Varakatnam
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	N. T. Rama Rao
Story by	N. T. Rama Rao
Produced by	N. Trivikrama Rao
Starring	N. T. Rama Rao Savitri Krishna Kumari
Cinematography	Ravikant Nagaich
Edited by	G. D. Joshi
Music by	T. V. Raju
Production company	Ramakrishna & NAT Combines
Release date	10 January 1969 (1969-01-10)
Running time	176 minutes[1]
Country	India
Language	Telugu

Varakatnam (transl. Dowry) is a 1969 Indian Telugu-language drama film, produced by N. Trivikrama Rao under the banner Ramakrishna & NAT Combines and directed by his older brother N. T. Rama Rao. It stars Rama Rao, Savitri and Krishna Kumari, with music composed by T. V. Raju. The film won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Telugu.

Plot

The film begins with two headmen of neighboring villages, Meesaala Venkaiah & Bhadraiah, conducting wedlock of their progeny, Devasimha & Sujatha. On the eve, sly Achaiah injects into Venkaiah an idea to demand a dowry before the nuptial. Hereupon, Bhadraiah's short-tempered son, Balaramaiah, infuriates and discords. The two drag the pair away before tying the knot. Parallelly, another marriage takes place in the village; peasant Sriramulu knits his daughter Lakshmi with Subbaiah, son of the henpeck Devaiah & shrew Chukkamma. Since Sriramulu cannot pay the dowry, unscrupulous Chukkamma calls off the wedding despite getting married. In that chaos, Sriramulu's son Subbaiah meets with an accident and becomes disabled. Though Chukkamma allows Lakshmi, she detaches the twosome and torments her. Venkaiah sets out another alliance for Devasimha, which he denies and affirms Sujatha as his spouse. Now, he walks & consoles to grief-stricken Sujatha and splices her with the appreciation of his mother, Annapurna. Apart from this, Sriramulu becomes a victim of endless debts and poverty. Yet he strikes hard and raises the funds, but he still faces the mortifications from Chukkamma. Ergo, Subbaiah teaches her a lesson with a play, reunites Lakshmi with her family, and relieves their pain. Devasimha covetously continues his association with Sujatha with the blessing of her sensible sister-in-law, Subhadra. Meanwhile, Balaramaiah settles Sujatha's match with debauchery Mallanna Dora and hosts him. Once, he attempts to molest Sujatha when Devasimha secures her when Balaramaiah enrages and hits Devasimha hard. Sujatha cannot stand for the insult that happened to her husband and jumps into a river. Fortuitously, Venkaiah shields her. At last, both regretful Balaramaiah & Venkaiah transform as per their wife's words and reunite the couple. Finally, the movie ends with a proclamation: One should eradicate the dowry system.

Cast

• N. T. Rama Rao as Deva Simha
• Savitri as Subhadra
• Krishna Kumari as Sujatha
• Nagabhushanam as Meesaala Venkaiah
• Relangi as Devaiah
• Padmanabham as Rangaiah
• Mikkilineni as Bhadraiah
• Rajanala as Mallanna Dora
• Satyanarayana as Balaramaiah
• M. Prabhakar Reddy as Subbaiah
• Allu Ramalingaiah as Achaiah
• Raavi Kondala Rao as Bhattu Murthy
• Perumallu as Sriramulu
• Suryakantham as Chukkamma
• Chandrakala as Lakshmi
• Hemalatha as Annapurna
• Brindavan Chowdary as Rama

Production

Development

With an urge to play offbeat characters, N. T. Rama Rao converted his theatre troupe, National Art Theatre, into a film production company with his younger brother, N. Trivikrama Rao, as the producer and made Pichi Pullayya (1953), in which Rama Rao played a "have-not". He followed it with another film dealing with an unconventional subject, Todu Dongalu (1954). However, Rama Rao's intentions were not fruitful, forcing him to revert to the folklore genre with Jayasimha (1955) for commercial success. Subsequently, he made many successful films in the same genre. But his desire to make films dealing with contemporary issues remained. He then wrote a story based on dowry as a menace and himself directed the film, titled Varakatnam produced under his home banner, Ramakrishna & NAT Combines. Maddipatla Suri and Samudrala Ramanujacharya were hired to write the dialogues. Ravikant Nagaich was hired as cinematographer, and G. D. Doshi as editor.^[2]

Casting

Rama Rao, in addition to directing and writing the story, played the male lead Devasimha, while Krishna Kumari played the female lead Sujatha. The supporting cast of the main plot includes Nagabhushanam as Devasimha's father "Meesaala" Venkaiah, Savitri as Sujatha's sister-in-law Subhadra, Kaikala Satyanarayana as the short-tempered Balaramaiah and Mikkilineni as Balaramaiah's father Bhadraiah. The parallel plot features Suryakantham as the "sharp-tongued" Chukkamma, Relangi as her meek husband Devaiah, Padmanabham as their son Rangaiah and Chandrakala as the couple's daughter-in-law Lakshmi. Additionally, Rajanala Kaleswara Rao appears as Mallu Dora, a prospective bridegroom and Raavi Kondala Rao appears as Bhattumurthy, his assistant.^[2]

Filming

During Krishna Kumari's first day at shooting, a scene required her character Sujatha to cry before her mother's photo. Rama Rao narrated to her how Sujatha should act in the scene, before it and after. According to Krishna Kumari, Rama Rao "used to say that artistes should always be in the right mood while performing". He cancelled a day's shoot after finding Krishna Kumari out of mood. Varakatnam was the first instance that Rama Rao had gone to Tadepalligudem and Tanuku for location shooting. Several of his fans gathered up at the location to witness the shoot, and when the number increased, policemen had to interfere to control them. Amidst all this, Nagaich was tasked with shooting the film without showing anyone from the crowd of fans, and managed it successfully.^[2]

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by T. V. Raju.^[3] Songs like "Yenduki Tondara", "Maradala Maradala Tammuni Pellama" and "Yevaru Chesina Karma" attained popularity.^[2]

Release and reception

Varakatnam was released on 10 January 1969.^[4] The film won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Telugu at the 16th National Film Awards, which felicitated films released in 1968.^[5]