Telugu kamakeli kathalu

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It's actually hard to classify Vamsy as a director, while his movies have a very aesthetic feel, he combines it with a fast paced style of narration, rapid fire dialog and a very unconventional style of movie making. That is the reason why his style of movie making was not universally liked, much before Ram Gopal Varma or Sandeep Vanga, he was the true cult director. Or one should say an auteur.
His movies had his own distinctive style. good or bad, that was his trademark. And he covered different genres, from artistic( Sitara) to murder mysteries( Anveshana) to comedies( Ladies Tailor, April 1 Vidudala) to family dramas( Preminchu Pelladu). 4
His real name was Nallamilli Bavireddy and Vamsy was his pen name, that he choose for the screen too. His first movie Manchu Pallaki(1982) itself gave an indication of his talent.
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A story of 5 friends played by Chiru( in his early days), Rajendra Prasad, Saichand, Narayana Rao, Saichand and Girish( of Saptapadi) fame, whose life changes after they come in contact with Suhasini. It was a remake of the 1981 Tamizh movie Palaivana Solai, and though not a very big success, the movie gained lot of appreciation from the family audiences for it's very sensitive storytelling. It came as a breath of fresh air in Telugu cinema, that was getting saturated with routine movies.
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It was Sitara in 1984 that made everyone take notice of Vamsy, based on his own novel Mahal lo Kokila. The movie also marked Bhanu Priya's debut, as Sitara, a women on the move, who is helped by a kind hearted photographer Devadas( Subhalekha Sudhakar), and helps her to become a movie star later. However when she refuses to go to a particular village for a shooting, Devadas demands an explanation, and she recounts her rather painful past.
The movie straddles two different worlds that of the Zamindaris, and their false prestige, that makes them show off as wealthy, when in reality most of them are actually paupers, and that of the movie stars, and paparazzi. There is a lot to write about this movie, but couple of things, it has the very distinctive style of K.Viswanath in many scenes, under whom Vamsy worked as an assistant director.
And it began Vamsy's collaboration with Illayaraja, who would go on to compose some memorable songs for his movies later. As also the Godavari backdrop, being a native of that place, not many movie directors captured the region as well as Vamsy did, be it the natural beauty or the dialect or the traditions.
It also marked a very visual style of storytelling that would be a feature of most Vamsy movies going ahead. Also the beautiful sunrise and sunset shots, along the Godavari river, contrasting it with the rather claustrophobic atmosphere of the Zamindar Chander( Sarathbabu) mahal. Sitara went on to become one of the biggest hits of that year, as Bhanupriya became a star.
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It was with Anveshana that Vamsy came into his own, developing his very distinctive style of movie making. I had already written about it here in detail, but would like to point out that much before RGV in Shiva, Vamsy used the tracking shots to very good effect here, especially in the forest scenes.
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Preminchu Pelladu Rajendra Prasad's first movie as a leading hero, dealt with the clash between old and new. Satyanarayana plays Kurmavataram, a conservative, orthodox Brahmin, who is taught a lesson in humanist values by his grandson Rajendra Prasad, and his estranged grand daughter Bhanupriya. Quite a good movie, had a memorable soundtrack by Illayaraja with songs like "Vayyari Godaramma", "Gopemmma Chethilo", "Nirantharam Vasanthamu", "Nee Chaitra Veena" remaining memorable today.
His next movie Aalapana was not that great with a very disjointed narration, and trying to be a cross between an artistic movie and a thriller, fell in between. However Illayaraja's score was usual great in this movie.
