Choodalani Vundi (transl. I'd like to see) is a 1998 Indian Telugu-language action thriller film co-written and directed by Gunasekhar, and produced by C. Aswani Dutt under Vyjayanthi Movies. This film stars Chiranjeevi, Soundarya, Anjala Zaveri and Prakash Raj. The film has music composed by Mani Sharma with cinematography by Chota K. Naidu.[1]
| Choodalani Vundi | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical poster | |
| Directed by | Gunasekhar |
| Written by | Story & Screenplay: Gunasekhar Dialogues: Diwakar Babu |
| Produced by | Ashwini Dutt |
| Starring | Chiranjeevi Soundarya Anjala Zaveri Prakash Raj |
| Cinematography | Chota K. Naidu |
| Edited by | Kotagiri Venkateswara Rao |
| Music by | Mani Sharma |
Production company | |
Release date |
|
Running time | 148 minutes |
| Country | India |
| Language | Telugu |
Released on 27 August 1998, the film was a blockbuster at the box office and became the highest grossing Telugu film of 1998.[2][3] The film was featured in the Indian Panorama mainstream section at the 30th International Film Festival of India.[4] It received two South Filmfare Awards and three state Nandi Awards. In 2003, it was remade into Hindi as Calcutta Mail.[5]
Plot
editRamakrishna (Chiranjeevi) is a mechanic in Vijayawada whose life changes when he meets Priya (Anjala Zaveri) at a train station. She sees him and feels some inexplicable connection, and then runs away with him to flee her father Mahendra's (Prakash Raj) gangsters. They end up living in the forest with their son, but Mahendra, who is an underworld don, kidnaps her so that he can marry her off to another don's son. Ramakrishna confronts Mahendra, and in the ensuing struggle, Priya takes the bullet shot at Ramakrishna and dies. Their son loses his voice because of the shock, and Ramakrishna is imprisoned because the police have been corrupted by Mahendra, who is running a mafia state. Mahendra kidnaps the boy and takes him to Kolkata, where the story started. Ramakrishna, with the help of Padmavathi (Soundarya), whom he falls in love with, reunites with his son, and kills Mahendra.
Cast
edit- Chiranjeevi as Ramakrishna
- Soundarya as Padmavathi
- Anjala Zaveri as Priya
- Prakash Raj as Mahendra
- Brahmanandam as House Owner
- Dhulipala as Mahendra's father
- Brahmaji as Surya, Mahendra's assistant
- Venu Madhav
- Sajja Teja as Ramakrishna's son[6]
- Monica Bedi (special appearance in the song "Raamma Chilakamma")
Soundtrack
editThe soundtrack and score were composed by Mani Sharma. The film's single, Yamaha Nagari written by Veturi with the vocals of Hariharan, is a rendition of Patnam Subramania Iyer's carnatic music composition Raghuvamsa Sudha. The song depicts the culture and beauty of the city of Kolkata.[7][8]
| Choodalani Vundi | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by | ||||
| Released | 1998 | |||
| Recorded | 1998 | |||
| Genre | Soundtrack | |||
| Length | 31:59 | |||
| Label | Aditya Music | |||
| Producer | Mani Sharma | |||
| Mani Sharma chronology | ||||
| ||||
| No. | Title | Lyrics | Singer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Yamaha Nagari" | Veturi | Hariharan | 6:43 |
| 2. | "Ramma Chilakammma" | Veturi | Udit Narayan, Swarnalatha | 4:47 |
| 3. | "Oh Mariya" | Chandrabose | Shankar Mahadevan, Kavitha Krishnamurthy | 5:52 |
| 4. | "Simbale Simbale" | Veturi | S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, Chithra | 4:37 |
| 5. | "Manasa Ekkadunnav" | Veturi | S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, Chithra | 5:02 |
| 6. | "Abbaba Iddu" | Veturi | S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, Sujatha | 4:58 |
| Total length: | 31:59 | |||
| No. | Title | Singer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Namathu Nagaram" | Unni Krishnan | 6:43 |
| 2. | "Vamma Muniyamma" | Mano, Swarnalatha | 4:47 |
| 3. | "Oh Mariyaa" | Mano, Anuradha Sriram | 5:52 |
| 4. | "Kanniley kanniley" | Krishnaraj, Chithra | 4:37 |
| 5. | "Uthathu than" | S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, Chithra | 5:02 |
| 6. | "Appappa satham" | Unni Krishnan, S.P. Sailaja | 4:58 |
| Total length: | 31:59 | ||
Reception
editGiddaluri Gopalrao of Zamin Ryot gave a positive review for the film. He praised Chiranjeevi for picking up a new theme and Gunasekhar for executing it.[9] Christopher Domingo of Full Hyderabad opined that "Choodalani Vundi is an entertaining masala movie that is worth watching".[10][11]
The film became a commercial success and had a theatrical run of 100 days.[8] The film was dubbed into Tamil language under the title Calcutta and twice in Hindi as Meri Zindagi Ek Agneepath in 2005 and 2018.
Awards
edit- Filmfare Award for Best Music Director – Telugu – Mani Sharma[12]
- Filmfare Award for Best Art Director – South – Thota Tharani[12]
- Best Music Director – Mani Sharma[13]
- Best Audiographer – Madhu Sudhan[13]
- Best Choreographer – Saroj Khan[13]
References
edit- ^ "Choodalani Vundi Movie: Showtimes, Review, Trailer, Posters, News & Videos | eTimes", The Times of India, archived from the original on 14 September 2019, retrieved 11 August 2020
- ^ "Rediff On The NeT, Movies: Gossip from the southern film industry". Rediff.com. 30 September 1999. Retrieved 12 September 2022.
Then Chiranjeevi did Choodalani Vundi with her, which turned out to be last year's biggest hit.
- ^ "Chiranjeevi starrer Choodalani Vundi clocks 22 years; Take a look at some working stills". The Times of India. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
- ^ Devipriya (January 1999). "30th IFFI" (PDF). 30th International Film Festival of India '99. Directorate of Film Festivals. p. 150. Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 January 2013. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
- ^ "'Anil, Rani are not stars. They're good actors'". Rediff. Archived from the original on 9 June 2021. Retrieved 8 September 2020.
- ^ "Teja Sajja reveals a secret about Megastar Chiranjeevi's Indra". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 10 October 2020. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
- ^ "పరహింస పరాయణ చంద్రశ్రీ". Sakshi (in Telugu). 23 April 2017. Archived from the original on 2 June 2017. Retrieved 8 September 2020.
- ^ a b "మెగాస్టార్ చిరంజీవి సూపర్ హిట్ చిత్రం 'చూడాలని వుంది' విడుదలైన 22 ఏళ్లు." News18 Telugu. 27 August 2020. Archived from the original on 21 April 2022. Retrieved 8 September 2020.
- ^ "చూడాలని వుంది: చూడొచ్చండి" (PDF). Zamin Ryot (in Telugu). Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 November 2021. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
- ^ "Choodalani Vundi review: Choodalani Vundi (Telugu) Movie Review - fullhyd.com".
- ^ "Reviews". Archived from the original on 4 February 1999.
- ^ a b "Choodalani Vundi Awards: List of Awards won by Telugu movie Choodalani Vundi". The Times of India. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
- ^ a b c "Nandi Film Awards G.O and Results 1998". APFTVTDC. Archived from the original on 4 March 2021. Retrieved 11 August 2020.