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Megha Sandesam

aka The Cloud Messenger 1982 151’ col/scope Telugu d/p/s Dasari Narayana Rao pc Taraka Prabhu Films lyr Jayadeva, Devulapalli Krishna Sastry, Veturi Sundara Ramamurthy, Palagummi Padmaraju c P.S. Selvaraj m Ramesh Naidu lp A. Nageshwara Rao, Jayapradha, Jayasudha, K. Jaggaiah, Subhashini, Balamurali Krishna

Dasari’s art-house melodrama shows the influence of Shankarabharanam (1979) on Telugu film. It invents a legend recalling Sternberg’s Der blaue engel (1930): an upright and much-loved poet, Ravindrababu (Nageshwara Rao) falls in love with the courtesan Padma (Jayapradha). He composes several poems praising her, proving to his wife (Jayasudha) that he needs Padma to survive as an artist. Sacrificing herself to his talent, the wife urges her husband to move in with his lover. However, when the poet’s daughter marries, Padma persuades him to go back to his wife. Overcome with remorse, Ravindrababu dies. Padma dies at the same time to confirm their profound unity. It remains Dasari’s best-known film outside AP. Apparently a homage to the Telugu lyricist Devulapalli Krishna Sastri who died shortly before the film was made and whose songs (e.g. Akulo akunai, Sigalo avi virulo, Mundu telisena) were reset to music by Ramesh Naidu and became very popular.

Film