Palnati Yuddham (1966 film)

Palnadu's Chief Minister Brahmanaidu (N. T. Rama Rao) and his wife Ithamba (Anjali Devi) are blessed with a baby boy after many years. They name the child Balachandra and on the naming ceremony the entire capital city Gurajala was filled with joy. King Nalagamaraju (Gummadi) himself visited along with his brother Narasimharaju (Rajanala) and their stepmother Vidhyala Devi (Hemalatha). But unfortunately, according to the child's horoscope, the astrologers predict that he would create a huge destruction of war in Palnadu. So, Brahmanaidu orders his henchmen to kill the child, but the child was protected by Brahmanaidu's brother-in-law Kannamma Naidu (Mikkilineni), who secretly raised him up.

At the same time, Palnadu saw flash floods. Progressive-minded Brahmanaidu allows Scheduled Caste people Harijans entry into temples and appoints a Harijan, Kannama Dasu (Prabhakar Reddy) as his commander & chief. This irks the upper caste people's head Gopamantri (K. V. S. Sarma), so he decides to take revenge against Brahmanaidu, for which he uses a powerful woman, Nayakuralu Nagamma (Bhanumathi Ramakrishna). Nagamma has an edict that she can rule the kingdom for 3 days, which was given by king Anuguraju. Using the edict, Nagamma creates a lot of destruction within the kingdom and also corrupts King Nalagamaraju's mind, due to which Brahmanaidu has to leave his position.

On hearing this, Raja Maata Vidyaladevi also decides to leave the kingdom, she asks Nalagamaraju to divide the kingdom and give the share to his son Malidevadulu (M. Balaiah). So, Macharla has been given to Malideva. Malideva & Vidhyala Devi along with her brother Kommaraju (Mukkamala) leave to Macharla. Years roll by, under Brahmanaidu's guidance, Macharla develops as another progressive capital which hurts Nagamma. Here she plans to grab the Macharla kingdom by creating a conspiracy. She performs Nalagamaraju's daughter Peerindevi's (Vasanthi) marriage with Kommaraju's son Alaraju (Kanta Rao). Next day after the marriage ceremony, Nagamma incites Malideva for a rooster fight (Kodi Pandalu) on the condition that whoever loses the gamble must leave the kingdom and live incognito for seven years. Nagamma cheats to win and Malideva has to leave his kingdom.

Meanwhile, Brahmanaidu comes to know that his son Balachandra (Harinath) is alive and he again tries to kill him. But on request of his wife and brother-in-law, he calms down and accepts Balachandra as his son. Concurrently, Balachandra's marriage is performed with Kanamma Naidu's daughter Maguva Manchala (Jamuna). Time passes, after the exile of 7 years, Brahmanaidu sends Alaraju as a mediator for negotiations to give back their kingdom to Malideva. Using Narasimharaju as a weapon, Nagamma kills Alaraju by poisoning, Peerindevi also makes Sathi with him, before dying she takes a word from Balachandra to kill Narasimharaju. Brahmanaidu sends another person to negotiate with the condition that to give back the kingdom with Narasimharaju's head. But the negotiations fail and the battle begins at Karampuudi, except Brahmanaidu, Nagamma, Nalagamaraju, and Kanamma Dasu, everyone dies in the war. In the end, Nagamma also realizes her mistake and bows her head down before Brahmanaidu. Finally, Brahmanaidu hands over the kingdom to Nalagamaraju, making Nagamma as chief minister and Kanamma Dasu as chief commander and leaves to the forest for penance.

• N. T. Rama Rao as Palnati Brahmanaidu
• Bhanumathi as Nayakuralu Nagamma
• Kanta Rao as Alaraju
• Haranath as Balachandrudu
• Gummadi as Nalagaama Raju
• Rajanala as Narasimha Raju
• M. Balaiah as Malidevadulu
• Mikkilineni as Kannama Naidu
• Mukkamala as Kommaraju
• K. V. S. Sarma as Gopa Mantri
• Prabhakar Reddy as Kannama Dasu
• Tyagaraju as Veerabhadrudu
• Anjali Devi as Ithamba
• Jamuna as Maguva Manchala
• Hemalatha as Vidyala Devi
• Chayadevi as Rekhanba
• L. Vijayalakshmi as Subbai
• Vasanthi as Peerindevi

Music composed by Saluri Rajeswara Rao. Music released by Audio Company.

• The film won National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Telugu - certificate of merit in 1967 Also Bhanumathi Ramakrishna got Rashtrapati Award for her role.

• Palnati Yuddham (1947 film)