''Palletoori Pilla'' () is a 1950 Indian Telugu-language film produced and directed by B. A. Subba Rao under the Sobhanachala & B. A. Subba Rao Joint Productions banner. It stars N. T. Rama Rao,

Akkineni Nageswara Rao Akkineni Nageswara Rao (20 September 1924 – 22 January 2014), known as ANR, was an Indian actor and film producer in Telugu cinema. Over his seven decade career, he became a prominent figures in the industry, and is among most influential ac ...

and

Anjali Devi Anjali Devi (; 24 August 1927 – 13 January 2014) was an Indian actress, model and producer in Telugu and Tamil films. She was well known for her role as the Devi Sita in '' Lava Kusa'' as well as for the title roles in movies like Chenchu ...

, with music was composed by P. Adinarayana Rao. The film was loosely based on the English play ''Pizaro'' by

Richard Brinsley Sheridan Richard Brinsley Butler Sheridan (30 October 17517 July 1816) was an Anglo-Irish playwright, writer and Whig politician who sat in the British House of Commons from 1780 to 1812, representing the constituencies of Stafford, Westminster and I ...

. ''Palletoori Pilla'' was the first lead role for Rama Rao who had earlier acted in a minor role in ''

Mana Desam ''Mana Desam'' () is a 1949 Indian Telugu-language drama film directed by L. V. Prasad. It was produced by Raja Saheb of Mirzapur under the Sobhanachala Pictures banner, and presented by Krishnaveni. It stars V. Nagayya, C. H. Narayana Ra ...

'' (1949). It was blockbuster and was the highest grossing Telugu film of the year, and both Subba Rao and Rama Rao gained a good reputation from it. The film also marks the first collaboration between Nageswara Rao and Rama Rao who further acted in 14 films together thereafter. The film was dubbed into

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

as ''Grama Penn'' which became a hit. It was later remade in

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 ...

as '' Insaniyat'' (1955).

Plot

Santha is a beautiful village girl who grew up with her cousin Vasanth. Vasanth has loved Santha without her knowledge since childhood. A dangerous dacoit, Kampanna Dora, frequently raids and loots the villages in the nearby territory. Once, during their attack, Santha slaps Kampanna's principal associate, Jayanth, convincingly arguing regarding their lifestyle and livelihood. The incident makes Jayanth reform and decide to leave the realm when a rift arises between Jayanth and Kampanna, and he is imprisoned. But Jayanth absconds with the help of Thatha, a

casuist Casuistry ( ) is a process of reasoning that seeks to resolve moral problems by extracting or extending abstract rules from a particular case, and reapplying those rules to new instances. This method occurs in applied ethics and jurisprudence. ...

in their squad, and reaches Santha's village. At that juncture, he shields Vasanth and Santha against an onslaught of bulls when the villagers embrace and shelter him. After that, Jayanth aegis and develops self-defense skills in them when Santha starts loving him. Knowing this, an enraged Vasanth tries to knock out Jayanth, but after learning Santha's real intention, he couples them up. Right now, Kampanna traipses to destroy the village by slaughtering Thatha when the villagers crush him. Time passes, and Santha gives birth to a baby boy. They are presently celebrating a folk festival when Kampanna ploys and captures Jayanth. Then, Santha denounces Vasanth when he affirms to safeguard her husband and proceeds towards Kampanna's fort. Meanwhile, anxious Santha also searches for Jayanth when Kampanna's men catch the baby. At last, Vasanth shields them by sacrificing his life and forgives Kampanna, making him repent. Finally, the movie ends, and it is shown that Vasanth's soul blesses the villagers.

Cast

Cast according to the song book ;Male Cast * N. T. Rama Rao as Jayanth * Nageswara Rao as Vasanth * A. V. Subba Rao as Kampana Dora * S. V. Ranga Rao as Dhathra * Kona prabhakara rao as Marthand * Ramamurthi as Lapam * Sethuramaiah as Dapam * Kadapalli Ramayya as Purandarayya ;Female Cast *

as Santha * Lakshmikanta as Rajini * Bala Saraswathi as Sambha * Baby Mallika as Sasi * Hemalatha as Vasanth's Mother * Kanakam * Seetha

Soundtrack

Music composed by P. Adinarayana Rao. Music released on Audio Company.

Production

''Palletoori Pilla'' marked the first on-screen collaboration between N. T. Rama Rao and

. Initially, Kalyanam Raghuramayya was cast in the lead role, but he was later replaced by Nageswara Rao. While this film was the first to be shot with N. T. Rama Rao in a lead role, his second film, '' Shavukaru'' (1950), was released before ''Palletoori Pilla''. During filming, Rama Rao performed his own stunts, notably in an action sequence involving a bull. Although the director advised using a

stunt double In filmmaking, a double is a person who substitutes for another actor such that the person's face is not shown. There are various terms associated with a double based on the specific body part or ability they serve as a double for, such as stunt ...

, he insisted on doing the scene himself. Rama Rao was instructed to only catch the bull's horns, but he fully engaged in the fight, resulting in a fall that fractured his right hand. Despite sustaining two fractures, he continued shooting the next day, covering his bandages with full sleeves.

Box office

The film ran for more than 100 days in 7 centres in

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (ISO 15919, ISO: , , AP) is a States and union territories of India, state on the East Coast of India, east coast of southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, seventh-largest state and th ...

References

Bibliography

* Naati 101 Chitralu (Telugu hit films released between 1931 and 1965), S. V. Rama Rao, Kinnera Publications, Hyderabad, 2006, pages: 52–3.

External links

* {{IMDb title, tt0207000 1950 films 1940s Telugu-language films Films directed by B. A. Subba Rao Indian black-and-white films Indian films based on plays Telugu films remade in other languages