420

A thief with a taste for priceless antiquities is the hero of 420, a 1992 Telugu crime caper directed by E. V. V. Satyanarayana. Nagendra Babu, also known as Naga Babu, plays the light-fingered lead, a man who makes his living lifting valuable historical artefacts. His life takes a turn when he falls for a young woman who learns about his past and asks him to give up stealing for good. He agrees, but only after one last job, promising that once it is done he will hand himself over to the police. Kota Srinivasa Rao, Brahmanandam, Chandra Mohan, Subhalekha Sudhakar, Sudhakar, Rallapalli, Ali and Jayaprakash Reddy fill out a cast crowded with familiar comic and character faces of the period. Vidyasagar composed the songs, with lyrics by Veturi, Satyanand wrote the dialogue, and M. Satya Kumar produced the film for Padmasatya Movies. The title borrows the everyday Indian slang for a cheat or swindler, a fitting label for a hero who lives by his wits.