Friday Throwback – Forgotten Telugu Classics: Vagdanam!

Every Friday, we have been sharing with you memories of old films from Telugu Film Industry that are either forgotten or less talked about. We hope you are enjoying the recommendations and this week, let’s talk about the film, ANR’s Vagdanam. 

Details of the film:

Film name: Vagdanam 

Cast: Akkineni Nageswara Rao, Krishna Kumari, Relangi, Chalam, Gummadi, Nagayya, Girija, Padmanabham

Based on the Novel – Datta. 

Crew:

Written by Saratchandra Chatterjee (Datta), Bolimunta Sivaramakrishna, Acharya Athreya
Music by Pendyala Nageshwara Rao 
Cinematography by P. L. Roy, V. Roy
Edited by N.S. Prakasam
Directed by Acharya Athreya
Produced by K. Satyanarayana, D. Sreenivasa Murthy 

Language: Telugu

Genre: Family Drama 

CBFC: U 

Release date: 5th October, 1961

Runtime: 153 minutes 

What is the speciality in the movie? 

– It was the only film directed by legendary writer, Acharya Athreya. 

– Sri Nagaja Thanayam Harikatha was written by none other than legendary communist and revolutionary poet,  Sri Sri. 

– Soundtracks by Pendyala are still remembered especially – Harikatha, Naa Kanti Papalo, Tappetloy Talaloy, Velugu Chupavayya. 

– K. Raghavendra Rao worked as an associate director for the film. 

– Relangi almost dominates Gummadi and ANR. Probably the reason for box office failure of the film, upon the first release. 

– Second release of the film and third release recovered costs for distributors. 

Why should we watch now?

Movie is actually a romantic drama with major twists and turns, covering two couples. The plot revolves around the first generation friends – Zamindar Viswanatham asking his family to adhere to the word given by him to Jagannatham. The second generation wishes and their love story is disturbed by this word as the third friend, Rangannatham tries to exploit the gullible rich girl, Vijaya for his advantage. 

The story might not be special but the screenplay gives importance to every character and that is the arresting factor of the film. Movie has high level artistic values and even the dialogues are written in the same manner to highlight the values that a human should posses. 

Movie could have been shorter but if you love Telugu language, you will enjoy the values that Athreya tried to bring to this subject. 

Performances from every actor are top notch and especially, Relangi’s comedy timing in the movie and his character’s Smartness are something we can simply implement in our daily lives. 

Where can we find it? 

It is available on YouTube and has a high repeat value on Satellite TV, too. You may accidentally find it on TV during your random searches. 

Let’s meet on next Friday.