Babu) (a civil liberty activist and lawyer), goes to the village, brings the atrocities towards the oppressed people to light, and returns the child. ''Ankuram'' ends with the message that citizens who can speak have the responsibility of speaking about the rights of the fellow citizens who can not speak.

Awards

; National Film Awards *

(1992) - (director) - C. Umamaheswara Rao (1992) ;

Nandi Awards The Nandi Awards are the awards that recognise the excellence in Telugu cinema, Telugu theatre and Telugu television, and Lifetime achievements in Indian cinema. Presented annually by the Government of Andhra Pradesh, the award is named af ...

Nandi Award for Best Director Nandi may refer to: People * Nandy (surname), Indian surname * Nandi (mother of Shaka) (1760–1827), daughter of Bhebe of the Langeni tribe * Onandi Lowe (born 1974), Jamaican footballer nicknamed Nandi * Nandi Bushell (born 2010), South Af ...

- C. Umamaheswara Rao. ;

Filmfare Awards South Filmfare Awards South is the South Indian segment of the annual Filmfare Awards, presented by the Filmfare magazine of The Times Group to honour both artistic and technical excellence of professionals in the Indian film industry encompassin ...

Filmfare Award for Best Actress - Telugu ''Filmfare'' is an Indian English-language fortnightly magazine published by Worldwide Media. Acknowledged as one of Indian most popular entertainment magazines, it publishes pieces involving news, interviews, photos, videos, reviews, events, a ...

(1992)

Cast

* Revathy as Sindhura *

as Lawyer Vishwanatha Rao *

as Satyam * M. Balaiah as Sindhura's father * Kota Sankararao as Police officer *

Charuhasan S. Charuhasan (born 5 January 1931) is an Indian actor, director and retired lawyer who has acted in Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam and Hindi films. He won the National Film Award for Best ActorSubha J Rao,Entertainment for a cause, The Hi ...

as Mitra * Hari Prasad as Sindhura's husband * P. L. Narayana * Raasi as Sindhura's sister * Sai Chand *

Raja Ravindra Raja Ravindra is an Indian actor predominantly appears in Telugu films and TV serials. Apart from Telugu films, he has acted in several Tamil films and a few Kannada and Malayalam movies. He started his career with TV serials and entered into fi ...

as Photographer * Ali as Veera Babu

Crew

* Story, Screenplay & Direction: Umamaheswara Rao. C * Production: K. V. Suresh Kumar from Film India Art Creations * Music:

Hamsalekha Gangaraju (born June 23, 1951), professionally known as Hamsalekha, is an Indian film composer and a songwriter who works in South Indian cinema, predominantly in the Kannada film industry since the late 1980s. He is also a screenplay writer, ...

* Camera:

Madhu Ambat Madhu Ambat is an Indian cinematographer. With a career spanning over 40 years, he is one of the most prolific cinematographers in Indian cinema. He is best known for his work in films such as ''Amaram'', '' Anjali'', and '' Makaramanju''. He c ...

* Lyrics: Sirivennela * Playback: S. P. Balasubrahmanyam and Chitra

Soundtrack

The soundtrack features one popular track "Evaro okaru epudo apudu nadavara mundhuga" with lyrics by Sirivennela and voice by playback singers S. P. Balasubrahmanyam and Chitra. The theme of the song is that the first person walking towards a new goal is always alone at first and then others follow. The film has one comic song "Athaarintiki Railekkindhi rubber bomma" which was shot in the train while Revathy was traveling. It also has another song "Hai guru! Chelaregaro selavulochhayani" picturized on college students.

References

{{National Film Award Best Feature Film Telugu 1993 films 1990s Telugu-language films Films scored by Hamsalekha Indian feudalism Best Telugu Feature Film National Film Award winners te:అంకురం (సినిమా)