When Ghantasala Krishna-murthy took over the reins of Pratibha Productions midway through the production of the big hit folklore, Rechukka , after the sudden demise of his father Ghantasala Balaramaiah, he was barely 21. Bubbling with enthusiasm to take Telugu cinema to the next level, he had signed Sundaram Balachandar, the multifaceted filmmaker who was making waves in Tamil cinema with his offbeat films. Balachander was already a known name for Telugu audience through AVM Productions, Sangham in which he shared screen space with N.T. Ramarao.
S. Balachander hailed from a family of musicians and was a talented veena player. His tryst with cinema came as a child actor with Seetha kalyanam (Tamil -1934) produced by V. Shantaram’s Prabhath Film company. Interestingly, his father V. Sundaram Iyer, his brother S. Rajam, sisters Jayalakshmi and Saraswati also acted in the movie. Between 1940 and 1960’s, influenced by the neo realism of European and Japanese cinema, Balachander had directed several offbeat films in Tamil besides composing music and acting in some of them. One such movie Andha Naal (1954) a crime mystery, loosely based on Akira Kurosawa’s Roshomon , had Sivaji Ganesan in the lead. It was hailed as a cult classic and won a national award. Andha Naal was also the first Tamil film to be made without songs and fight sequences. Perhaps it was this movie that led Krishnamurthy to sign S. Balachander to direct an offbeat social drama for Pratibha Productions. Continuing with his penchant for crime subjects, S. Balachander came up with one such story set in rural ambience titled, Edi Nijam ? Sunkara Sathyanarayana wrote the dialogues and lyrics.
The Story: In a village surrounded by hills and forest lives Kotaiah and his friend Tirupati. Kotaiah falls in love with Rami whose mother Seethamma works as a maid in the village chieftain Munasabu’s house who has eyes for Rami. With an ulterior motive, he performs Rami’s marriage with Kotaiah. He sends Seethamma on a pilgrimage to make Rami work in his house.
Tirupati thwarts his attempts to molest Rami and the Munasabu spreads rumour that Tirupati and Rami are having an affair. The next day Tirupati is murdered and Kotaiah is implicated.
The local doctor and the temple priest fearing the Munasabu testify against Kotaiah and he is sentenced. Kotaiah escapes from jail to seek the truth behind Tirupati’s murder. The subsequent events reveal the truth and lead to Munasabu’s arrest.
With a flair for realistic portrayals, Balachander deftly handled his actors. He had prepared the audience for a new movie experience right from the opening credits. He was ably supported by cinematographer Prakash who shot most of the film in natural locations. B. Chalam was the art director.
Master Venu composed the hit numbers – Nedu Naa Manasu Uyyalaloogene filmed on Janaki and Guthonkay Kooroyi bava… (Both sung by Jikki) filmed as a marriage reception dance song on E.V. Saroja. Venu’s background score needs special mention.
As the protagonist Kotaiah, Nagabhushanam displayed controlled emotions and it was also his first lead role. In fact, when the producer-director duo were scouting for a suitable actor without image to play the character, ex-Pratibha production chief, T.V.S. (Pratibha) Sastri recommended Nagabhushanam to them. Sastri knew his potential during the making of Pratibha’s Chinnakodalu in which Nagabhushanam played a key role. He also acted in a brief role in Rechukka . Joga Rao acted as Tirupati who rebels against the munasabu, was brilliant. Gummadi as Munasabu showcased one more time how a villain besides being cruel and cunning can also be savvy. Neat portrayals came from Janaki as Rami, Hemalatha (Seethamma), Ramana Reddy (doctor) and Vangara (pujari).
The movie’s production executive Vennelakanti Koteswara Rao and production manager G. Narayana Rao donned the roles of police officers in the climax scene. Jaggaiah and Peketi Sivaram made cameo appearances as a lawyer and a theatre director respectively.
Trivia:Edi Nijam? was the first full length crime film in Telugu. It is largely written that the movie was loosely based on an Italian film, Puzitor . But between 1910 and 1956 no such Italian film was released. Mullapudi Venkata Ramana wrote in his review on Edi Nijam in Andhra Sachitra Vara Patrika that the movie’s central point was based on an Italian film, ‘Fugitive.’
He must have meant the 1951 Italian movie, Fugitive in Trieste in which an Italian air force officer gets implicated in a hospital bombing and his girlfriend proves that he is innocent. Not much relevance either except that the protagonist in Edi Nijam? too gets wrongly implicated in a murder.
Chundi Venkata Nagabhushanam hailed from Kavali and worked in Southern Railway, Nellore and later transferred to Madras where his senior officer Chalapathi Rao (he acted as Krishna’s father in Adurthi’s Tenemanasulu ) kindled interest in him towards acting. Nagabhushanam took up small roles in Rupavathi , Uma Sundari (as Lord Shiva) and other films before making his presence felt first in Palletooru .
Guthonkay… song was written by Basavaraju Apparao and was first rendered and made popular by Banda Kanakalingeswara Rao as a gramophone record.
Edi Nijam? bagged the certificate of merit for the second best feature film in Telugu at the national awards.
Gummadi went to Delhi for the first time as an invitee to attend the awards function.
Edi Nijam? was released on March10, 1956. It was dubbed into Tamil as Edhu Nijam (not to be confused with the 1948 super hit Tamil film Idhu Nijama in which S. Balachander played the lead in a dual role besides writing the story and composing music). Both the versions met with commercial success.
