Jaani runs a small-time casino with his partner Bhillu. One day he helps two women Anusha and Uthpala, stuck with their broken car, and gives them a drive. Utpala succeeds in an interview by remembering Jaani's answer and gets a job as a nurse in a hospital. Jaani and his partner also help Anusha to get a job by blocking her competitor. One day, Bhillu discovers cocaine in an egg in his kitchen and they start investigating the source of this egg. They discover this to be from Pogaku Subbarao 's store. This unfolds the links between a seeming businessman, Pogaku Subbarao, and an underworld Don, Vasanth Dada. They also offer jobs to the unemployed and use them to sell their body parts. Utpala's unemployed brother Sharma gets into their trap and leaves home. Utpala reaches Jaani for help to talk to her brother. Jaani discovers that the phone number given to contact her brother is in the same city and starts exploring into this. Meanwhile, Anusha lodges a complaint against Pogaku Subbarao and his nephew, Sudhakar about their dark secrets. Salim, a left hand of Suresh Oberoi, disguises himself as a policeman and asks Anusha to come with him for an inquiry. When he attempts a rape, Jaani saves her. They fall in love and start exploring Vasanth Dada's kingdom. They discover that Sharma escaped from Vasanth Dada's den and left a letter with Utpala, explaining every activity in the underworld. Sharma, the lone witness of the underworld, is killed in the hospital by Salim. When Jaani and Anusha attack Vasanth Dada, they're captured and left in a desert as prey for vultures. Using a magnifying glass, dropped by Pogaku Subbarao, they free themselves and attack Vasanth Daada. In the final clash, Jaani and Bhillu collapse the entire Vasanth Dada dynasty. Jaani marries Anusha and is shown traveling with kid.
The movie was a declared a superhit at the box office, but compared to the previous 3 movies, AbhilashaChallenge and " Rakshasudu ",Marana Mrudangam was an average success for the combination of Chiranjeevi, A. Kodandarami Reddy, K. S. Rama Rao, Ilaiyaraaja and Yandamuri.
This film is based on the celebrated novel by Yandamuri Veerendranath Marana Mrudangam. Being a long novel, it had to be trimmed without losing the essence. Veerendranath himself did it in the screenplay, by establishing relationships between the characters. However, many details to boost the heroism were added to the screenplay, to ensure the commercial success of the movie.
