Gundamma Katha () is a 1962 Indian Telugu-language comedy drama film directed by Kamalakara Kameswara Rao and co-produced by Nagi Reddi and Chakrapani under their banner Vijaya Productions. It stars N. T. Rama Rao, Akkineni Nageswara Rao, Savitri, and Jamuna, with S. V. Ranga Rao, Suryakantham, and Ramana Reddy in supporting roles.
Partially inspired by William Shakespeare comedy The Taming of the Shrew, Gundamma Katha is an official remake of the Kannada film Mane Thumbida Hennu (1958). It is also the first remake by Vijaya Productions. Gundamma Katha is the story of Gundamma, a rich widow who ill-treats her selfless step-daughter Lakshmi, who is reduced to working as a maid. Lakshmi dotes on Gundamma's daughter Saroja, an arrogant woman who nevertheless deeply cares for Lakshmi. The film's centrepiece is formed by the way Lakshmi's suitor Anjaneya "Anji" Prasad and Saroja's lover Raja bring a change to Gundamma's life after both couples' marriages.
The film is Rama Rao's 100th appearance and Nageswara Rao's 99th. It was photographed by Marcus Bartley, and co-edited by G. Kalyana Sundaram and D. G. Jayaram. Ghantasala composed the film's soundtrack and score. Madhavapeddi Gokhale and Kaladhar were the film's art directors. The production phase lasted for a year; it was filmed in and around Madras, mainly on sets at Vijaya Vauhini Studios.
Released on 7 June 1962, Gundamma Katha received praise for its story, screenplay and cast performances, and criticism for its poor character development. The film was commercially successful, completing a 100-day run in 17 centres and a silver-jubilee run at the Durga Kalamandir, Vijayawada. It is regarded as the last film of Vijaya Productions' "Golden Age". The film was simultaneously shot in Tamil as Manithan Maravillai, also produced by Vijaya Productions, had Nageswara Rao, Savitri, and Jamuna reprising their roles. Though Gundamma Katha has achieved cult status in Telugu cinema, it has received criticism for its influence on stereotypes in the narration of other unrelated Telugu films.
Plot Gundamma is a rich widow who ill-treats her stepdaughter, Lakshmi, a selfless person, who is reduced to working as a maid. Gundamma has a daughter, Saroja, and a son, Prabhakar. Gundamma has a half-brother, Ghantayya, a cunning but weak milk vendor. Ghantayya wants Gundamma to marry off Saroja to his criminal son Bhoopati, who is in prison. To achieve this goal without the knowledge of Gundamma, he spoils every marriage proposal Saroja receives. Saroja's arrogance and Lakshmi's courteous attitude indirectly help Ghantayya. Gundamma decides to marry off Lakshmi to a vagabond and Saroja to the son of Ramabhadrayya, a wealthy man living in the faraway town of Veerapuram.
Ramabhadrayya knows about Saroja (Gundamma's daughter) through a marriage broker and goes to Gundamma's home after finding that her late husband was a friend of his, who had aided him in convincing his in-laws to let him marry their daughter. After observing the situation in Gundamma's house with the help of Ghantayya, Ramabhadrayya sends his elder son, Anjaneya "Anji" Prasad, to Gundamma's house as a servant to get him married to Lakshmi, whom he finds innocent and docile. He sends his younger son, Raja, to marry Saroja. Raja then meets Saroja through his cousin Padma, Saroja’s friend and Prabhakar’s classmate and lover. Anji and Lakshmi get married, and Raja and Saroja fall in love. Ramabhadrayya writes a letter to Gundamma opposing the marriage of Raja and Saroja upon the former's instructions, and Anji conducts their marriage against Ghantayya's wishes. Shortly afterward, Prabhakar and Padma's marriage is conducted.
Raja acts like a drunkard and masquerades as Ramabhadrayya's son, seeking to gain Saroja's wealth. A rift develops between Anji and Gundamma, and he leaves with Lakshmi. Anji, Raja, and Ramabhadrayya reveal the truth to Lakshmi later. Raja storms out of Gundamma's house, and Saroja follows him; they join Ramabhadrayya's house as gardeners, and Raja ensures Saroja is unaware of their employer. In the process, Saroja's character transforms from one of arrogance to one of a hardworking, courteous person.
Gundamma is tortured by Padma's ruthless, confidence-trickster aunt Durga. Bhoopati is released from prison, and Ghantayya asks Gundamma to give him some money. Because of Gundamma's arrogance, Prabhakar and Padma leave for Bangalore. Durga steals the money in the locker, accuses Gundamma of robbery, and locks her in a room behind the house. Lakshmi and Anji visit Gundamma and become aware of her condition. Lakshmi and Gundamma coerce Durga and retrieve the money she stole. Bhoopati comes to Durga's rescue but is defeated by Anji in a duel and is hospitalised.
Saroja meets Ramabhadrayya, her employer, and walks out after a heated argument. She meets Lakshmi on the way and learns about Raja's plans and that Ramabhadrayya is her father-in-law. The film ends with Gundamma staying with her daughters in Ramabhadrayya's house.
Cast
Production Development Nagi Reddi of Vijaya Productions helped B. Vittalacharya in the production of Mane Thumbida Hennu (1958), the latter's directorial debut in Kannada cinema. As an act of gratitude, Vittalacharya sold the remake rights to Nagi Reddi. Mane Thumbida Hennu revolves around the life of a rich woman whose brother marries off her daughter to a criminal when she chooses a mentally challenged person as her step-daughter's life partner. Nagi Reddi chose to remake the film in Telugu and discussed it with D. V. Narasa Raju; it was the first time Vijaya Productions decided to remake a film. After the script was ready, Nagi Reddi approached C. Pullayya to direct the remake after considering B. N. Reddy. Pullayya was not appreciative of Narasa Raju's treatment of the script and Nagi Reddy met his partner Chakrapani to develop the script further.
