Padamati Sandhya Ragam

Perhaps, this is my first telugu movie review and I am not so happy by this being my first one.

There is a lot that could have been corrected, the photography, the unnecessary digressions to the plot, and the songs are are few and a couple of them are misplaced but the strong point of it is dialogue as any other Jandhyala movie. The story is a routine love story just that here the boy is from America which was still an alien land for telugu movies at that time.

Gummuluri Sastry must be acclaimed for his performance and Jandhyala for his dialogue. Apart from this there is nothing much commendable in this. But yet, it still makes a movie thats worth a watch purely for the dialogue.

Just average if not for dialogue . 2/5.

A young and garrulous Sandhya(Vijayasanthi) arrives on the American soil from a small South-Indian town along with her parents.

As fate would have had it, she falls in love with her neighbor Tom (Thomas Jane).

A perpetually nagging father( Gummaluri Satyam) of Sandhya stands hindrance to the wedlock as he believes it would be against principles and norms that the daughter of the family gets married outside the community.

Sandhya and Tom are left with a choice to elope.

A fairly good entertainer crafted by the Maestro Jandhyala.

Jandhyala was one of the most prolific directors in Telugu who created movies with either outright fun or an excellent social message. Every person who enjoyed his films owes it personally to thank Jandhyala. When most movies were becoming monotonous with their hero's muscle strength or actresses exposure, Jandhyala provided healthy comedy. This film is not just about an Indian girl falling in love with an American boy. It's about the cultural barriers we need to abolish. The entire world is one family, as he says "Vasudaika Kutumbham". The extremely melodious music from SPB is awesome. Especially the song "Pibare Rama rasam..." Hats off.

The plot might be a known regular love story, but the writing and the scenes are still relatable to this day for Indian diaspora living in US. The way cultural conflicts are depicted in plotline of simple love story added with indiosyncratic non-humiliatic comedy as is greatly laudable. With the era and logistic challenges involved in making a very localized movie in a foreign country, this effort should be greatly appreciated and should be considered a crazy thought for that period. Jandhyala garu has surely produced one of the unforgettable movies of Telugu cinema.