Malapilla (1938)

The son of a priest falls in love with a Harijan girl and elopes with her. The film was a social drama that deals with untouchability prevalent in pre-independent India.

Director:

Gudavalli Ramabrahmam

Writers:

Unnava Lakshminarayana, Dharma Rao Tapi (dialogue)

Stars:

Govindrajulu Subba Rao, Kanchanamala, Suri Babu P.

Cast

Cast overview:
Govindrajulu Subba Rao	...	Sundara Rama Sastry
Kanchanamala	...	Malapilla
Suri Babu P.	...	Nagaraju
Sundaramma
Venkatasubbaiah
Puvvula Ansuya
Teku Ansuya
Ganga Ratnam P.
Hemalathamma Rao
P. Laxmikantamma
Raghavan M.C.
Vangara

Storyline

The brahmins of a village lead by the priest, Sundara Rama Shastri, fight for caste system while some people try to end it. The educated son of the priest, a photographer, Nagaraju falls in love with a harijan girl, Shampalatha, who is an untouchable. He elopes with her to Calcutta and educates her while the villagers still remain same. Shastri's perspective changes after his wife is rescued from a fire accident by the untouchables. Shastri finally agrees to the marriage of Nagaraju and Shampalatha, thus putting an end to the untouchability in their village.

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Plot Keywords:

revolutionary | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

India

Language:

Telugu

Also Known As:

The Outcast Girl

Box Office

Budget:

INR 110,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Sri Sarathi Studios

Technical Specs

Runtime:

175 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

User Reviews

One of all time classics of Telugu cinema

One of timeless classics of Telugu cinema. Based on caste problem(like Harijans were not allowed in temples by so called upper castes,etc),the movie covers comprehensively all the major problems with both so called upper caste and so called lower caste. Nagaraju the Gandhian(follower of Mahatma Gandhi) unites people of both castes in a peaceful way.Character of Nagaraju is used to tell the main message of the story, that all are equal and how people over the period of time misunderstood Vedas and Upanishads. Suri Babu(Nagaraju) is known for his great rendition of padyalu(Telugu poems) and he is the main highlight of the movie.

The best thing about the story is , while giving a message that people belonging to so called lower castes have equal rights in the society it also shows the issues among Harijans(so called lowercaste) like alcoholism and killing animals in name of god(also called bali). A must watch for all Telugus for sure.