Dharani Mandala Madhyadolage

Manohar Nayak, Palegar and B. L. Dalavayi are three youths, sons of rich and powerful men in society. They live a carefree life consisting mainly of debauchery. They eve tease young women, squander money by partying, and insult and thrash a friend who requests them for travel money for a job. When they misbehave with one Neela, she fights them off and proceeds to blackmail each of their families with dire consequences if they do not acquiesce to her conditions. Her conditions turn out to be severe — she requires the three friends to stay away from the city, and move to a place of her choice for six months,while specifying that they cannot take more than a hundred rupees each with them. Nayak, having fallen for her, agrees in a fit of bravado, believing that this will win her over; his friends follow suit.

The place that Neela has selected turns out to be the construction site of a huge dam. The three, who assume that they would be given high positions at the workplace, get a rude awakening when they are told that they would have to work as manual laborers would live in makeshift huts like the rest. Initially enraged, they stay on fearing ridicule from Neela if they give up easily. As time passes, a worker there, Parvati, falls in love with Nayak; and an orphan Roopli with Dalavayi. Belli is a blind girl in the colony that constantly prays and waits for God to appear and restore her sight. After some initial struggles, the three men get adjusted to the routine and also get along with everyone in their colony. On receiving their first salary, the men feel proud on having earned it, and also repent on their earlier wasteful ways. Meanwhile, Neela who comes by to gloat before leaving the country to get married, is shocked on seeing that they have changed their ways, and refuse her request of returning to the city.

Around this point, the newly appointed engineer to the project turns out to be the man they earlier tormented, Purushottham. He threatens to tell the people of the colony about the friends' earlier exploits, but they beg him not to do so fearing that they would fall in the eyes of the simple people who have come to trust them. However, Purushottham does not believe that they have changed and declares that he will keep an eye on them to prove this. He notices Roopli and Dalavayi getting physical in secret but stays silent about it. The next day, while the entire colony has gone to work, Palegar tricks an unsuspecting Belli into believing that he is god having come to restore her sight and makes her sleep with him. When the people return, Belli's brother bemoans the fact that someone has done this to his innocent sister, while Nayak believes that nobody from the colony could have done this. A pricked Palegar confesses his sin enraging Nayak who proceeds to berate him. Purushottham arrives to further add salt to their wounds by exposing Dalavayi. In the confusion that follows, both Dalavayi and Palegar declare that they would marry Roopli and Belli respectively while Nayak and Parvathi accept their feelings for each other. The crowd disperses, seemingly placated by the fact that the three men will keep their word. Purushottham stays visibly skeptical but keeps mum. A few days later, Dalavayi's politician-father, Ramappa, visits him with his wife, the latter of who berates him for his relationship with an orphan. The family take Roopli with them before throwing out of the car, and proceed to give her money to forget Dalavayi. Roopli is brought back by Purushottham who then incites the crowd against Nayak and Palegar who are beaten up by the bloodthirsty men of the colony. After realizing that they have no place in the colony anymore, the two men decide to leave, but are held back by Parvathi and Belli who have truly come to love them. The colony relents, but does not forgive them for Dalavayi's betrayal.

On the start of the monsoon, the project gets suspended and many daily wage workers are left without jobs. Nayak and Palegar declare that they will take them to their city and keep them in their homes. Nayak takes the entire group to his house while Palegar takes Belli to his. Dalavayi, whose wedding has now been fixed to a rich man's daughter, has been talked out of it by Nayak, who successfully attempts in convincing him to take back Roopli. All three families are disgusted with the choices of their sons. Dalavayi is thrown out at gunpoint, who ends up killing his parents in a fit of rage. Nayak's guests are thrown out and in the melee that followed, the police are called in. Palegar goes after a running Belli only to fall under a speeding truck, and dies in Nayak's arms, voicing his last wish of having his eyes transplanted to her. Nayak, who is visibly crushed, cradles the head of his dead friend and questions aloud as to why is God so cruel, to which a disembodied voice replies that He is not cruel, but it is the society which has made divisions based on physical boundaries, caste, status, language and other differences, that is cruel.

Puttanna Kanagal brilliantly scripted a story which has themes prevalent in society to this day. He shows the exuberance of youth fueled by the arrogance of riches. He also brings out the directionless, impressionable youth who rush to find the next interesting thing in life and changing their stance repeatedly. This is seen by the quick turnarounds in behavior of the three protagonists and the way in which Naik quickly gets over Neela, who was the catalyst for his change to settle for Parvathi who loves him. Dalavayee's oscillations in wanting to live a comfortable life with his parents and wanting to be with Roopli also strengthen the theme. The main moral, however seems to be the fact that people don't change and that society does not allow people to change, in addition to the obvious divide between the rich and the poor. Initially, the parents of the protagonists are quick to send them away fearing retribution from Neela will spoil their reputation. However, it is the same parents who would rather have their children back as is rather than children whose minds have undergone a change for the better. Also, when the three men repeatedly try to convince Purushottham of their improvement in behavior, he stays skeptical and is immediately justified when Dalavayee and Palegar succumb to their carnal instincts, indicating that lack of positive reinforcement from the society led to them reverting to their old ways. Belli, the blind girl, paints an image of pure innocence or madness induced by misfortune. Her constant begging of god to restore her sight, as well has her referring to Palegar as god shows that when people experience misery at its worst, they will clutch on to whatever little thing that gives them hope. The main character Naik, comes across as a picture of naivety in the harsh reality of the society. He constantly clamors for approval from people around him for his actions and his attempts to be seen as a changed man keep getting more and more desperate as he frenziedly fights for what he believes is right. An apt picturization which shows the misguided youth, society enforcing structure by force and the repercussions happening to anyone who tries to go against the flow.

Naik means leader, Dalavayee means commander and Palegar means landlord. However, in this movie, the leader fights a lost cause, the commander lacks conviction in his decisions and the lord stays blind to his desires. This play on words stays with you long after the movie ends.

The music was composed by Vijaya Bhaskar, with lyrics by Vijayanarasimha and Siddalingaiah.

• Dharani Mandala Madhyadolage at IMDb