Kanchanamala

Pratap (Sunil Dutt) is accused of murdering the wealthy Seth Maganbhai Mehta. As a fugitive on the run, he meets Anokhi (Vyjayantimala) and her assorted group who make their living by any means, begging, stealing, or deceit. At first, Pratap is derisive of Anokhi and her friends. He soon realizes the camaraderie they share and their inherent goodness. He slowly wins them over and changes their erring ways. Anokhi and her friends then help Pratap find the real murderer.

Elaborate melodrama, presented the problems of uneven development in terms of an emotional conflict between and innocent feudal rural female and a worldly-wise capitalist urban male. Hero Raghu (Nagaiah), an unemployed graduate, insists on marrying the village girl Janaki (Kanchanmala) despite the opposition of his scheming mother who wants a dowry. Raghu's unemployment problems continue despite his migration to the city, leaving his wife in the clutches of her mother-in-law. When Raghu wins a lottery for Rs. 5 lakhs and returns home, he finds his wife and infant son have left. Although his mother insists he marry again, Raghu goes to the city and dedicates himself to social work, including building factories in order to create employment opportunities. In this he is assisted by his rich female college friend, provoking gossip about their relationship. Raghu's wife, now a poor flower seller, sees her husband with his new friend and believes he has remarried.

Reformist melodrama about widow remarriage. Villain Janardhanarao Panthulu has his 6-year-old daughter Lalitha married to an old man who dies shortly after. Lalitha (Kanchanmala) is brought up by her father under the strictures of widowhood. She meets the reformist Sundarrao (Y.V. Rao) who eventually defies tradition and marries her. The first instance of Telegu cinema of the use of playback. —Sujit R. Varma