Chakradhari (1977 film)

The film is based on the story of Gora Kumbhar an advent devotee of Lord Panduranga between 11th to 12th century belongs to Satyapuri village Maharashtra. The film begins, Namadeva a great disciple of Lord Panduranga (Ramakrishna) offering Prasāda to which he does not respond when saint Gynadev (Nagaraju) explains that the Lord may visit some other devotee. At that moment, self-centered Namadeva declares there is no other devotee superior to him. Now the story twists to Gora (Akkineni Nageswara Rao) a potter, leads a happy family life with his ideal wife Lakshmi (Vanisri) and a kid Vittu. Gora is very kindhearted who ameliorates everyone in the village. However, he is not interested in worldly matters and always immersed in the adoration of Lord Panduranga. Once, Namadeva & Gynadeva in their tour halts at Satyapuri where Gora provides hospitality. Here Gynadeva orders Gora to acknowledge the state of knowledge from the disciples when Gora affirms Namadeva as a half-knowledge fellow. Knowing it, Namadeva seeks the Lord to endorse his duty when the Lord states to search a mentor to amend his deficiency and he moves. Meanwhile, an awful incident, Gora while mixing clay get involved with a devotional ecstasy and plods the child under the mud. Due to which, furious Lakshmi takes a vow in the name of Lord that Gora should not touch her. There onwards, Gora works on his own which suffers Lakshmi. So, she performs remarriage to him with her sister Manju (Jayaprada) when Lakshmi's father (Gummadi) takes a promise from Gora to treat both of his wives similarly. Right now, Gora refuses to touch Manju also, but one night, unfortunately, he touches them when dies out to contrition as he committed a great sin. So, he amputates his hands when Panduranga appears in the form of a potter Ranganna and starts serving him. During that time, Namadeva realizes Gora as his mentor, bows his head down and also make known that Ranganna is none other than Panduranga. At last, the Lord completes his test of Gora, restores his hands and gives back his child alive. Finally, it is proclaimed that Gora's name will be immortal as one of the great devotees of Lord Panduranga.

• Akkineni Nageswara Rao as Gora Kumbhar / Gora
• Vanisri as Lakshmi
• Jayaprada as Manju
• Satyanarayana as Namadeva
• Ramakrishna as Lord Panduranga / Ranganna
• Gummadi as Lakshmi's father
• Allu Ramalingaiah as Sangoji
• Rajababu as Devada
• Mukkamala as Saint
• Nagaraju as Gynadeva
• Mada as Basavanna
• Vennira Aadai Nirmala as Rukmini
• Rama Prabha as Tulasamma
• Jaya Malini as item number

• Art: Vaali
• Choreography: Heeralal
• Dialogues: Acharya Aatreya
• Lyrics: C. Narayana Reddy, Acharya Aatreya
• Playback: SP Balu, V. Ramakrishna, P. Susheela, P. B. Sreenivas
• Music: G. K. Venkatesh
• Editing: Kotagiri Gopalakrishna, Kotagiri Venkateswara Rao
• Cinematography: P. S. Selvaraj
• Producer: N. R. Anuradha Devi
• Screenplay - Director: V. Madhusudhan Rao
• Banner: Lakshmi Films Combines
• Release Date: 1977

Music was composed by G. K. Venkatesh who was also the composer of the Kannada version. Four songs were retained from the original Kannada versions whereas another song was based on a Kannada song from Bangaarada Manushya movie composed by the same music director.

The story of Gora Kumbhar has been an inspiration for various movies and has had various versions in Indian film industry.