Pournami (film)

The film starts in 1953 and is set in a remote village in Andhra Pradesh where Subhramanyam (Chandra Mohan) is teaching dance to his daughter Pournami. He tells her a story of how in 1507, the village was suffering from a drought for a very long time. A woman (Veda Sastry) from a traditional family came forward to dance in the temple and ask Shiva to bless their village with rain. She danced continuously for seven days and nights until she died of exhaustion. Then it rained, and the longstanding drought ended. Since then, there has been a tradition in the village that a girl from that dancer's family, like Pournami's mother in 1951, should dance in Shiva's temple every 12 years on that auspicious day.

10 years later, in 1963, the villagers are expecting Pournami (Trisha) to dance. Unfortunately, eight lunar months before the festival, she goes missing, and everybody thinks she eloped with someone. Then, everyone's attention turns to Pournami's younger sister, Chandrakala (Charmy), and they believe that she should dance, but Subhramanyam disagrees. Meanwhile, Chandrakala's stepmother (Manju Bhargavi) rents their penthouse and courtyard, where Pournami used to dance, to Siva Kesava (Prabhas), a western-style dance instructor. Later, it is revealed that Pournami has not eloped, but her father sent her away to protect her from their zamindar, Veerabhadra (Rahul Dev), who wants to make Pournami his concubine. Fearing that the same fate might befall Chandrakala, he does not agree to teach her how to dance. Kesava shows a necklace to Subhramanyam, which shocks him, and then promises to protect her from the zamindar. At this, she begins her studies.

Kesava beats up Chandrakala's catcaller (Ajay) and then Veerabhadra, influencing Chandrakala to go from hating to loving him. When he does not reciprocate her feelings, he reveals his past. In a flashback, he reveals that he and Pournami married and that she had sacrificed herself to save his life. Pournami told him her dying wish: her sister should dance in the temple to keep the tradition alive. He promised her that he would make it happen. After learning of her sister's fate, Chandrakala agrees to learn the dance with her father's blessings. Kesava promises them that he will protect her from Veerabhadra and saves her when Veerabhadra tries to abduct her. She tries hard and becomes a skilled dancer in a very short time. Finally, she performs ardently in the temple, and again, their village is blessed with rain. After some drama involving Veerabhadra’s and Kesava's fiancée Mallika (Sindhu Tolani), Chandrakala and Kesava become one.

After a few years, Kesava and Chandrakala get married and have a daughter named Pournami. However, the daughter does not want to learn the dance. The film ends with Kesava narrating the tradition to the daughter in the temple.

The music and background score was composed by Devi Sri Prasad and the lyrics were written by Sirivennela Sitaramasastri.[6] The track 'Bharata Vedamuga' was set in raag Chandrakauns

• Nandi Award for Best Art Director - Ashok (2006)[7]

• Pournami at IMDb