Brahmanna is the head of Kotipalli, a village which did not have a police force. He descended from the Bobbili clan, which established his role as a mediator between people in the village. He made his impartial judgements before the table of justice—a massive tree trunk adorned with a sacred sword. Brahmanna's younger brother, Ravi, shortly falls in love with a woman named Kasturi. One day, a man named Bullebbayi rapes Kasturi's older sister, Swaraiyam, in a graveyard. Ravi intercedes and saves Swaraiyim and brings her to the table of justice. Bellebbayi's father, Rayudu, is plotting to occupy the chair of the village head, although he has a history of committing violent crimes such as hijacking a bus in service of stealing money. Brahmanna makes the decision that Bellebbayi should marry Swaraiyam, and Rayudu performs a dangerous abortion on his now-pregnant daughter-in-law. In retaliation to his justice, Rayudu starts a rumor that Brahmanna is having an illegal affair with a woman named Susheela and even sleeps in her hut on the outskirts of the village. Brahmanna reveals to his family and Rayudu that this Susheela is the widow of a man he wrongfully condemned to death, and that he is now looking after her. While he is taking care of Susheela, Brahmanna's daughter, Rajeswari, falls in love with Susheela's son, Rambabu. Brahmanna agrees to the couple's marriage, and Rajeswari goes to swing from the cradle under the tree in a fit of happiness. While she is swinging, Rayudu makes Rajeswari fall on a man and claims the impact blinded him. Brahmanna's impartial justice extends to his family as well, and he decides that Rajeswari must marry the blind man. Despite this, Ravi performs a secret marriage between Rajeswari and Rambabu. In anger, Brahmanna exiles Ravi from the village. During this commotion, Susheela finds out Rayudu's plan to overthrow Brahmanna. She informs him, and he slays Rayudu with the sword housed in the tree trunk. Despite the village's previous autonomy, the film ends with the police arresting Brahmanna for Rayudu's murder.
remade the film in Hindi as Dharm Adhikari under Gopi Krishna Movies in 1986 starring Dilip Kumar, Jeetendra, and Sridevi. In Bobbili Brahmanna, Krishnam Raju played both the lead roles, but in Dharm Adhikari, the two roles are played by Dilip Kumar and Jeetendra. It was also remade in Kannada as "Dharmapeetha", starring Shrinath and Shashikumar in lead roles.
After the huge success of the film, Krishnam Raju brought fish from his native place Mogalthur and gave a grand party to the entire cast and crew.
In an interview with The Hindu in 2006, Krishnam Raju said that if Bobbili Brahmanna were made today, it would have surely grossed at least.
In 2015, K. Raghavendra Rao shared his experience of the film on the TV show Soundrya Lahari with Prabhas and S. S. Rajamouli.
Legacy
The film's concept of a hero judging others' problems in his village became very popular. Later, the formula was used in Cheran Pandiyan , Chinna Gounder , Bobbili Simham, Nattamai , Kondapalli Rattaiah and Kondaveeti Simhasanam.
