Abhilasha is the first combination of Illayaraja and Chiranjeevi. This movie is based on a novel by the same name by legendary Telugu writer Yendamuri Veerendranath, exploring the theme of capital punishment. The novel seems to have taken inspiration from Two American films The Man Who Dared (1946) and Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (1956).

Eventhough, the movie had Chiranjeevi in the lead Yendamuri Veerendranath was an even bigger name back then, while all the songs in this film became a super duper hit, Yendamuri and Illayaraja went on to join hands for two other films later. This film was remade in Tamil as Sattathai Thiruthunga which had Mohan and Nalini playing the leads. Navvindi Malle Chendu has a very familiar prelude but I couldn’t place my finger on the exact song. Readers if you know which song it is apart from this do comment the name of the song and movie, would help me.

Song – 83

Song: Navvindi Malle Chendu
Movie: Abhilasha
Singers: SPB and S. Janaki
Lyricist: Veturi
Actors: Chiranjeevi, Radhika, Rao Gopal Rao, Rajyalakshmi, and many others.
Director: A. Kondandarami Reddy