Rangasthalam 2018

In the 1980s, Chittibabu, a partly deaf and grumpy farmer in Rangasthalam, tends his fields with the help of the motor owned by Kolli Rangammatta. The village’s respected President, Phanindra Bhupathi, wields the power of the social body known as the “Society,” a cooperative that enforces high-interest loans and seizes land from the illiterate villagers. When the Society squeezes Erra Srinu for a delayed loan repayment, Srinu’s desperate response ends in his apparent suicide by drowning, shocking Chittibabu and others who see through the manipulation.

Chittibabu’s world shifts when his elder brother Chelluboyina Kumar Babu returns from the Persian Gulf. Kumar Babu is deeply troubled by the Society’s predatory practices and vows to resist its reach, forcing Chittibabu to confront a system that thrives on fear and exploitation. The brothers begin to rally the people, and Kumar Babu takes Chittibabu along to Rajahmundry to meet another important figure, Padma Padma, who becomes entangled in their fight against the local corruption. Amidst these tensions, Chittibabu meets Ramalakshmi and falls in love, though he hides his hearing impairment, hoping to win her trust and affection.

Romance and duty collide as Chittibabu’s inability to hear creates awkward misunderstandings. Ramalakshmi, initially wary, is later confronted with the truth of his disability after he saves a villager from a suicide bid, prompting her to reconsider and seek reconciliation. Yet his pride and misgivings push him to keep distance. Ramalakshmi, educated and perceptive, begins to see the Society’s deception more clearly and joins Kumar Babu in opposing Bhupathi’s regime. Their efforts culminate in a Panchayat hearing where Bhupathi’s tight grip on power is challenged; Kumar Babu’s confrontation with the Society brings him into direct conflict with Bhupathi, while Seshu Naidu, the Society’s president, tries to humiliate the brothers, leaving Chittibabu enraged and briefly jailed after an altercation.

As the political contest heats up, Kumar Babu turns to Dakshina Murthy, the local MLA, for political backing and to expose the Society’s misdeeds. The campaign gathers momentum as villagers nominate themselves for ward seats, including Kashi’s brothers, though Rangamma remains publicly skeptical and wary of the aftermath. Rangamma later reveals a chilling pattern of murder sanctioned by Bhupathi—several villagers, including her own husband Ramprasad and Erra Srinu, were killed for opposing him. Gripped by fear and obligation, Chittibabu briefly compromises, accepting a bribe from Bhupathi to undermine Kumar Babu’s campaign, only to repent and return the cash, choosing to confront Bhupathi instead.

Meanwhile, Erra Srinu’s father, a loyal supporter of Bhupathi, overhears the tyrant confessing to the killings. Bhupathi murders Seshu Naidu in a violent outburst after Naidu advises him to step down, underscoring the depths of his corruption. In a brutal turn of fate, Kumar Babu is ambushed on his way home from a meeting with Padma and is fatally wounded by Bhupathi’s men. Chittibabu fights to protect him, subduing the attackers, but Kumar Babu dies at the hands of a veiled killer, leaving Chittibabu desperate to uncover the truth behind his brother’s final words.

Devastated, Chittibabu leads the villagers to Bhupathi’s house, but Bhupathi has fled. With the help of a soothsayer, Chittibabu and a growing cadre—including a determined group led by Kasi—pursue Bhupathi as clues point to his escape route. After Kumar Babu’s cremation, Rangamma is unanimously elected President of the Panchayat, signaling a new era for the community. Driven by Kumar Babu’s last, whispered clue, Chittibabu hurries to Dakshina Murthy and discovers him lying in a hospital bed after a hit-and-run incident.

Chittibabu tends to Murthy for two years, refusing to abandon him even as everyone else gives up. Murthy eventually recovers, and celebrations begin as he stands on the cusp of a ministerial post. Yet the truth surfaces in a devastating twist: Chittibabu reveals to Murthy that he killed Bhupathi, but the true killer of Kumar Babu was Murthy himself, who had his henchman Srimannarayana kill Kumar Babu because of Padma’s relationship with him and because of caste prejudice. Murthy’s contempt for the relationship becomes apparent as he admits his plan and his motive. In a final, tragic reckoning, Chittibabu confesses that he spared Murthy during the coma only to confront him now and exact his own justice. He leaves with Ramalakshmi, only to glimpse Padma and her husband approaching, leaving the ending poised between vengeance, love, and an uneasy future for Rangasthalam.