# Choodalani Vundi

Choodalani Vundi (transl. I'd like to see) is a 1998 Indian Telugu-language action thriller film co-written and directed by Gunasekhar, and produced by C. Aswani Dutt under Vyjayanthi Movies. This film stars Chiranjeevi, Soundarya, Anjala Zaveri and Prakash Raj. The film has music composed by Mani Sharma with cinematography by Chota K. Naidu.
Released on 27 August 1998, the film was a blockbuster at the box office and became the highest grossing Telugu film of 1998. The film was featured in the Indian Panorama mainstream section at the 30th International Film Festival of India. It received two South Filmfare Awards and three state Nandi Awards. In 2003, it was remade into Hindi as Calcutta Mail.

## Plot

Ramakrishna (Chiranjeevi) is a mechanic in Vijayawada whose life changes when he meets Priya (Anjala Zaveri) at a train station. She sees him and feels some inexplicable connection, and then runs away with him to flee her father Mahendra's (Prakash Raj) gangsters. They end up living in the forest with their son, but Mahendra, who is an underworld don, kidnaps her so that he can marry her off to another don's son. Ramakrishna confronts Mahendra, and in the ensuing struggle, Priya takes the bullet shot at Ramakrishna and dies. Their son loses his voice because of the shock, and Ramakrishna is imprisoned because the police have been corrupted by Mahendra, who is running a mafia state. Mahendra kidnaps the boy and takes him to Kolkata, where the story started. Ramakrishna, with the help of Padmavathi (Soundarya), whom he falls in love with, reunites with his son, and kills Mahendra.

## Cast

* Chiranjeevi as Ramakrishna
* Soundarya as Padmavathi
* Anjala Zaveri as Priya
* Prakash Raj as Mahendra
* Brahmanandam as House Owner
* Dhulipala as Mahendra's father
* Brahmaji as Surya, Mahendra's assistant
* Venu Madhav
* Sajja Teja as Ramakrishna's son
* Monica Bedi (special appearance in the song "Raamma Chilakamma")

## Production

After Ramayanam (1997), Gunasekhar wrote Choodalani Vundi as his next film which impressed Aswini Dutt and decided to produce it. The fans of Chiranjeevi initially had mixed feelings since Chiranjeevi and Ashwini Dutt was supposed to do a film with Ram Gopal Varma which got shelved and the film's director Gunasekhar was a young director. The scene where Chiranjeevi conveys his love to Anjala Zaveri at a railway station was shot at Nampally Railway Station. A set resembling huge apartment in Kolkata was built in Annapurna Studios.
The title Choodalani Vundi was suggested by Chiranjeevi.

## Soundtrack

The soundtrack and score were composed by Mani Sharma. The film's single, Yamaha Nagari written by Veturi with the vocals of Hariharan, is a rendition of Patnam Subramania Iyer's carnatic music composition Raghuvamsa Sudha. The song depicts the culture and beauty of the city of Kolkata.

## Reception

Giddaluri Gopalrao of Zamin Ryot gave a positive review for the film. He praised Chiranjeevi for picking up a new theme and Gunasekhar for executing it. Christopher Domingo of Full Hyderabad opined that "Choodalani Vundi is an entertaining masala movie that is worth watching".
The film became a commercial success and had a theatrical run of 100 days. The film was dubbed into Tamil language under the title Calcutta and twice in Hindi as Meri Zindagi Ek Agneepath in 2005 and 2018.

## Awards
### Filmfare Awards

* Filmfare Award for Best Music Director – Telugu – Mani Sharma
* Filmfare Award for Best Art Director – South – Thota Tharani

### Nandi Awards

* Best Music Director – Mani Sharma
* Best Audiographer – Madhu Sudhan
* Best Choreographer – Saroj Khan