Gundammagari Manavadu Review

B Jaya, who had a passion for direction, proved her mettle with a hit film like 'Chantigadu' with new faces like Baladitya and Suhasini. So far, she directed films for her own banner, she agreed to wield megaphone for another banner 'RR Movie Makers' of Venkat for the first time with K Achireddy as presenter. She prepared a good subject and chose Ali as her hero and convinced Vadivukkarasi to play the title role 'Gundamma'. Despite good story, Jaya failed to impress the audiences as she failed in selecting appropriate heroines to match Ali.

Yedukondalu (Ali) is the grandson of Gundamma (Vadivukkarasi). While his father Srisailam (Tanikella Bharani) was a drunkard, his son was irresponsible. Gundamma loves her grandson Yedukondalu and the latter also is very fond of her as pampered him and brought him up with lots of love as he lost his mother in his childhood.

Yedukondalu falls in love with his sister-in-law Mahalakshmi (Sindhuri), daughter of Neelakantham (Kota Srinivasa Rao), a crooked and money-minded fellow. He did not accept to give his daughter to Yedukondalu. To prove himself, Yedukondalu opens a hotel and earns money. Then Neelakantam agrees for the marriage, but cancels it as he got another alliance to his daughter with a rich boy. He even destroys Gundamma Hotel. Gundamma goes to Neelakantam but the latter insults her and necks her out. Humiliated, Gundamma dies. Yedukondalu comes to know that she died due to humiliation and goes to his uncle's house only to get thrashing by his henchmen, who dump him later on a rail track.

At this juncture, Amritha (Nicole), daughter of Madhava Rao (Krishna), a millionaire, attempts suicide only to be saved by Yedukondalu. Amritha and Yedukondalu join hands and our hero resurrects. As he turned rich, Neelakantam again broaches alliance but could not succeed. After several twists the film ends with the union of Mahalakshmi and Yedukondalu.

Ali, who had good experience of over 785 films, performed well. He showed good ease all through the film. Thanikella Bharani gave brilliant performance in emotional scenes.

The song scripted and sung by him was a highlight. Three songs are worth listening and one among them was on grandmother. The basic drawback is the selection of heroines.

Jaya, who introduced nice faces like Suhasini and Kamna Jethmalani failed in selecting good heroines this time. Both of them did not suit the hero. They are neither glamorous nor could show any kind of expressions.

The director also failed to establish the grandmother's role properly. 'Gundamma' is a powerful name for Telugu audiences but that power could not be seen in Vadivukkarasi, despite giving good performance.

Kota Srinivasa Rao's character was also routine. Poor narration, improper screenplay, unnecessary characters (Jayalalitha, Kondavalasa, AVS, Mallikarjuna Rao), unnecessary scenes (learning swimming, temple scene with Nicole) spoiled the film.

Cast: Ali, Sindhuri, Nicole, Vadivukkarasi, Krishna (special appearance) Tanikella Bharani, Kota Srinivasa Rao, Venumadhav, Gundu Hanumantha Rao, Duvvasi Mohan, Kondavalasa Lakshmana Rao, Narsing Yadav, Mallikarjuna Rao, Sudarshan, Jr Relangi, Jenny, AVS, Draksharamam Saroja, Jayalalitha and others

Credits: Dialogues - Veligonda Srinivas, Camera - Purna Kandru, Editing - A Venkatesh, Music - Vandemataram Srinivas, Action - Satish, Presents - K Achireddy, Producer - Venkat, Story, screenplay and direction - B Jaya.

Banner: RR Movie Makers

Released on: May 12, 2007