Pundarika Ranganathudu is a follower of Krishna but for the wrong reasons and does not listen to his father and his mother. He does all the mischievous things that Krishna did in his reign. Once when his family members ask him to marry he leaves his village and runs away. After his family members perform a yagnam he comes back to his village. In the neighboring village, Lakshmi is an ardent devotee of Krishna. One night Krishna appears in her dreams and asks her to marry Pundarika. So Lakshmi's father approaches Pundarika but he refuses. Later, after some persuasion from Lakshmi, Pundarika accepts the marriage. Meanwhile, a dancer Amrutha comes to their village. Pundarika is mesmerized by her beauty and gets into a relationship with her. He offers all the gold in his house to her. But, after the marriage, he stops visiting Amrutha. Knowing this Amrutha's mother calls Pundarika for a meal and serves Kala Kuta Rasayana, which makes him violent at a small sound and grabs all his wealth. Then he lands in an unknown place where he kicks a saint and is cursed. The rest of the film is about how Pundarika returns to his family and becomes a devotee of Krishna.
A critic from Rediff.com wrote that "Pandurangadu offers a refreshing alternative to the current crop of movies".[3] Jeevi of Idlebrain.com rated the film three out of five and wrote that "The plus points are Bala Krishna and the music. On the flipside, the emotions would have been strongly established".[4] A critic from Full Hyderabad wrote that "Pandurangadu is singularly devoid of any intelligence, subtlety or depth, and unless you want to see God on the silver screen, you should stay away".[5]