Donga (film)

1985 film by A. Kodandarami Reddy

Donga

Theatrical release poster

Directed by| A. Kodandarami Reddy
Written by| Paruchuri Brothers (dialogues)
Screenplay by| A. Kodandarami Reddy
Story by| Vietnam Veedu Sundaram
Produced by| T. Trivikram Rao
Starring| Chiranjeevi
Radha
Cinematography| V. S. R. Swamy
Edited by| Kotagiri Venkateswara Rao
Music by| Chakravarthy

Production
company

Vijayalakshmi Art Pictures

Release date

* 14 March 1985 (1985-03-14)

Running time

| 145 minutes
Country| India
Language| Telugu

Donga (transl. Burglar) is a 1985 Indian Telugu-language action film directed by A. Kodandarami Reddy and produced by T. Trivikrama Rao under his banner Vijayalakshmi Art Pictures. The film stars Chiranjeevi and Radha while Rao Gopal Rao, Allu Ramalingaiah and Gollapudi Maruti Rao play the supporting roles with music composed by Chakravarthy.[1][2] Released on 14 March 1985, the film was a commercial success. Tamil dubbed version is titled  Kolai Karan.[3]

## Plot[edit]

Phani (Chiranjeevi) commits thefts just to help the poor. He loves Kodandaramayya's daughter Manju Latha (Radha), but he seeks revenge against Kodandaramayya (Rao Gopala Rao) for killing his father. He also wants his sister Malathi (Rajyalakshmi) to marry Rajesh (Raja), son of Anjaneyulu, but he needs ₹50,000 for her dowry. At the same time, Vishwanatham (Sridhar), an income tax officer, wants his sister Rekha to marry Rajesh. With the help of the police, Phani succeeds in liquidating Kodandaramayya's gang and has his revenge. He also acquires enough money to arrange his sister's marriage with Rajesh.

## Cast[edit]

* Chiranjeevi as Phani
* Radha as Manjulatha
* Rao Gopal Rao as Kodandaramayya
* Allu Ramalingaiah as Rama Subbaiah
* Gollapudi Maruthi Rao as Anjineelu
* Rajendra Prasad as Inspector Ravi
* Nutan Prasad as Ranga
* Sridhar as Viswanath
* Raja as Rajesh
* P. L. Narayana as Chandra Shekar Rao
* Bheemiswara Rao
* Silk Smitha
* Rajyalakshmi as Malathi
* Annapoorna
* Mamatha
* Athili Lakshmi
* Kaikala Satyanarayana as Duragamma

## Soundtrack[edit]

Music was composed by Chakravarthy. Lyrics were written by Veturi. The music was released on AVM Audio Company. With the song "Golimaar" Chiranjeevi introduced break dance to Indian audience, eventhough it wasn't official. [4]

| Song title | Singers | length

|
|
|

1  | "Golimaar"  | S. P. Balasubrahmanyam | 4:23
2  | "Sari Sari"  | S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, P. Susheela | 4:53
3  | "Donga Donga"  | S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, P. Susheela  | 5:11
4  | "Andhama Ala"  | S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, S. Janaki | 4:42
5  | "Thappanaka"  | S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, P. Susheela  | 4:54
6  | "Idhi Pandhem"  | S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, S. Janaki  | 4:11

## Reception[edit]

C. S. V of Andhra Patrika writing his review on 29 March 1985, appreciated the performances of the lead cast and Chakravathy's music.[2]

## Legacy[edit]

* The film's musical number Golimar (transl. Shoot the bullet) has choreography and elements heavily inspired from the music video for Michael Jackson's song "Thriller".[5] The sequence which is often referred as "Indian Thriller", became a viral video;[6] a further parody of the scene by Mike Sutton (Buffalax) titled "Indian Thriller with English lyrics" added subtitles to the video phonetically approximating the original lyrics as English sentences; resulting in "Golimar" being misinterpreted as "Girly man", and producing such lines as "Nippley man I met, he ate my motorboat!", "I'll eat wasabi on my dude", and "You'll be pumping Ovaltine."[6] He has also produced similar spoofs with other songs, including "Benny Lava", a similar edit of a number from the Tamil film Pennin Manathai Thottu.[6]
* American dubstep producer Skrillex sampled "Golimar" in a mashup with his song "Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites" entitled "Scary Bolly Dub"—which includes clips of the scene as visuals during live performances.[7]
* The film's titled has been adopted to the Telugu dubbed version of Tamil film Thambi (2019) starring Karthi.[3]

## See also[edit]

* Kasam Paida Karne Wale Ki is a 1984 Bollywood film which also parodies Michael Jackson's "Thriller" music video.

## References[edit]

1. ^ Gopal Rao, Giddaluri (22 March 1985). ""చెత్త ది గ్రేట్" చిత్రం దొంగ" (PDF). Zamin Ryot (in Telugu). p. 9\. Archived (PDF) from the original on 28 June 2021. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
2. ^ a b V., C. S. (29 March 1985). "చిత్ర సమీక్ష: దొంగ" [Film review: Donga] (PDF). Andhra Patrika (in Telugu). p. 8\. Archived (PDF) from the original on 27 September 2022. Retrieved 27 September 2022.
3. ^ a b "Karthi's Chiranjeevi connection". Deccan Chronicle. 17 November 2019. Archived from the original on 20 June 2020. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
4. ^ "Donga (1985)". Raaga.com. Archived from the original on 17 May 2022. Retrieved 27 September 2022.
5. ^ "4 Reasons Why You Should Watch Chiranjeevi's Desi Thriller Again. And Again. And Again". NDTV.com. Archived from the original on 27 November 2020. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
6. ^ a b c "Buffalax Mines Twisted Translations for YouTube Yuks". Wired. 6 November 2007. Archived from the original on 4 December 2013. Retrieved 26 March 2008.
7. ^ Grandy, Eric. "Skrillex and M83's Bigger-Than-Key-Arena Electro, and Other Thoughts on Bumbershoot Monday". Seattle Weekly. Archived from the original on 23 January 2015. Retrieved 5 May 2016.

## External links[edit]

* Donga at IMDb

* v
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Michael Jackson: Thriller

Side one|

* "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'"
* "Baby Be Mine"
* "The Girl Is Mine"
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Side two|

* "Beat It"
* "Billie Jean"
* "Human Nature"
* "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)"
* "The Lady in My Life"

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* Donga
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* Michael Jackson albums discography

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