Bangaru Bullodu

Bangaru Bullodu (“The Gold Bull”) is a 1993 Telugu action drama directed by Ravi Raja Pinisetty and produced by V. B. Rajendra Prasad under the Jagapathi Art Pictures banner. Nandamuri Balakrishna stars with Ramya Krishna and Raveena Tandon, in her Telugu debut, with music by Raj–Koti. It was released on 3 September 1993, the same day as another Balakrishna film, Nippu Ravva, and was a box-office hit.

What the story is about

The film opens with a terrorist, Nana, taking a group of schoolchildren hostage to free his brother; DIG Banerjee rescues the children, the brother dies in the fight, and Nana swears to wipe out Banerjee’s whole family. The story then moves to Pudipalli, a village on the Godavari, where Balayya lives with his mother and squabbles with his uncle Ramadasu, whose daughter Rani is determined to marry him. When a city girl, Priya, arrives with her companion Tulasamma, claiming to be a relative, Rani and Priya turn Balayya’s affections into a contest, with consequences neither expects. Priya, it turns out, is not quite who she says she is, and her past is about to catch up with the village.

Cast and crew

• Nandamuri Balakrishna as Balakrishna “Balayya”
• Ramya Krishna as Rani
• Raveena Tandon as Priya
• Rao Gopal Rao as Ramadasu
• Srividya as Tulasamma
• Annapurna as Annapurnamma, Balayya’s mother
• Devaraj as Nana and Sharat Saxena as Commissioner Srikanth
• Allu Ramalingaiah as Kannappa, Babu Mohan as Paatha Dasu and Brahmanandam as a prisoner

Director: Ravi Raja Pinisetty. Producer: V. B. Rajendra Prasad (Jagapathi Art Pictures). Music: Raj–Koti, released on Lahari Music. Runtime: 143 minutes.

Making the film and music

The village scenes were shot at Poodipalli near Devipatnam. For the soundtrack, Raj–Koti reused a tune from the Kannada film Rayaru Bandaru Mavana Manege for “Manasu Agadu”, and the song “Swatilo Muthyamantha” was later recreated for a 2021 film of the same name.

Box office

Despite opening against Nippu Ravva, Bangaru Bullodu did well, as director Ravi Raja Pinisetty recalled in a 2010 interview with Telugucinema.com; CineJosh‘s survey of Balakrishna’s career counts it among his hits. It was later dubbed into Hindi as Ek Anari Do Khiladi, released on 26 April 1996, and into Tamil as Thanga Pandi.

Where to watch Bangaru Bullodu

We do not have a confirmed streaming listing for the 1993 Bangaru Bullodu on file. If we verify one with a platform, it will appear on this page.

Sources: the Wikipedia article on Bangaru Bullodu (1993 film) and the reports it cites, linked above; our own cast and crew records.