Padma Vibhushan Akkineni Nageswara Rao has worked in several genres of films in his
78-year acting career, including mythological, social, and drama films. He
has played the lead role in over 256 Telugu films and 26 Tamil films.
Out of all these movies he has a personal liking for two roles: Surendranath in
Batasari (1961) and Judge Chandrasekharam in Sudigundalu (1967).
Judge Chandrasekharam (Akkineni) is very kind and helpful
to the relatives of the culprits. His wife dies after giving birth to a baby
boy. His son Raja is murdered by two youth—Prasanna Rani and Vijayachander. The culprits are sentenced to death by the
court after giving them a fair trial. Judge
Chandrasekharam takes a decision to defend those culprits, and argues in their favour. The dialog
for this movie was written by N.R. Nandi, and the lengthy oration of Akkineni
in the courtroom is a treat to the audience, abounding with several
philosophical and psychological issues engulfing our society. He makes his viewpoint clear, and concludes that the total responsibility of the crime cannot be placed on the culprits who are the victims of the ills of the society. The responsibility of offering the youth the right direction rests with the
parents and the society. In his view, the present youth are trapped in sudigundalu—hurdles
and problems of the present world. If we give the youth proper direction, they are capable of becoming professionals and responsible citizens. The film offers this
message in a very convincing way, and Chandrasekharam dies in the court hall
after offering his defence to the young culprits. The histrionics and diction
in the delivery of dialog of Akkineni in the court room is a masterly stroke of
this great actor.
