Raktha Kanneeru

Mohan is a rich guy who returns from another country, after his studies but he is very arrogant towards people who are below his financial standards and even towards his own mother. He gets attracted to a local prostitute Kantha and even submits all his riches and property to her. On his mother's insistence he marries a girl, Chandra, who is his cousin who is a traditional and a village girl. On his first night Mohan gets to find out she is not of his culture and leaves for Kantha. Gradually he loses all of his wealth and is left only with his house. Mohan gets addicted to alcohol and Kantha so much that he doesn't even attend his mother's funeral and perform her last rights which are carried out by his friend Balu. Balu advises Mohan many times to mend his ways but Mohan turns down all his advice. Gradually, Mohan is affected by leprosy, and with no money left for his treatment, Kantha throws him out of her house. Due to a heavy storm, Mohan loses one of his legs and eyesight and eventually has to make do by begging, and one day he reaches out to his wife Chandra who now works in a house as a maid. Neither recognise each other as Mohan has a deformed appearance and cannot see her. But she feeds him daily out of humanity.

Searching for Mohan, his friend Balu comes to Chandra, and during their conversation, the trio recognise each other. Mohan asks Chandra and Balu to marry each other so that Chandra (who is still a virgin) doesn't need to lead a pitiful life. He also asks Balu to establish his statues in the city in the deformed form so that persons like him can take his life as an example and mend their ways to lead a happy life. After so many years, Balu and Chandra are shown at Mohan's statue, crying in his memory.

• Upendra as Mohan
• Ramya Krishna as Kantha
• Abhirami as Chandra
• Kumar Bangarappa as Balu
• Jyothilakshmi as Kantha's mother
• Doddanna
• Arif Ali
• Bank Janardhan,
• Sadhu Kokila
• J. V. Somayajulu as Chandras father
• Kota Srinivasa Rao
• Sudhakar
• Kallu Chidambaram as beggar

The music was composed by Sadhu Kokila. The audio had another song Ee deshadalli ( with the tune of the Hindi song Kaliyon Ka Chaman) which was not found in the movie.

Raktha Kanneeru's BKT distribution rights were sold at a record price of ₹1.6 Crore. The film went on to break many opening box office records upon release. From Bangalore alone, the film collected a share of more than ₹1 Crore in its first week,[4] a record collection for Kannada cinema at that time. The film did record collections all over Karnataka and went on to become one of the highest-grossing films of its time.

The film was followed by a semi sequel titled Katari Veera Surasundarangi released in 2012. A 3D Mythological Romantic fantasy film, it was partly a sequel to Raktha Kanneeru. It was also the first full length 3D film in Kannada cinema. Upendra reprises his role of the highly educated rich-man turned beggar Mohan now in hell, where he meets his look alike gangster son (Upendra again) who is killed in a gang war. The film tells the story of how Mohan's son Upendra falls in love with Lord Indra's daughter Indraja (Ramya) in Indraloka (heaven) and how he faces the challenges of Lord Brahma, Lord Yama and other Devatas of Indraloka to marry Indraja.[5] The film was hugely successful although not as much as its predecessor.[6]

• Ratha Kanneer, 1954 Tamil-language film

• Raktha Kanneeru on IMDb
• Review in The Hindu
• Listen to Raktha Kanneru dialogues at Andhra Natakam.