Rudra Veena

I do not know if Rudraveena is a hit. But it is one of my favourite movies of my favourite actors. Chiranjeevi plays Suryam, son of the renowned, staunch orthodox classical musician Ganapathy Sastry. Ganapathy Sastry worships god through his music. A staunch beleiver of the caste system, he beleives that he (and his caste) is born superior to others, and that his music gets him closer to God and Glory. Suryam, carries the legacy of his father's music, but his conscience constantly keeps reminding him that he is one among the gods creations, all of whom are equal. The conflicting attitudes collide head on when suryam falls in love with Lalitha (sobhana)- a lower caste girl. suryam leaves his house to realise his destiny of cleaning his village of alcoholism. But would a world drenched in the stench of alcohol hear a humanitarian plea !!! Would Lalitha and Suryam realise their dream of being married, accepted by world, and accepted by family ? What are the stakes when the people who don't care are the people you want to change ? A message that was put across the Balachander way, with timely, and excellent music (by IllayaRaja), masterly enacted by Gemini Ganesan (Ganapathy Sastri), Suryam (Chiranjeevi), Lalitha (Sobhana) and the supporting cast, Rudraveena (meaning the Angry Veena - Indian variantof guitar) is my masterpiece.

_Rudra Veena_ (The Veena of Shiva, which sounds very baritone) is a movie with great intentions. The movie tries to fight the caste system, tries to argue that helping a fellow living being is of much taller order than even the praising the glory of the lord thru music. But I don't totally agree with the means with which these great intentions have been shown. The arguments between Satyam and Ganapathi Sastri bring out good truths, but they get silly at certain points trying to argue that music is in noway a means to the end. The movie also doesn't explain in detail on how the transformation has taken place. Instead, it takes the traditional Indian way of narration showing the results (i.e. transformation, in a few slide show kind of frames) and not the efforts to achieve the results. Chiranjeevi and Gemini Ganesan give a great performances, but Chiranjeevi is not close to a brahmin lad both in terms of accent and body movements. Overall, this is some good movie making with some great intentions and fantastic music by Maestro Ilaiyaraja.

This should definitely go down as one of the greatest movies in the 1980's. Music, moral, and will power is all what this movie is about. Chiranjeevi was superb, playing the typical classical musician/societal role to perfection. The rest played their characters well.

This film won 4-5 National awards! and many other film fare/Nandi awards. Film wasn't a huge hit because of the time it was released but will be remembered always!

Bilhari, Tarali Rada and many more songs are worth listening. Lot of moral, lot of theme in them. The movie is smooth, the story is very plain and simple.

If somebody asks me , What is the best Telugu Movie you have ever seen,I will say "Rudra Veena" , with out any hesitation.

I have seen this when i was 9-10 years old i still remember the Excitement i have felt when i saw "Nenu Saitham" song.I might have seen this movie more than 100 times on T.V . But now also whenever i see this movie ,my adrenaline pumps up

During display of the titles, there will be a background song "Chuttu pakkala Chhodara..." in which a Brahmin boy will be walking on after performing his Puja..An old blind lady will be searching for her lost Banana...This boy observes that but won't help her ..and will go away chanting his mantras...This scene depicts the essence of the Story...."Garvinche ee nee brathuuku ee samajame malachindi...Runam theerechu tharunam vasthe Thappinchuku Pothunnava.." Shouts Sirivennala's Lyrics.......

Chiru's Intense Performance........

Shobana's character which is fun loving yet having Self Esteem.......

Balachanders' Social commitment......

Sirivennela's Heart touching Lyrics..........

and above all

IlaiyaRaja 's Music ....

makes this a wonderful movie ..

This story deals with the age old Social defects in Indian Society like Untouchability and Alcohol. But i feel this movie tells about the contribution each individual should give to his society......

This not a great love story nor an action flick.But this is a movie with soul which makes us enlightened on social welfare.THIS MOVIE INFLUENCED GOVERNMENT POLICIES IN MANY WAYS. A VISIONARY MOVIE INDEED. Though its basically a musical, social awareness was the theme that was carried all over. This movie fights against UNTOUCHBILITY (poor soul died in a electricity accident incident/song in the woods/ female lead dancing outside temple etc...) It fights against alcohol addiction,later governments have banned liquor for quiet some time. It showed self finance scheme for women now called as "DWAKRA GROUPS" by government. It emphasized on women education which government took up later with a punch line " IF MOTHER IS EDUCATED THE WHOLE FAMILY IS EDUCATED" It also shows women empowerment and self employment. The most important thing is people developing their own village which later government introduced as "JANMABHOOMI PADAKAM". Many things worth mentioning such as inter caste marriage/ sacrificing personal life for social welfare...many as such. Classical music by ILAYARAJA, excellent direction by sticking only to the noble theme, star hero shedding his image and portraying himself as common man in simple costumes and make up. For this movie the male lead MEGASTAR CHIRANJEEVI GOT SPECIAL INVITATION FROM THE OCAR AWARDS Committee! This movie won BEST FILM in foreign film category in Russia. GOVERNMENT of India felicitated this movie with NARGIS DUTT NATIONAL INTEGRETITY AWARD and mega star won FILMFARE AWARD for BEST HERO ANYTHING MORE TO SAY.