Kondaveeti Donga

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Kondaveeti Donga (transl. “The Thief of Kondaveedu”) is a 1990 Telugu vigilante action drama directed by A. Kodandarami Reddy, starring Chiranjeevi, Vijayashanti and Radha, with music by Ilaiyaraaja. It was notable for being presented in 70 mm with six-track stereophonic sound, a rarity at the time, and it received positive reviews and became a blockbuster. It was later dubbed into Tamil as Thangamalai Thirudan and into Malayalam as Kodanadu Kallan. Our record lists a running time of 151 minutes.

Release date

Our record gives the release date as 9 March 1990. The film’s Wikipedia article says 9 April 1990, but it also cites a Zamin Ryot review dated 23 March 1990, which fits the March date.

What the story is about

Kondaveeti Raja is an orphan raised by the people of Kondaveedu, a tribal village, who with their support earns an M.A., an LL.B. and a place in the IAS. When he returns from Hyderabad, he finds the village crushed by corruption and exploitation: the local mafia and landlords Sarabhoji, Narasimham and Khaadra oppress the villagers through forgery, smuggling, land grabbing and crippling taxes on farmers. Losing faith in the legal system, Raja becomes a masked, Robin Hood-like outlaw, robbing the landlords of money and paddy and using it to fund irrigation, healthcare and education for the village, while an undercover police officer is sent to catch the thief.

Cast

• Chiranjeevi as Kondaveeti Raja, the Kondaveeti Donga
• Vijayashanti as Sri Lekha, an undercover police officer
• Radha as Sri Kanya, a doctor serving in Kondaveedu
• Rao Gopal Rao as Sarabhoji, a corrupt landlord
• Mohan Babu as Narasimham, a corrupt landlord
• Amrish Puri as Khaadra and Yugandhar
• Sarada as Sambhavi
• Kaikala Satyanarayana as Das
• Nagendra Babu as Seetababu
• Srividya as Justice Sandya
• Brahmanandam, Allu Rama Lingaiah and Nirmalamma

Music

Ilaiyaraaja’s soundtrack was an instant chartbuster and its songs remain popular. Veturi wrote all the lyrics except “Chamaku Cham”. “Subalekha” was later remixed in Naayak (2013) and “Chamak Chamak” in Inttelligent (2018).

Reception and box office

Giddaluri Gopalrao of Zamin Ryot gave the film a positive review on 23 March 1990, praising Yandamuri’s screenplay and Chiranjeevi’s performance. Wikipedia, citing the now-defunct box-office site nonstopcinema.com, says it earned a distributors’ share of ₹74 lakh in its opening weekend; the 70 mm presentation is also noted by the business paper Mint.

Where to watch Kondaveeti Donga

We do not have a confirmed streaming platform for Kondaveeti Donga on file. The OTT details on this page will be updated when a platform’s own listing confirms it.

Sources: the Wikipedia article on Kondaveeti Donga and the reviews and reports it cites; our own cast and crew records.