Bavagaru Bagunnara (transl. Brother-in-law, How are you?) is a 1998 Indian Telugu-language romantic comedy film directed by Jayanth C. Paranjee and produced by Nagendra Babu. The film stars Chiranjeevi, Rambha and Rachana. It was dubbed and released into Tamil as Muradan. Released on 9 April 1998, the film was a super hit at the box office.[1] The film was remade into Hindi as Kunwara (2000).
Raju runs between New Zealand, where he owns a restaurant, and India, where he runs a home for orphans started in his sister's name. Swapna is a student in New Zealand, staying with her uncle. Once she goes looking for Raju to take him to task for thrashing her friend. On learning that Raju was not at fault, she promptly falls in love with him.
After that, the scene shifts to India when Raju goes there to look after the "home". There, he keeps a pregnant woman, Sandhya, from killing herself. On learning about her jilted love affair, he decides to help her out. He convinces her that he will act as her husband until the baby is born, whereupon he would leave her, so that she could live with her child peacefully as a deserted wife. With that plan, they go to her village. Her father, Rao Bahadur Rajendra Prasad, after initially refusing, unwillingly gives his nod to the plan under pressure from family members.
The story takes a twist when Swapna comes to India and finds, to her utter shock, Raju as her brother-in-law. Raju's pleadings of innocence fail to convince her. Meanwhile, Raju gets involved in a dispute about the ownership of a lake between their village and a neighboring one. He wins the race that decides its ownership in favor of Sandhya's village. Sandhya's father, happy at the turn of events leading to heightening of the prestige of their village, decides to accept Raju as his son-in-law and decides to get them married. Now Swapna, who learns the truth, is in turmoil. Meanwhile, Sandhya makes another attempt at suicide, but Raju thwarts it again. In the process, he learns that she met her lover, who was held captive by the neighboring village head and is being forced to marry his daughter. Raju rescues Sandhya's lover and gets them married.
Some scenes were shot at New Zealand.[2] Jayanth revealed that unlike his previous films, Chiranjeevi was introduced in this film with a song instead of a fight scene.[3] Chiranjeevi performed Bungee jump for that song.[4] Bhagyashree was the original choice for the role portrayed by Rachana.[5]
The music for this film was composed by Mani Sharma. The audio was a huge hit and all the songs were chartbusters. The track "Aunty Koothura", sung by S. P. Balasubrahmanyam and K. S. Chitra was a massive hit among the masses and was an instant chartbuster for its powerful dance choreography and beautiful rendition by the singers.[1]
Griddaluru Gopalrao of Zamin Ryot writing his review on 24 April 1998 has called the film "a laughing riot." Goplarao appreciated the film's story and screenplay for its novelty with particular praise for Paranjee's direction, Chiranjeevi's performance, and Sharma's soundtrack.[6] Y Maheswara Reddy of The New Indian Express noted that it was "worth watching".[7]