Chakrapani decided to retain only the background of Gundamma's family from the original and rewrote the remaining script, taking inspiration from William Shakespeare comedy, The Taming of the Shrew. Chakrapani killed the character of Gundamma's cowardly husband because he felt that a husband who cannot answer his wife's questions was not eligible for inclusion. Kamalakara Kameswara Rao was chosen to direct the film. Chakrapani named the central character Gundamma in the remake after one of the characters in the original, despite a lack of nativity. Nagi Reddi's family members and the employees of the Vijaya Vauhini Studios used to ask him "Gundamma Katha Entha varaku vachchindi?" (What is the progress in Gundamma's story?), which prompted Nagi Reddi to title the film Gundamma Katha after considering various options. Marcus Bartley was recruited as the director of photography; G. Kalyana Sundaram and D. G. Jayaram edited the film. Ghantasala composed the soundtrack and score. Madhavapeddi Gokhale and Kaladhar were the film's art directors. M. Pithambaram and T. P. Bhaktavatsalam provided the make-up.
Casting Suryakantham was chosen to play Gundamma and Chakrapani suggested Kameswara Rao not to make any special efforts to make her character look ruthless because Suryakantham had an aggressive body language. N. T. Rama Rao and Akkineni Nageswara Rao were chosen as the male leads Anjaneya "Anji" Prasad and Raja, making Gundamma Katha their 10th film together; the film was Rama Rao's 100th film as an actor and Nageswara Rao's 99th. Savitri and Jamuna were chosen as the female leads Lakshmi and Saroja, respectively. Saroja was created by Chakrapani for the film, taking cues from The Taming of the Shrew. S. V. Ranga Rao, Ramana Reddy and Rajanala Kaleswara Rao were cast in the supporting roles of Ramabhadrayya, Ghantayya and Bhoopati. Haranath and L. Vijayalakshmi were chosen to play Gundamma's son Prabhakar and daughter-in-law Padma, while Chhaya Devi appeared as Padma's aunt Durgamma.
Filming
The production phase of Gundamma Katha lasted nearly a year, with one of the reasons being that both Rama Rao and Nageswara Rao had delays in giving bulk dates for the project. A house set was erected in Vijaya Vauhini Studios, Madras (now Chennai) where scenes featuring Gundamma and other key characters were filmed. C. Kuppuswami Naidu and K. Srinivasan supervised the erection of sets.
The film's shooting was severely affected by scheduling conflicts; Chakrapani would make telephone calls to all the key artistes, and sequences were filmed based on their availability. The filming of the song "Kolo Koloyanna" was significantly affected by this; all four lead actors were supposed to take part in the song's shoot; the film's editor took care to ensure a smooth flow in the sequences during the post-production phase. The scene before the song that features Anji and Raja communicating with whistles was conceptualised by Narasaraju. Harbans Singh supervised the film's special effects.
Since Vijayalakshmi was a trained dancer, an elaborate dance sequence with no connection to the film's story was introduced as a stage performance and Nageswara Rao, Jamuna, and Haranath were made to sit along with the audience. The song "Prema Yatralaku" was filmed in the gardens near the Vijaya Vauhini Studios after abandoning plans to film it in either Ooty or Brindavan Gardens, Srirangapatna. During the film's shoot, a kickboxing tournament was held in Madras; this inspired Chakrapani and Kameswara Rao to add a fight sequence between Rama Rao and Kaleswara Rao. Pasumarthi Krishnamurthy conducted the choreography for the song sequences. The film was processed at Vijaya Laboratory and was recorded on Western Electric equipment. Its total length was approximately in 18 reels, with a running time of 166 minutes.
Themes
Gundamma Katha is based partially on William Shakespeare's play The Taming of the Shrew. It focuses on a widow named Gundamma and her two daughters. The film's main theme is the step-daughter Lakshmi facing problems because of the widow, and the former's suitor teaching the latter a lesson. Using the first conversation between Gundamma and Lakshmi, in which the former abuses the latter for disturbing her sleep, Narasaraju introduces Gundamma's mindset and behaviour. Further incidents include the dismissal of a server fired from a hotel after refusing to work as a servant in Gundamma's house, and Ghantayya explaining Gundamma's character to Ramabhadrayya.
According to Filmfares V. V. S. R. Hanumantha Rao, true friendship is the theme of the film. Most of the film's dialogue, especially that between Ramana Reddy and Allu Ramalingaiah, are satirical and provide references to Indian society during the 1960s. The song "Lechindi Nidra" is about the empowerment of women and their role in areas of the government. In her article "Manifestation of devotion" about the importance of the Krishna Janmashtami festival, Rajeswari Kalyanam of The Hans India said the lyrics and photography of the song "Aligina Velane Choodali" recall the romantic side of Krishna that every woman sees in her husband or the person she loves. It also recalls the bond Krishna shared with his foster mother Yashoda.
Music
The official soundtrack of Gundamma Katha was composed by Ghantasala; it consists of eight songs whose lyrics were written by Pingali. The sound mixing process was supervised by A. Krishnan and V. Sivaram, and the soundtrack was processed by N. C. Sen Gupta. Ghantasala provided vocals for Rama Rao and Nageswara Rao; P. Susheela and P. Leela provided the vocals for Savitri and Jamuna. The songs "Entha Hayi" and "Mounamuga Nee" were composed in the raga Mohanam. The song "Aligina Velane" is based on Desh raga.