Rangula Kala (1983)

Narasinga Rao’s debut is an existential melodrama with the director playing a romantic painter, Ravi, whose friends include a trade union leader (Kakarala), an autorickshaw driver, a Marxist journalist (Narayana Rao) and a glib, successful painter (Saichand) whose success contrasts with Ravi’s inability to sell his own work. His neighbour Kankamma, who rejects an evil landlord’s advances, is evicted from her house; the trade unionist is killed in police custody; and Ravi starts exhibiting his work on the streets to indicate his growing politicisation to the satisfaction of his Marxist friend. The film is geared to the CPI(ML)-led political movements in Northern AP and included the compositions and songs of the region’s best-known radical poet and performer, Gaddar.