Rajendra Prasad, a name we all admire today in Telugu films and a person that entertained us for years with his films one after the other. His journey in the industry started in 1977 and as an actor he is about to complete 40 years. During his struggling days, Rajendrudu used his voice talent to survive and acted in small supporting roles. As he was settling with his fate, director Vamsy, of Manchu Pallaki and Sitara, changed it by making him a hero of his film for Usha Kiran, Preminchu Pelladu. But the film flopped at the box office and the duo, mainly Rajendra Prasad was in a dilemma if his career can go forward?
Director Vamsy, was more worried about why the film did not work and he decoded the answer to be heavy melodrama dominating the comic tone of the film in the climax and he thought of making a complete comic capper in low budget with the hero again. He was successful, in convincing a new producer, Sravanthi RaviKishore to fund his idea and there the revolutionary comedy film, Ladies Tailor started rolling. The film created a sensation upon release and it is still remembered for its adult yet homely humour and for a protagonist who is so weak that he resembled the next door youngster.
A common man who fears a don, a lazy man who wants luck to do all work, a talented tailor yet not so good stitching lies, Sundaram became an iconic character and a new middle class hero was born with the release of the film. The comedy genre in Telugu films is no alien and in fact the great films and several classics were indeed comic cappers from start to end. But in a generation of angry young men ruling the roost, youth were finding their idols in the heroes who fought the system while middle class settled people were trying to find their representative. Akkineni Nageswara Rao and Sobhan Babu were doing those films with mix of action but they became too old by 1986.
The void of this middle class relatable hero was filled by this young, very lean figure of a hero. Rajendra Prasad took comedy as the serious hero in his films and it reached to a level that even big stars had to rely on comedy to make their films hits. After 96, he might have lost his mojo has a hero but actor Rajendra Prasad is still in great form. So what is the greatness of this borderline sex comedy, that people rave about even today?
Major plus for the movie is the deft and different handling of the story by Vamsy. Then comes the music and BG Score of maestro Ilaiyaraja. The major contributor was dialogues by Tanikella Bharani. He steered the film very expertly with adequate punchlines and never let the momentum fall. And when there were places he could have easily crossed the line, he just played with the line and let audience, even women enjoy the proceedings without any vulgarity. The crass and village humour in the movie just made it something special for audience and took Vamsy brand comedy to new heights.
Vamsy remembering the days they shot the movie expressed his gratitude towards the team and appreciated the efforts of Tanikella Bharani in particular for acting in a cameo as well. The movie shooting took place in Rajolu, Godavari District mainly and completed in 29 days. Sravanthi movies, spent a budget of 26 lakhs for the film which was a huge risk those days. The film ran for a year and Sravanthi is still making movies. For the movie, they brought a Crane that was lying in junk to life and the visuals were stunning.
The characters of Rallapalli with Pakkana Nenu, Mallikarjun Rao as Battala Satti, became so famous that Mallikarjuna Rao’s career was moulded after the role and name. The movie gave a break to writer as well as actor Bharani too. To complete the movie on schedule the team had to work day and night in the month of May under extreme heat. Still the movie panned out really well and it is a classic that one should watch and might watch even after years!
