Palnati Yuddham (1947)

Synopsis: King Anugu of Palnadu has three sons - Nalagama Raju, Narasinga Raju and Malideva Raju from his three wives. Before his death, he anoints Nalagama Raju the king and leaves him to the care of his minister Brahmanaidu. During Anugu's rule a wealthy and powerful woman Nagamma enters the kingdom. Brahmanna is a Vaishnavite, while Nagamma is a staunch Saivite. Progressive-minded Brahmanna allows Harijan entry into temples and appoints a Harijan, Kannama Dasu as the army commander. This irks the upper caste people and also the prince Narasinga Raju, who seeks the help of Nagamma.
In the king's court, Nagamma accuses Brahmanna of fomenting trouble. This leads to Malideva demanding a division of the kingdom. Much against the wish of Nagamma, Nalagama divides the kingdom, and Macherla is given to Malideva, who rules it with Brahmanaidu as his adviser. Nagamma holds control over Gurajala and its ruler Nalagama. She hatches a conspiracy to unite the country and make Narasinga Raju as the king. As part of it, Malideva is invited for 'kodi pandelu' (cock fight), the traditional competition held during Sankranthi. The loser has to leave the kingdom and live incognito for seven years. Nagamma cheats to win, but after the seven-year exile, refuses to hand over the kingdom to Malideva. Not only that, she arranges to kill the emissary Alaraju, son-in-law of Nalagama. This results in war and the annihilation of almost the entire clan. In the war field, Nagamma realises her mistake and seeks pardon from Brahmanna.
Cast: Akkineni Nageswara Rao (Balachandrudu), Govindarajula Venkata Subba Rao (Brahmanaidu), Teegala Venkateswarlu (Nalagama Raju), Kannamba (Nagamma), Gidugu Venkata Sitapathi Rao (Kommaraju), Mudigonda Lingamurthy (Narasinga Raju), S. Varalakshmi (Manchala), Vangara (Subbanna), Surabhi Balasaraswathi, DS Sadasiva Rao (Malideva Raju), V. Koteswara Rao (Kannama Dasu), Koneru Kutumba Rao (Alaraju)
Story: Vempati Sadasivabrahmam
Dialogues and Lyrics: Samudrala Raghavacharya
Music: Galipenchala Narasimha Rao
Playback: Ghantasala, Kannamba, Kumari, S. Varalakshmi, Sundaramma, ANR
Cinematography: Jiten Bannerjee
Editing: Manikyam
Asst. Director: Inturi Venkateswara Rao
Producer: Koganti Venkata Subba Rao
Director: LV Prasad, Gudavalli Ramabrahmam
Banner: Sarada Productions
Release Date: 24 September
Trivia: This is debut film for S. Varalakshmi as a singer.
Even though this movie released in 1947, the shooting of the movie started in 1945. After 10% of the shoot, Gudavalli expired with illness. Then LV Prasad took up the megaphone, and completed it with Katuri Jaganmohan as his associate.
Though Gudavalli and lyricist Samudrala were colleagues at 'Prajamithra' magazine, they had worked together first time for 'Palnati Yuddham'.
ANR was rendered two songs - 'Oho charuseela... ohoho veerabala' with S. Varalakshmi and 'Rathiraja sundara ranarangana dheera'.
At the beginning of the movie, Gudavalli's death and funeral scenes were shown.
This was first historical movie in Telugu.
Popular Songs:
1. Eee kuhoo raatri naa raju
2. Taanaa, pantamu naatonaa
3. Vachchunate raju valaraju minchu alaraju
4. Nede nijamuraa, nee repu raaduraa
5. Ohoho chaaruseelaa