KV Reddy is undoubtedly the best director in the 76 year history of Telugu cinema. He can take a silly fantasy and embed it in Mahabharat epic (Mayabazar) or even sillier fantasy set in medieval times (Jagadekaveeruni Katha) or a regular social drama (Donga Ramudu) and make a fantastic entertainer out of each one of them. literally thousands of pages of history was and still being written about Mayabazar. I am not sure if I can add more to those thousands of pages. However, in this video essay, I want to take time to talk about his other sensational hit – Jagadekaveeruni Katha. The 9-part video essay’s focus is on the songs, all of which were written by Pingali Nagendra Rao and composed by Pendyala Nageswara Rao.

Song #1: Jalakaalaatalao, Gala Gala Paatalalo: This is the first song in the movie and was picturized on four devakanyas (played by B Saroja Devi, L Vijayalakshmi, Jayanthi and ??), as they are taking a bath in some unspecified lake. Four beautiful ladies – all taking a bath. Imagine all the skin they would have shown for a scene like this in current day movies. No, that is not KV Reddy’s style. He showed nothing vulgar. But everything is romantic. There is no skin is on display here. Only thing we get to see much is their beautiful faces, their eyes, the expressions in their eyes and their mesmerizing smiles. To the guys out there – O, halaa, don’t you get more erotic kick out of a song-scene like this than all the skin you see in movies of current years?

Song #2: O Cheli, O Sakhi, Oho Madeeya Mohini: As soon as above song is done, the hero (NTR) shows up. Oh yes, four devakanyas in one place! This is exactly what he was looking for. daam didu doom da daa… she looks good. She and she, and she too looks good. Inkem! Paata andukunnadu.o cheli, o sakh oho madeeya mohini. Pay attention to the body language action by the ladies and NTR. So convincing! A beautiful song.