| Director: | V. Ramachandra Rao |
| Producer: | G. Hanumantha Rao Krishna (presenter) |
| Starring: | Krishna Vijaya Nirmala Jaggayya |
| Music: | P. Adinarayana Rao |
| Studio: | Padmalaya Studios |
| Runtime: | 187 minutes |
| Country: | India |
| Language: | Telugu |
Alluri Seetarama Raju is a 1974 Indian Telugu-language biographical action film directed by V. Ramachandra Rao and written by Tripuraneni Maharadhi. The film stars Krishna, Vijaya Nirmala, and Jaggayya. It is produced by Padmalaya Studios marking the 100th film of Krishna.[1] The film depicts the life of Alluri Sitarama Raju, an Indian revolutionary, who is known for his role in the Rampa Rebellion from 1922 until his capture and killing in 1924. Seetarama Raju, with a band of farmers, tribal leaders and other sympathizers, fought an armed rebellion against the British Raj in response to repressive legislation passed in 1882. This was Krishna's 100th film as an actor and it was the first Telugu film to be made in Cinemascope.[2]
The film won the National Film Award for Best Lyrics for the song "Telugu Veera Levara" penned by the Telugu poet Sri Sri. The film won the Nandi Award for Best Feature Film, and was screened at the International Film Festival of India in the mainstream section, and Tashkent Film Festival. The film ran for 175 days and was the highest-grossing Telugu film of the year.[3]
Source[4]
D. L. Narayana, producer of Devadasu (1953), initially sought to make a film based on Alluri Sitarama Raju featuring Sobhan Babu as the title character. However, as the film failed to take off, Narayana had given the story to Krishna who was willing to produce it thus becoming actor's 100th film as an actor. Incidentally it was Tripuraneni Maharadhi who wrote the script for producer D.L. Narayana too. N. T. Rama Rao also planned to make a film on it but dropped after he felt the subject was too dry and would not work commercially.[5]
According to Maharadhi, the casting was done thorough discussions that involved everyone concerned with the project. S. V. Ranga Rao was originally for the role of Ghantam Dora but he got hospitalised before the film went to sets, he was replaced by Balaiah.
Filming took place around Chintapalle forest and Krishnadevi Peta forest of Andhra Pradesh around 60 days with 15 days being shot in Chennai.[6] Ramachandra Rao passed away after completing one third of the film. The rest of the film was directed by Krishna; K. S. R. Das handled the war and fight scenes. The film's cinematographer V. S. R. Swamy who "managed the whole movie with just two lenses, one for closeups and another for long shots". Since this technique was absolutely untested before, the makers had to import the necessary equipment like Aeriflax & Michell cameras, 45 mm & 70 mm lenses from Kamal Amrohi who used them to can Pakeezah.
Soundtrack was composed by P. Adinarayana Rao.[7] [8]
The film received critical acclaim and became a cult classic of Telugu cinema. The film received a positive review from Andhra Patrika dated 5 May 1974.[9]
The film ran for 200 days.[10] It was the first film to collect a distributor share of .
The film was screened at the Patriotic Film Festival held at Coimbatore in 2017, jointly presented by the Indian Directorate of Film Festivals and Ministry of Defence, commemorating the 70th Indian Independence Day.[12]