1963 Amaravati, India
Narasimha Rao Kuntamukkala
1947
Amaravati India
Interviewed on February 06, 2025
by Sreenivas Kuntamukkala
SK: Hello Tattaya. Thank you for being willing to sit for this interview with me. What is the first movie you remember seeing in the theater?
NR: Bandipotu. It had NTR and Krishna Kumari. It released in 1963.
SK: Oh its an NTR movie? Nice! Do you remember how old you were when you watched it?
NR: 18 years
SK: And what are the main things you remembered about Bandipotu, in terms of plot, story, characters?
NR: Oh yes I remember it really well! A bandipotu is a bandit. In the story, there are two brothers. There was once this kingdom where the King Sathya Sena had a paralyzed leg. His evil brother-in-law Soora Simha takes control over the kingdom and rules with an iron fist over the people, with plans to marry Krishna Kumari’s character Princess Mala and eventually take the throne. A man named Narasimha takes the place of his uncle Veera Nayaka as a masked bandit and rebels against the King by stealing riches from the royal and wealthy and giving to the needy and poor. Soora Simha tries to get the King to execute Narasimha.
After a long series of events, the bandipotu wins over evil, and the cruel Soora Simha is vanquished and King Sathya Sena gives both the crown and the Princess Mala upon the honorable Narasimha. And the film is a reflection of the importance of helping the needy, that its good to help people and you can become very well-respected in a town by helping others. I love this movie.
SK: Did the film deliver that message effectively?
NR: Of course, that’s why we liked it so much. It’s really important to help others. And I love NTR, he is my favorite actor. He plays a great bandipotu character. He is so many people’s favorite actor, including your dad’s.
SK: Who did you go with to see it?
NR: We watched the movie over 15 times. I used to go with three of my buddies. During the day, we’d plow the fields and do hard work. And in the night around 10 PM, we’d cross the Krishna River from our village and go all the way to Amaravati to see it. The trip took about 45 minutes each way. We didn’t mind having to come home so late in the morning, waking up early the next morning, working all day, and then going again. Nobody had televisions at home those days, this is what you had to do to see moving pictures.
SK: That’s a pretty long journey each way, that must have been exhausting.
NR: It was, but we loved the movie so much, we didn’t mind. We went over 15, maybe 20 times to see it. It was a superhit in Andhra Pradesh. In those days, it was just what you had to do. Audiences would cheer very loudly at the end.
SK: Do you remember the theater’s name?
NR: Yes, it was the Venkateswara Theater.
SK: Did they sell concessions at the theater?
NR: We used to drink soda. Lots of soda.
SK: What kind of soda?
NR: I dunno, it was just called soda. Probably a club soda of some kind. If you were rich, you could buy peanuts. But that wasn’t us! Tickets cost 25 paise [there are 100 paise to a rupee], which was high enough.
SK: Why has this movie stuck with you after all these years? What made it special that set it apart from others?
NR: This was the top movie, it was a super hit cinema. One of the great Telugu actors plays the heroine, Krishna Kumari. And I love NTR. The movie is so good because it makes the layman into a good hardworking honorable man, and he helps the other poor people from the rich and greedy. What is there that’s better than that? There was a lot of interest to this story, even in America there was! There’s a lot to this movie, I still watch it even now.
SK: That sounds awesome, Tatayya.
NR: Make sure you watch it, because I’m asking.
SK: Will do! Thanks for your time and for sitting with me.
This interview was conducted in Telugu with my paternal grandfather, who has lived in rural South India for most of his life as a farmer. The film he discusses is clearly Tollywood taking inspiration from the Western story of Robin Hood, and it makes sense that a film which champions helping the needy would speak to audiences in a part of India that was still largely agrarian and underdeveloped. I appreciated the opportunity to have this discussion with him. He was incredibly animated in giving his responses and it was clear he was really happy to share something that is really special to him. Translations to English were completed by the interviewer.
