Pedarayudu
Film poster
Directed by	Ravi Raja Pinisetty
Written by	G. Satyamurthy (dialogues) Ravi Raja Pinisetty (screenplay)
Story by	K. S. Ravikumar
Based on	Nattamai
Produced by	Mohan Babu
Starring	Mohan Babu Bhanupriya Rajinikanth Soundarya
Cinematography	K. S. Prakash Rao
Edited by	Gautham Raju
Music by	Koti
Production company	Sree Lakshmi Prasanna Pictures
Release date	15 June 1995 (1995-06-15)
Running time	164 minutes
Country	India
Language	Telugu

Pedarayudu is a 1995 Indian Telugu-language drama film directed and co-written by Ravi Raja Pinisetty and starring Mohan Babu in the lead in a dual role, while Rajinikanth, Bhanupriya and Soundarya appear in other prominent roles.^[1] For his role, Mohan Babu won the Best Actor - Telugu at South Filmfare Awards.^[2] This film is a remake of the 1994 Tamil film, Nattamai. The film was recorded an 'industry' hit. It is also Rajini's last proper Telugu film till date.^[3]

Pedarayudu is a kindhearted and disciplined man. He sits on the ancestral throne in his village to do justice. He hears all the cases and gives solutions to the people and punishments to the wrongdoers. His wife Lakshmi admires and respects him. His brothers Raja and Ravindra fear him but also have a lot of respect for him as he has brought them up as his children. Raja marries Bharathi, the daughter of an industrialist. She dislikes Pedarayudu because of his verdicts and attitude and her husband for being so timid with his brother but later transforms after learning of the former's greatness from her father. Ravindra loves his paternal cousin, Bhupathi's daughter.

In the flashback, Paparayudu, Pedarayadu's father, orders Bhupathi to marry his servant's daughter whom he raped, though he is his sister's son. His brother-in-law shoots him as he is disappointed by his verdict. Enraged, Paparayudu gives his final verdict before dying to abandon their family, and whoever visits his house will receive the same punishment and also not to share even a glass of water with them. Paparayudu also tells Pedarayudu "Whenever we give a wrong verdict, that moment it is said that we die." The moment when he says that, he dies.

Bhupathi builds envy on his uncle's family and waits for an opportunity to take revenge on them. He hires a woman as the village school teacher and asks her to make Raja fall for her. She does so to save her father, who is in the hands of Bhupathi. He kills her and makes the villagers believe that Raja has committed the murder. Pedarayudu sentences ten years of exile for his brother's family. Bhupathi learns of his daughter's love and tries to kill Ravindra, with the help of his goons. Raja goes in rescue of him, and a pregnant Bharathi goes to Pedarayudu to convey this message. While Raja starts to take revenge on Bhupathi, Pedarayudu's aunt rushes to Pedarayudu, kills Bhupathi, and reveals the truth and tells that he punished his brother without committing any mistake and also told that the crimes blamed on Raja were really perpetrated by Bhupathi. Pedarayudu dies upon learning that he gave a wrong verdict, and Raja is shown taking his place on the throne.

Rajinikanth who saw Tamil film Nattamai recommended Mohan Babu to watch the film. Impressed by the film, Babu decided to remake the film in Telugu with himself in lead role. N. T. Rama Rao attended the launch and clapped the board for the first shot where Mohan Babu puts garland on Rajinikanth.^[4] The launch event also saw D. Ramanaidu, Nageswara Rao and Dasari Narayana Rao attending it.^[4] Rajinikanth did a cameo appearance as Paparayudu reprising the role originally enacted by Vijayakumar in the original.^[5] The dubbing voice for Rajinikanth was given by Saikumar.^[4] Ravi Raja Pinisetty was chosen to be the film's director. Mohan Babu initially agreed to cast Bhanupriya for elder character's wife but later got opinions from people around him that she's "an iron leg" and thus he preferred Khushboo for the role however Pinisetty remained firm with the choice. When Rajinikanth came to know of this, he finalised Bhanupriya for the role.^[6] The film was shot at Rajahmundry, East Godavari district.^[7]

Soundtrack was composed by Koti.

• Pedarayudu at IMDb