Maa Bhoomi was the official entry in the Opera Primo section at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival

Directed by debutant Goutam Ghose and produced by B

Narsing Rao

,

Maa Bhoomi

was touted to be one of the finest films in the country. It documents the plight of the peasants under the feudal lords and their eventual rebellion that is now termed as the Telangana Armed Rebellion or the

Telangana Peasants Movement

.

This film not only officially entered the Opera Primo section at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in 1980 but it was also screened at Cork, Cairo and Sydney film festivals.

Narsing Rao, the producer of the film had to mortgage his home as the budget of the film rose from the initial one lakh to five lakh. G Ravindranath who was the co-producer of the film had to mortgage his wedding rings to gather the sum of Rs 700 required to censor the film. The film was a huge success despite all the odds that were against it. It went on to win the state Nandi Award for Best Feature Film and Filmfare Best Award in Telugu. It is also said that the cast had exchanged their new clothes with the old clothes of the villagers to look authentic on the screen.

The film which released on March 23rd, the death anniversary of

Bhagath Singh

, Raj Guru and Sukhdev completed 40 years in 2020.