General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20264 min read

Nalugu Stambhalata (నాలుగు స్తంభాలాట)

Nalugu Stambhalata (నాలుగు స్తంభాలాట) is a 1982 Telugu romantic drama film written, directed, and given story, screenplay, and dialogues by Jandhyala, and produced by N. Krishnam Raju under the Navata Arts banner. It stars Naresh, Pradeep, Poornima, and Tulasi, with Rohini, Suthi Velu, and Suthi Veerabhadra Rao in supporting roles, and was released on 15 May 1982.¹^•² The film was a commercial success and is remembered as the debut of the actor Naresh and for introducing the comedy duo known as the sutti janta.¹

Key fact	Detail
Release	15 May 1982, Telugu language, India¹^•²
Director and writer	Jandhyala (story, screenplay, dialogues, direction)¹
Producer	N. Krishnam Raju, Navata Arts¹
Music	Rajan–Nagendra; lyrics by Veturi Sundararamamurthy¹
Cast	Naresh, Pradeep, Poornima, Tulasi, Rohini, Suthi Velu, Suthi Veerabhadra Rao¹
Box office run	Over 100 days in 8–10 centers and 175 days in three centers, including Devi 70mm in Hyderabad¹
Production	Made for under 1.2 million rupees (12 lakh rupees); shot in 50 days¹

Spoilers

Story

Naresh and Pradeep play classmates. Naresh's character loves Sarada (Poornima) but marries Kamala (Tulasi) because of certain circumstances. To save Sarada, who is pregnant by then, Pradeep's character marries her. Naresh, unable to forget the past, cannot compromise with Kamala, and what happens in this situation forms the rest of the story.¹^•³

The title refers to a game of four pillars. In the film, four main characters run to touch four pillars while a man in the disguise of vidhi (Fate) tries to stop them; that role was played by one of the associate directors, E.V.V. Satyanarayana, in his first film with Jandhyala.¹

Production and cast

Casting. Jandhyala first saw Naresh at a dance class and approached him when the actor Suresh, initially chosen for the role, could not take it because of date problems. Naresh was seventeen when the film started and celebrated his seventeenth birthday on its sets; it was his first film in an outside banner after beginning his career with Prema Sankellu. Because Naresh, brought up in Madras, spoke Telugu mixed with Tamil slang, Jandhyala had his voice dubbed by S.P. Balasubrahmanyam, promising Naresh's mother that the actor could dub for himself in the next film.¹

Pradeep, fresh from the lead in Muddamandaaram, was cast after Jandhyala narrated the story to him. The supporting cast included Rohini, then an accomplished child artiste, and the comedy pair Suthi Veerabhadra Rao and Suthi Velu, who from this film onward were fondly called sutti janta. Young Ali was also part of the unit.¹

Shooting. The film was shot in Vizag, Araku, and Ramachandrapuram, with the cast sharing houses at MVP Colony for over 60 days. It was made for under 1.2 million rupees (12 lakh rupees) and shot in 50 days.¹ The technical crew included cinematographer S. Gopal Reddy, editors G.G. Krishna Rao and Gautam Raju, art director Kaladhar, and dance master Siva Subrahmanyam; associate directors were E.V.V. Satyanarayana and Batthula Ramakrishna.¹

Music

The music was composed by the Rajan–Nagendra duo, with lyrics by Veturi Sundararamamurthy and playback singing by S.P. Balasubrahmanyam, P. Susheela, and S. Janaki.¹ Songs include "raagamO anuraagamO geetamO sangeetamO", "chinukulaa raali nadulugaa saagi varadalaipOyi", "kaliki chilakaraa ulikipaDakuraa hE", "kobbaraaku gaali mabbukEsindi masakabaDDa mabbu urimi choosindi", and "doralaneeku kanula neeru".¹

According to Pradeep, the film was the first in Telugu with a disco dance. He rehearsed the song for seven days under Siva Subrahmanyam, and the song became a big hit with a sensational craze among the youth.¹ The film's dialogues, famous for introducing the sutti janta pair, were released on an audio cassette by AVM Audio.¹

Reception and legacy

The film was a hit. It ran over 100 days in 8–10 centers and 175 days in three centers; at Devi 70mm, one of the larger theaters in Hyderabad, it ran for 175 days, more than 100 of them straight, with the rest in morning shows. Pradeep recalled that people, especially in Telangana, still remembered him as the hero of the film decades later. The 100-days function was held at the Swami Shankar Das Auditorium on 20 August 1982, attended by D.V.S. Raju, Krishna, Vijayanirmala, and L.V. Prasad.¹

The film launched careers. For Naresh it was a debut that he later credited to Jandhyala, whom he called his guruvu garu, and to producer Navata Krishnam Raju. E.V.V. Satyanarayana, who appeared as Fate and assisted on the film, worked with Jandhyala until becoming an independent director with Chevilo Puvvu. Members of the camera team under S. Gopal Reddy, including M.V. Raghu, Divakar, Srinivasa Reddy, Raju, and Veerraju, later became successful cinematographers.¹

The film was later remade in Hindi by the producer V.B. Rajendra Prasad, with Sanjay Dutt, Mohish Behl, and Padmini Kolhapuri in the lead roles.¹ Database listings give the running time as 140 minutes,² while Filmibeat lists 157 minutes.⁴

References

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026