( Seetharamayya's granddaughter) is a 1991 Indian Telugu-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. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by Kranthi Kumar, and produced by V. Doraswamy Raju under the VMC Productions banner. The film stars Akkineni Nageswara Rao,

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 ' ...

and Rohini Hattangadi with the music composed by M. M. Keeravani. Based on the novel ''Navvina Kanneelle'' by Manasa, the plot follows Seetha (Meena) who arrives from the US to visit her grandparents, Seetharamayya (Rao) and Janakamma (Hattangadi) who are uninformed of her parents' accidental death. It was featured in the 15th IFFI' 92 Indian Panorama section. The film won three

Filmfare Awards South The Filmfare Awards South are annual awards that honour artistic and technical excellence in the Telugu cinema, Tamil cinema, Malayalam cinema and Kannada cinema. They are presented by ''Filmfare'' magazine of The Times Group. When it was intr ...

, three

Nandi Awards The Nandi Awards are annual awards presented by the Government of Andhra Pradesh to recognise excellence in Telugu cinema, theatre, and television, as well as lifetime achievements in Indian cinema. The awards are named after the monolithic ...

and four

Cinema Express Awards Cinema Express Awards are presented annually by Indian Express Group on behalf of Cinema Express film magazine to honour artistic excellence of professionals in the south Indian film industry which comprises Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayala ...

. The film was remade in

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of ...

as '' Sandhwanam'' (1991), in

Kannada Kannada () is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, and is additionally a ...

as '' Belli Modagalu'' (1992), and 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 '' Udhaar Ki Zindagi'' (1994).

Plot

The film begins in a village adjacent to the river

Godavari The Godavari (, �od̪aːʋəɾiː is India's second longest river after the Ganga River and drains the third largest basin in India, covering about 10% of India's total geographical area. Its source is in Trimbakeshwar, Nashik, Maharash ...

where Sitaramayya, a wealthy landlord, holds high esteem. He leads a delightful life with his ideal wife, Janakamma, and son, Dr. Srinivasa Murthy / Vasu. Both father and son are best friends. Unfortunately, a rift arises since Vasu denies the match of his father's choice for his love interest, Sumathi, and Sitaramayya bows his head down. However, he shows his displeasure by refusing to speak to his son, which makes Vasu leave the country. After 20 years, Seeta Vasu's daughter arrives to attend a wedding function at her grandfather's residence. Sitaramayya also continues his resentment of Seeta but inherently dotes on her. Her wit slowly wins everyone's hearts and resolves the conflict between Sitaramayya and his in-law Veerabhadraiah. Here, as a flabbergast, Dr. Vivekam, Vasu's friend, lands when it unveils that Seeta has hidden the death secret of her parents as her grandparents cannot tolerate it. Discerning the status quo, Vivakam remains calm and announces Vasu & Sumathi's arrival soon. Now it's time for Sitaramayya's 60th birthday, ''Sashtipurthi,'' who eagerly waits for Vasu, but Sita conducts the ritual grandly without divulging the actuality. Soon after, tragically, Janakamma passes away due to delight when Sitaramayya is devastated by Vasu's absence at his mother's funeral and seeks Seeta to exit, which she does. After that, Seeta's memories recall Sitaramayya when he spots her diary, through which he affirms the fact and his son's last wish to immerse his ashes in the Godavari, his father. Forthwith, Sitaramayya collapses but quickly retrieves and rushes for Seeta. At last, Seeta fulfills her father's wish. Finally, the movie ends happily with a proclamation: ''That there is no end to Indian Family Structure.''

Cast

* Akkineni Nageshwara Rao as Seetharamayya *

as Seeta * Rohini Hattangadi as Janakamma *

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 ...

as Subbaraju *

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 ...

as Veerabhadraiah * Murali Mohan as Dr. Vivekam *

Tanikella Bharani Tanikella Bharani (born 14 July 1954) is an Indian actor, screenwriter, poet and playwright who works predominantly in Telugu cinema. He has worked as an actor in more than 750 films, including few in Tamil, Kannada and Hindi; while he was al ...

as Govinda Rao * Sudhakar as Pavan Kumar *Sudarshan as Kaasi *Narayana Rao as Lawyer Chakravarthy *Raja as Dr. Srinivasa Murthy / Vaasu *Chidatala Appa Rao * Telangana Shakuntala *Sudha Rani as Sumathi *Srilatha as Shyamala *Chandrika as Chinna Papa *Saraswathi *Master Amith as Banty

Production

The film was shot at Lolla village in Atreyapuram and also shot at Kadiyam. ''Tata Manavadu'' was originally considered as title but Nageswara Rao did not want any comparison to the old film of same name.

Soundtrack

Music composed by M. M. Keeravani. Lyrics were written by

Veturi Veturi Sundararama Murthy (29 January 1936 – 22 May 2010), known mononymously by his surname Veturi, was an Indian poet and lyricist who is known for his works in Telugu literature and cinema. Veturi is a recipient of the National Film Award, ...

. Music released on SURYA Music Company.

Reception

Awards

;

Filmfare Awards The Filmfare Awards are annual awards that honour artistic and technical excellence in the Indian cinema.Al The Filmfare ceremony is one of the most famous film events in India. The awards were introduced by Filmfare magazine of The Times G ...

* Best Film – Telugu – V. Doraswamy Raju – won * Best Director – Telugu – Kranthi Kumar – won * Best Actor – Telugu – Akkineni Nageswara Rao– won ;

- 1990 * Second Best Feature Film - Silver – V. Doraswamy Raju * Best Director – T. Kranthi Kumar * Best Female Playback Singer – K.S. Chithra for "Kaliki Chilkala Koliki" ;

*Best Film – VMC Productions – won *Best Actor – Akkineni Nageswara Rao – won *Best Actress – Meena – won *Best Director – Kranthi Kumar – won

References

External links

* {{Filmfare Best Telugu Film 1991 films Films scored by M. M. Keeravani Telugu films remade in other languages Indian drama films 1990s Telugu-language films Films directed by Kranthi Kumar 1991 drama films Films based on Indian novels