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It was Ladies Tailor, that would turn out to be a true cult movie. The story of a tailor Sundaram( Rajendra Prasad) who wants to get rich quick, and follows the advice of an astrologer who predicts that a lady with a mole on her thigh would be fortunate for him. While set in the Godavari region, the narration was totally different, with more risque double meaning dialog, the typical Godavari Yaasa spoken among the working class. And characters like Battala Satyam( Mallikarjuna Rao), Sitaramudu( Subhalekha Sudhakar), the hero's sidekicks, the school teacher Sujatha( Archana), the 3 women Nagamani( Y Vijaya), Neelaveni( Sandhya), Daiya( Deepa) whom the hero chases around, the village head Venkataratnam( Pradeep Sakthi) who hates lovers after a guy duped his sister.
The movie was a true cult flick, that polarized audiences, the college students, youth loved it, while the family audiences hated it. But over the years it has become a cult classic of sorts, and once again a memorable score from Illayaraja with a series of superhit songs "Gopilola", "Porabatidi", "Ekkada Ekkada", "Hayamma Hayamma".
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His next movie Lawyer Suhasini was a disappointment in many ways, again Maharshi was one of those "You hate it or love it" kind of movies. The story of unrequited one sided love, of the title character who pursues the woman he loves Suchitra( Shantipriya). It was the Arjun Reddy of those times, and most audiences did not like the style of narration or the rather down beat ending, as the movie flopped. It however had a great score again by Illayaraja with songs like "Sumam Prati Sumam", "Maata Raani Mounam".
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Sri Kanaka Mahalakshmi Recording Dance Troupe to me again one of his best movies ever, set against the backdrop of the recording dance troupes, with a love story thrown in between. The movie was a complete fun ride, with dialogues set in typical Godavari Yaasa, and memorable performances by Naresh, Kota, Mallikarjuna Rao, Ralapalli, Thanikella Bharani, Y.Vijaya. Great soundtrack again by Illayaraja where he also uses old songs of NTR, ANR, Krishna to good effect.
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Chettu Kinda Pleader was another superb comic thriller, and for a change Vamsy sets the movie in Tirupathi. Remake of the Malayalam movie Thanthram, the movie has Rajendraprasad as Balaraju, a down and out lawyer, who gets to fight the case of a rich widow Sujatha( Urvasi), when her father in law Sarabayya( Gollapudi) files a suit claiming the property is his legally. Vamsy wonderfully combines comedy with drama and thriller, creating a really entertaining movie. Somehow it was not much of a success when released, but in later years has become a favorite on video, DVD. Again a superb musical score by Illayaraja with songs like "Jigijigaa", "Allibili Kalala", "Neeru gaari paari poku", "Chalti ka Naam Gaadi".
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April 1 Vidudula would be Vamsy's last really great movie starring Rajendra Prasad as a smooth talking videographer Diwakaram, who lies, cheats his way to success. His life takes a turn when the woman he loves Bhuvaneshwari( Shobana) puts a condition that he should not tell any lies for one month, and should speak only truth, throwing everything into turmoil. Setting against backdrop of Rajahmundry Railway Quarters, the movie combines comedy and drama effectively, and went on to become one of the biggest hits in his career. Again a superb score by Illayaraja with songs like "Vompula Vaikhiri", " Nijamante", "Chukkalu Temanna", "Okate Aasa".
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However Detective Narada with Mohan Babu turned out to be a huge disappointment, as the movie bombed badly. And with Joker, he stopped his collaboration with Ilayaraja and composed the music himself, which in a way started his decline. Vamsy's movies were not the same without Illayaraja, and a series of very disappointing movies followed. Even though he did make a comeback in 2002 with Avunu Vallidaru Ishtapaddaru, it was nowhere close to his earlier classics.
Apart from being a director, Vamsy is also a great writer, he wrote 5 novels, and around 360 short stories in Telugu. His series of stories Maa Pasarlapudi Kathalu, Maa Diguva Godavari Kathalu are a wonderful depiction of life in rural Godavari districts, on par with RK Narayan's Malgudi Days. Not many explored Godavari districts as intimately as he did covering the world of recording dance troupe artists, railway quarters, villages, creating characters with all the quirks, eccentricities, faults who remain memorable to date.

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