Annamayya

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Annamayya is a 1997 Telugu devotional biopic directed by K. Raghavendra Rao and produced by V. Doraswamy Raju under the VMC Productions banner. Nagarjuna plays the 15th-century composer Annamacharya, with Mohan Babu, Suman, Ramya Krishna, Bhanupriya, Roja and Kasthuri, and M. M. Keeravani composed the music. It was released on 22 May 1997, runs 147 minutes, and was shown in the Indian Panorama mainstream section of the 29th International Film Festival of India.

What the story is about

The film frames Annamayya’s birth as divine: Lakshmi complains to Vishnu that too few people sing the Lord’s praises, so Vishnu sends his sword Nandaka to be born as a son to a childless couple, Narayana Suri and Lakkamba, in the village of Tallapaka. Annamayya grows up an ordinary young man who thinks his two cousins, Timmakka and Akkalamma, are the most beautiful beings in creation, until Vishnu, in disguise, takes up his challenge to show him something more beautiful and leads him to the image of Lord Venkateswara. Captivated, Annamayya sets off on foot for the Tirumala temple without telling his parents, and settles there to compose and sing hymns to the Lord. The film follows his life of devotion, including his clash with the ruler Saluva Narasimha.

Cast and crew

• Nagarjuna as Annamayya
• Suman as Lord Venkateswara (voice dubbed by S. P. Balasubrahmanyam)
• Mohan Babu as Saluva Narasimha Rayalu and Roja as his queen
• Ramya Krishna as Timmakka and Kasthuri as Akkalamma
• Bhanupriya as Goddess Padmavati
• M. Balayya as Narayana Suri
• AVS as Narada, Tanikella Bharani, Kota Srinivasa Rao, Brahmanandam, Babu Mohan and Gundu Hanumantha Rao

Director: K. Raghavendra Rao. Producer: V. Doraswamy Raju. Music: M. M. Keeravani. Cinematography: A. Vincent.

Music

The soundtrack, mostly sung by S. P. Balasubrahmanyam and Chitra, brought many of Annamacharya’s compositions back into popular memory. It came out on T-Series in two cassette volumes in January 1997, and Wikipedia calls it the best-selling Telugu film album to date, citing an Idlebrain piece with Keeravani.

Box office and awards

Annamayya was a blockbuster, running 100 days in 42 centres according to Idlebrain’s Nagarjuna biodata, and Rediff reported it was a big hit in Chennai and Bangalore too. It won two National Film Awards, for Keeravani’s music and a Special Mention for Nagarjuna; three Filmfare Awards South, for best Telugu film, director and actor; and eight Nandi Awards, including the gold for Best Feature Film. It was dubbed into Tamil and Malayalam as Annamacharya and into Hindi as Tirupathi Sri Balaji.

Where to watch Annamayya

We do not have a confirmed streaming listing for Annamayya on file. If we verify one with a platform, it will appear on this page.

Sources: the Wikipedia article on Annamayya and the reports it cites, linked above; our own cast and crew records.