Mr. Pellam movie review

Mr. Pellam (translates to Mr. Wife) is a 1993 Telugu film directed by the legendary director [and a brilliant cartoonist] Bapu. Cast includes the likes of Rajendra Prasad, Aamani, AVS, Tanikella Bharani, Dharmavarapu.

Balaji (Rajendra Prasad) is a bank employee married to housewife Jhansi (for political correctness: is it called homemaker now?) with 2 lovely kids. Balaji is the stereotyped male figure of the early 90s who has the stereotyped male ego and thinks that the job of a wife is to take care of household chores while the men (like him) earn daily bread. He gets promoted to bank head cashier and as per the rules, gets one key for the bank vault with the other key present with bank manager (Tanikella Bharani). He celebrates it by buying a television set (the first in the colony!) but due to the treacherous and cunning plan by Bharani along with another bank employee as his aid, Balaji is found accountable to a 1 lakh loss to the bank. He gets suspended from the bank on the day of promotion itself but to his surprise, he doesn't get recruited into any other job from next day as he has a negative record. Jhanshi (Aamani) convinces Balaji that she'd use her B.Com qualification to get work in Annapurna Foods company, whose Managing Director is her friend from the 12^th grade. She goes to meet Gopal Krishna (AVS), her friend in the office. After using her wit/charm/brains in tackling a business issue in the board meeting (at which she is coincidentally present), Jhansi gets the job as vice president for Sales division with a pay of 10 grand a month. She tells her husband that she secured a job with 3 grand monthly pay [as that was the salary Balaji was earning before he got suspended] – you know, to not provoke his ire.

Meanwhile, Balaji challenges Jhansi that he can take care of the house as he considers it a very easy job [women need to work only from 6 am to 9 am compared to how hard it is for men like him to work from 9 am to 5 pm]. Quite obviously to us viewers, he struggles at home. He cannot make his kids get ready to school, cannot cook at home and cannot manage even simple chores. He hates Jhansi working in office while he sits at home, but his hands are tied. A few fights ensure between the couple over the same issues and finally after Krishnashtami celebration events at Gopal’s house, Balaji loses his rag. He accuses Jhansi that she wanted her husband to feel bad about himself which is why she took him to Gopal’s house to show him how wealthy and happy Gopal is. Jhansi gets a 20 grand bonus in office for massive increase in sales and her savings amount to 85 grand. She borrows 15K from Gopal and gives 1 lakh to Balaji asking him to submit it in the bank which makes Balaji angrier than a Hulk. He cannot believe that even his wife would think that her husband stole the money and leaves the house. He calls Bharani from a payphone and tells him that he cracked the vile plan of theirs. Meanwhile, Aamani takes the help of her friend Gopal and calls the bank chairman to tell him about the false case. Everything falls in line at the end and the couple patch up their differences.

I remember watching this movie on tv as a kid [cant remember whether it’s Doordarshan or the early years of ETV] and absolutely loving it. Rajendra Prasad [who was later conferred a doctorate and given the title Natakireeti] was the king of family entertainers in late 80s and early 90s. Aamani portrays the role of a Bapu Bomma perfectly. Unlike the present movies, the comedy is not included in separate tracks but flows along with the movie. It won the Andhra government’s annual Nandi award while also winning the national award for best Telugu feature film. All the songs are brilliant [especially the lyrics] – mom’s out and dad’s home. This is a new kingdom now!

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Couple of dialogues I absolutely love - 

1.

Balaji: "aa nanda gopal.."

Jhansi: "gopala krishna"

..

Balaji: "aa venu gopal"

Jhansi: "gopala krishna"

..

Balaji: "aa hara gopal"

Jhansi: "gopala krishna"

…

2.

At the Krishnashtami celebrations

Gopal: "Krishnashtami means.."

Balaji: “Hear hear!!"

Gopal: "Krishnashtami means.."

Balaji: "Tell us sir! Tell us tell us. Please tell us.."

Gopal: "Krishnashtami means.."

Balaji: “Shut up! Didn't I ask you to shut up?” "Not you sir. Please continue.."

Gopal: "Krishnashtami means, Lord Krishna’s birthday" "Phew!"

There is probably a Balaji still present in most of the guys now, but Bapu doesn't show him as an evil character. There is ego, there is suspicion but also there's charm, there's fun. I generally reveal the ending in almost all my reviews as my subjects are mostly family entertainers and quite obvious with their climax scenes. A recommended movie for those who can understand Telugu.