Kondaveeti Donga
Film poster
Directed byA. Kodandarami Reddy
Written byParuchuri Brothers
(story and dialogue)
Screenplay byYandamuri Veerendranath
Produced byT. Trivikrama Rao
StarringChiranjeevi
Vijayashanti
Sharada
Radha
Mohan Babu
Rao Gopal Rao
Amrish Puri
CinematographyV. S. R. Swamy
Edited byKotagiri Venkateswara Rao
Music byIlaiyaraaja
Production
company
Prasad Studios
Distributed byVijayalakshmi Art Movies
Release date
  • 9 March 1990 (1990-03-09)
Running time
151 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageTelugu

Kondaveeti Donga (transl. The thief of Kondaveedu) is a 1990 Indian Telugu-language vigilante film directed by A. Kodandarami Reddy starring Chiranjeevi, Vijayashanti and Radha in main lead roles.[1][2] Upon release on 9 April 1990, the film received positive reviews, and emerged as a Blockbuster at the box office.

Subsequently, the film was dubbed into Tamil as Thangamalai Thirudan and it was dubbed into Malayalam as Kodanadu Kallan.[3] The technically brilliant film was the first Telugu film to be released on a 70 mm with 6-Track Stereophonic sound.[4] The production design by Bhaskar Raju, with background score, and music by Ilaiyaraaja received positive reviews.[5][6] The film had collected a distributors share of ₹ 7.4 million on its opening weekend.[7][8]

Plot

An orphan Kondaveeti Raja M.A.,L.L.B.,I.A.S. (Chiranjeevi) is raised through the support of people living in the tribal village of Kondaveedu. Upon his return from Hyderabad, he witnesses the failed legal system and the village being engulfed in political corruption, forgery, smuggling, money laundering, drug trafficking, land grabbing and alcohol abuse carried out by the local mafia and landlords (Sarabhoji (Rao Gopal Rao), Narasimham (Mohan Babu) and Khaadra (Amrish Puri)), who impose taxes on farmers. Instead of being in the system and taking the direct route as an administrator himself, he transforms into a Robin Hood for the village and indulges in swashbuckling heists of money and paddy worth several crores from the landlords while being in disguise, much to the frustration of corrupt officials. He funds the tribals into self-sustaining farmers, while providing food, irrigation, healthcare, shelter and education to the poor and transforms the village.

Cast

Soundtrack

The soundtrack composed by Ilaiyaraaja was an instant chart buster. All songs remain popular to date. Except “Chamaku Cham” all songs written by Veturi. The song "Subalekha" was remixed in Naayak (2013) while the song "Chamak Chamak" was remixed in Inttelligent (2018).[10][11][12]

Telugu (original soundtrack)

All music is composed by Ilaiyaraaja

No.TitleLyricsArtist(s)Length
1."Kola Kolamma"VeturiS. P. Balasubrahmanyam, S. Janaki4:24
2."Subhalekha Rasukunna"VeturiS. P. Balasubrahmanyam, K. S. Chitra4:32
3."Chamaku Chamaku"Sirivennela Seetharama SastryS. P. Balasubrahmanyam, K. S. Chitra4:41
4."Tip Top"VeturiS. P. Balasubrahmanyam, S. Janaki4:27
5."Jeevithame"VeturiS. P. Balasubrahmanyam4:06
6."Sri Anjaneyam"VeturiS. P. Balasubrahmanyam, S. Janaki4:29
7."Devi Sambavi"VeturiS. P. Balasubrahmanyam, S. Janaki1:09

Reception

Giddaluri Gopalrao of Zamin Ryot, writing his review on 23 March 1990, gave a positive review for the film. Gopalrao praised the screenplay by Yandamuri and Chiranjeevi's performance.[13]

References

  1. ^ "Indiaglitz". Indiaglitz. Archived from the original on 29 November 2016. Retrieved 29 November 2016.
  2. ^ Connolly, Temple (28 August 2012). "Kondaveeti Donga". Archived from the original on 31 May 2016. Retrieved 29 November 2016.
  3. ^ "Kondaveeti Donga". 12 September 2009. Archived from the original on 5 February 2013. Retrieved 1 March 2013.
  4. ^ Correspondent, Special (10 July 2016). "Chiranjeevi should switch to comedy". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 10 August 2020. Retrieved 29 November 2016.
  5. ^ "Kondaveeti Donga". 9 March 1990. Archived from the original on 25 March 2016. Retrieved 30 June 2018 – via IMDb.
  6. ^ "TollySites - Kondaveeti Donga". Archived from the original on 15 June 2015. Retrieved 11 April 2014.
  7. ^ "nonstopcinema.com". Archived from the original on 11 January 2004.
  8. ^ Staff Reporter (19 December 2015). "A multi-faceted actor". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 29 November 2016. Retrieved 29 November 2016.
  9. ^ "Kondaveeti Donga (1990)". Indiancine.ma. Retrieved 23 May 2023.
  10. ^ "'Kondaveeti Donga' song in Charan's next". Sify. 19 July 2012. Archived from the original on 1 February 2015. Retrieved 20 July 2023.
  11. ^ Kavirayani, Suresh (13 December 2012). "Tollywood stars dance to daddy's tunes". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 18 November 2014. Retrieved 8 September 2023.
  12. ^ "Chamaku Chamaku Cham V2.0 is our way of thanking Chiru garu for entertaining us all these years". Times of India. 9 February 2018. Retrieved 8 September 2023.
  13. ^ Giddaluri, Gopalrao (23 March 1990). "సర్వం తానై నటించిన చిరంజీవి చిత్రం కొండవీటి దొంగ" (PDF). Zamin Ryot (in Telugu). Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 September 2016. Retrieved 11 August 2020.

External links

A. Kodandarami Reddy filmography
Categories