''Sitaara'' () is a 1984 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 ...

written and directed by

Vamsy Vamsy (born Nallamilli Bavireddy) is an Indian film director, screenwriter, littérateur, composer, poet, producer, actor and cartoonist known for his works in Telugu cinema, and television. He got breakthrough with ''Sitaara'' (1984), which wo ...

. It marks the debut of

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 ...

Telugu cinema Telugu cinema, also known as Tollywood, is the segment of Cinema of India, Indian cinema dedicated to the production of Film, motion pictures in the Telugu language, widely spoken in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Based in Film N ...

and is based on Vamsy's own novel ''Mahal lo Kokila'' (). The film explores the friendship between two individuals set against the backdrop of rural life, zamindari system, the Indian film industry, and

paparazzi Paparazzi (singular form paparazzo) are independent photographers who take pictures of high-profile people, such as actors, musicians, athletes, politicians, and other celebrities who go about their daily life routines. Paparazzi are known f ...

culture. ''Sitara'' received critical acclaim upon its release and is considered a cult classic. The film's soundtrack became a chartbuster, and it garnered three

National Film Awards The National Film Awards are awards for artistic and technical merit given for "Excellence within the Cinema of India, Indian film industry". Established in 1954, it has been administered, along with the International Film Festival of India ...

. It was also showcased at several prestigious film festivals, including the

International Film Festival of India The International Film Festival of India (IFFI), founded in 1952, is an annual film festival currently held in Goa, on the western coast of India. The festival aims at providing a common platform for the cinemas of the world to project the excel ...

, the

Moscow Film Festival The Moscow International Film Festival (, translit. ''Moskóvskiy myezhdunaródniy kinofyestivál''; abbreviated as MIFF) is a film festival first held in Moscow in 1935 and became regular since 1959. From its inception to 1959, it was hel ...

, and the Asian Film Festival.

Plot

Devadas (

Subhalekha Sudhakar Suravajhala Sudhakar (born 19 November 1960), known by his stage name Subhalekha Sudhakar, is an Indian actor who worked in Telugu and Tamil language films. Sudhakar's first Telugu film '' Subhalekha'' (1982) gained him wide recognition throug ...

) is a professional photographer. Once, on a train, he meets a strange melancholic woman (

) who boards the train without a proper ticket. He helps her with the money and tries to strike up a conversation. She only tells him that her name is "Sitaara" and that she has nowhere to go in the big city. The reticent Sitara intrigues Devadas, who takes pity on her position and offers her shelter at his home. Devadas sees the photogenic face of Sitaara and helps her become a model and film star. Eventually, as he manages her dates and schedules, he develops a liking for her. When Sitaara vehemently refuses to go to a certain village for shooting, he gets insulted by the producer. An upset Devadas demands an explanation and forces her to reveal her traumatic past. Sitaara reveals that she is the surviving sister of a deceased protective and proud zamindar. She was always kept indoors and restrained by her brother, as was the custom of rich landlords of the time. The zamindar had heavy debts and concealed this fact from the people of the village, hiding the misfortune behind the walls of his palace, with hopes of winning a case in the court that would then restore the ancestral wealth and thence, the glory of his family. During Dasara, a group of drama artists come to the village to perform and make their living. Every day, they start their performance first at the zamindar's home per the custom. The zamindar is away and there is no one to watch or reward them. The youngest artist of the troupe, Raju is irritated by this, but others in the troupe convince him to perform in front of the zamindar's closed doors. One day, Sitaara watches Raju's performance through a broken window and takes a liking for him. He sees her watching him, and the next day performs with even more vigour, surprising his colleagues. Eventually, Sitaara falls in love with Raju and they go to the village fair together. When the zamindar learns of the affair, he quietly sends henchmen to kill Raju. When Sitaara finds out, unable to confront her brother, suffers silently. In the meantime, the zamindar loses his court case. Afraid of losing the prestige that he has been trying to save, he kills himself and makes it seem like a robbery gone wrong. Sitaara runs away from the village and meets Devadas on the train. After her past is revealed, Devadas tries to help her out by going back to the village. He learns that Raju was not killed and tries to track him and leaves Sitaara alone in the city for a while. Meanwhile, Sitaara attempts suicide after coming to know that Devadas wanted to marry her, through the news in a film tabloid. Raju learns that Sitaara is searching for him and comes to the city. Devadas manages to unite them in the end.

Production

Vamsy approached Edida Nageswara Rao with the script for this film. Because his last film was not well received by the audience, he hesitated to make a movie, but he was convinced by their common friend Thadi Babji. In the initial script, the hero dies, but Nageswara Rao wanted the hero to be alive. So he changed the script to fulfill his wish. Vasmy thought of roping in

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� ...

for the lead role. But because of budget restrictions, Nageswara Rao asked him to choose another actress. Then he recollected

who had just visited their office that morning. They did a photoshoot and selected her as a heroine for their movie. Vamsy selected Venkatagiri fort to be an apt location for their story. He knew Saikrishna Yachendra, the second son of Venkatagiri Raja. With that connection, they could easily get permission for shooting.

Cast

* Suman as Raju *

as Sitara / Kokila *

as Devadas *

Sarath Babu Sathyam Babu Dixithulu (31 July 1951 – 22 May 2023), known by his stage name Sarath Babu, was an Indian actor who worked predominantly in Tamil and Telugu cinema. He appeared in more than 300 films, including in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and ...

as Chander * Edida Sriram as Tilak * J. V. Somayajulu * Mallikarjuna Rao * Rallapalli *

Sakshi Ranga Rao Sakshi Ranga Rao (born Rangavajhula Ranga Rao; – 27 June 2005) was an Indian character actor who worked in Telugu cinema and Telugu theatre, theatre. He appeared in about 450 films over a career spanning four decades, majority of which w ...

* M. Prabhakar Reddy

Soundtrack

Awards

, - , rowspan="4", 1985 , Edida Nageswara Rao & Vamsy , National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Telugu , , - ,

S. Janaki Sistla Janaki (born 23 April 1938) is an Indian playback singer and occasional music composer. She is widely referred to as Janaki Amma and Nightingale of India(nightingale of South) . She is one of the greatest playback singers in the history ...

for "Vennello Godhari" ,

National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer The National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer is an honour presented annually at the National Film Awards of India since 1968 to a female playback singer for the best renditions of songs from films within the Cinema of India, Indian fi ...

, , - , Anil Malnad ,

National Film Award for Best Editing The National Film Award for Best Editing is one of the National Film Awards presented annually by the National Film Development Corporation of India. It is one of several awards presented for feature films and awarded with Rajat Kamal (Silver Lo ...

, , - , S. P. Ramanadham , Nandi Award for Best Audiographer , (in Telugu)

References

External links

* {{Vamsy 1984 films Indian drama films Films about actors Films about entertainers Films about mass media people Films about filmmaking Films about screenwriters 1980s Telugu-language films Films directed by Vamsy Films based on Indian novels Indian films based on actual events Films scored by Ilaiyaraaja Films whose editor won the Best Film Editing National Award Best Telugu Feature Film National Film Award winners 1984 drama films Drama films based on actual events