''Pedarayudu'' is a 1995 Indian Telugu-language drama film directed and co-written by

Ravi Raja Pinisetty Ravi Raja Pinisetty is an Indian film director known for his works in the Telugu cinema with actors such as Chiranjeevi, Nandamuri Balakrishna, Mohan Babu, Rajasekhar (actor), Rajasekhar and Daggubati Venkatesh. Some of his major hits include ' ...

and starring

Mohan Babu Manchu Bhakthavatsalam Naidu, credited and also known as Mohan Babu, is an Indian actor and film producer known for his works predominantly in Telugu cinema. An alumnus of the Madras Film Institute, Mohan Babu has acted in more than 500 films ...

in the lead in a dual role, while

Rajinikanth Shivaji Rao Gaikwad (born 12 December 1950), known professionally as Rajinikanth, is an Indian actor who predominantly works in Tamil cinema. In a career spanning over five decades, he has done 170 films that includes films in Tamil, Hindi, ...

Bhanupriya Bhanupriya (born Manga Bhanu; 15 January 1967) is an Indian actress and dancer. In a four decade old career, she has appeared in 155 feature films, predominantly in Telugu cinema, Telugu and Tamil cinema, Tamil, and a few in Malayalam cinema, M ...

and

Soundarya Sowmya Sathyanarayana (18 July 1972 – 17 April 2004), better known by her stage name Soundarya, was an Indian actress known for her works primarily in Telugu cinema. She was regarded as one of the greatest actresses in the history of Telugu ...

appear in other prominent roles. For his role,

won the Best Actor - Telugu at South Filmfare Awards. This film is a remake of the 1994 Tamil film, '' Nattamai''. It is also Rajinikanth's last proper Telugu film till date. This film becomes an Industry Hit in Telugu .

Plot

Pedarayudu is a kindhearted and disciplined man. He sits on the ancestral throne in his village to do justice. He hears all the cases and gives solutions to the people and punishments to the wrongdoers. His wife Lakshmi admires and respects him. His brothers Raja and Ravindra fear him but also have a lot of respect for him as he has brought them up as his children. Raja marries Bharathi, the daughter of an industrialist. She initially dislikes Pedarayudu because of his verdicts and attitude and her husband for being so timid with his brother but later transforms after learning of the former's greatness from her father. Ravindra loves his paternal cousin, Bhupathi's daughter. In the flashback, Paparayudu, Pedarayadu's father, orders Bhupathi to marry his servant's daughter whom he raped, though he is his sister's son. His brother-in-law shoots him as he is disappointed by his verdict. Enraged, Paparayudu gives his final verdict before dying to abandon their family, and whoever visits his house will receive the same punishment and also not to share even a glass of water with them. Paparayudu also tells Pedarayudu that whenever someone gives a wrong verdict, they die at that moment. The moment when he says that, he dies. Bhupathi builds envy on his uncle's family and waits for an opportunity to take revenge on them. He hires a woman as the village school teacher and asks her to make Raja fall for her. She does so to save her father, who is in the hands of Bhupathi. He kills her and makes the villagers believe that Raja has committed the murder. Pedarayudu sentences ten years of exile for his brother's family. Bhupathi learns of his daughter's love and tries to kill Ravindra, with the help of his goons. Raja goes in rescue of him, and a pregnant Bharathi goes to Pedarayudu to convey this message. While Raja starts to take revenge on Bhupathi, Pedarayudu's aunt rushes to Pedarayudu and kills Bhupathi. She finally reveals the truth to Pedarayudu and tells him that he punished his innocent brother without committing any mistake. She also tells him that all the crimes blamed on Raja were really perpetrated by Bhupathi. Pedarayudu dies upon learning that he gave a wrong verdict, and Raja is shown taking his place on the throne.

Cast

in a dual role as **Pedarayudu **Raja *

as Paparayudu (voice dubbed by P. Sai Kumar) * Raja Ravindra as Ravindra *

as Lakshmi *

as Bharathi * Subhashri as Teacher *

Anandaraj Anandaraj (born 10 November 1958) is an Indian actor, He has acted in villain roles in several Tamil films and has appeared in over a three hundred films in different languages including Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi. Career Anandar ...

as Bhupathi * Jayanthi as Paparayudu's sister and Pedarayudu's aunt *

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 Dhanush *

Chalapathi Rao Tammareddy Chalapathi Rao (8 May 1944 – 24 December 2022) was an Indian actor and producer known for comedy and villainous roles in Telugu cinema. He acted in different roles in more than 600 films. Personal life and death Rao hailed from B ...

as Bhupathi's father * M. S. Narayana as Acharya * Babu Mohan as Dhanush's father * Master Mahendra *

Kaikala Satyanarayana Kaikala Satyanarayana (25 July 1935 – 23 December 2022) was an Indian actor, producer, and politician who predominantly worked in Telugu cinema. He appeared in more than 750 films over six decades. He was a recipient of the Raghupathi Venkai ...

as Bharathi's father

Production

who saw Tamil film '' Nattamai'' recommended

to watch the film. Impressed by the film, Babu decided to remake the film in Telugu with himself in lead role. N. T. Rama Rao attended the launch and clapped the board for the first shot where Mohan Babu puts garland on Rajinikanth. The launch event also saw D. Ramanaidu, Nageswara Rao and

Dasari Narayana Rao Dasari Narayana Rao (4 May 1942 – 30 May 2017) was an Indian film director, screenwriter, actor, producer, lyricist, and politician, primarily known for his work in Telugu cinema. Over his four decade career, he directed more than 150 feature ...

attending it. Ravi Raja Pinisetty was chosen to be the film's director. Mohan Babu initially agreed to cast Bhanupriya for elder character's wife but later got opinions from people around him that she's "an iron leg" and thus he preferred Khushboo for the role however Pinisetty remained firm with the choice. When Rajinikanth came to know of this, he finalised Bhanupriya for the role. The film was shot at Rajahmundry, East Godavari district. Rajinikanth did a cameo appearance as Paparayudu reprising the role originally enacted by Vijayakumar in the original. The dubbing voice for Rajinikanth was given by Saikumar.

Music

Music for ''Pedarayudu'' was composed by Koti. Source:

References

External links

* {{Ravi Raja Pinisetty 1990s Telugu-language films 1990s Indian films 1995 films Telugu remakes of Tamil films 1995 action films Films scored by Koti (composer) Films directed by Ravi Raja Pinisetty