There are not many dark gangster dramas in the Telugu film industry. If we take out the list of such films in Tollywood, Ram Gopal Varma's Gaayam will definitely get a place in it. What makes it more special is that the story of this film was jointly penned by Varma and Mani Ratnam. Jagapati Babu and Revathi played the lead roles in the movie. The classic Gaayam completes 27 years of its release today. On this occasion, let us have a recap into the film.
Gaayam is the story of the young man Durga (played by Jagapathi Babu), who is madly in love with Anita (Revathi). When everything is going smoothly, Durga's world turns upside down when he loses his elder brother. He then gets dragged into the underworld which eventually makes him lose his lady love as well. The film has traces of Hollywood classic The Godfather. It was a big hit at the box office. Until then, Jagapathi Babu used to have a soft image among the audiences. But this film also proved his mettle as an action hero. Gaayam also paved the path for many other gangster films in Telugu.
The music of the film got composed by Sri. Songs like Niggadeesi Adugu, Nizam Pori, and Alupannadi Unnada remained as chartbusters. Gaayam won Six Nandi Awards in total including Best Actor for Jagapathi Babu, Best Supporting Actress for Urmila Matondkar, Best Villain for Kota Srinivasa Rao and Best Lyricist for Sirivennela Seetharamasastri. Gaayam's sequel Gaayam 2 released in 2010 but failed to do well at the box office.
