This movie portrays the Virata Parvam of the great Indian epic Mahabharata with utmost ease.NTR shows his versatility as Bruhannala. SV Ranga Rao excelled in such a negative role as Keechaka. Savitri looks her best and performs beyond compare.
The film opens with Arjuna (N.T.R) entering heaven to visit his divine father Indra. This episode sets the stage for the events of the Book of Virata by providing Arjuna with instruction in music and dance, and by placing him under a curse from the heavenly courtesan Urvashi to lose his masculinity and become a eunuch for one year. This provides the explanation for Arjuna’s subsequent choice of disguise during the Pandavas’ incognito life — as the transvestite dancing master Brihannala, who becomes the teacher of King Virata’s daughter, Uttara (L. Vijayalaxmi). The most significant incident in the film is the attempted seduction of Draupadi (Savithri) by King Virata’s overbearing brother-in-law Keechaka (S. V. Rangarao, another famous actor), which results in his slaying by another Pandava brother, the strongman Bhima (Dandamudi Rajagopal), who is disguised as a cook and wrestler. Lord Krishna (Kantharao) appears periodically and is suitably charming, with an enigmatic smile. The youthful Abhimanyu (Sobhanbabu), comes to the kingdom in search of his fathers and all in love with the Princess Uttara. Humor is chiefly provided by Uttara’s boastful but cowardly brother, Uttara Kumar (Relangi), and by a group of bumbling Brahman cooks, slaving away under Bhima’s iron-fisted kitchen regime. The entire film unfolds in near-operatic style reminiscent of many genres of Indian folk theater, with nine songs.
