| Meera | |
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M. S. Subbulakshmi from the film Meera |
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| Directed by | Ellis R. Dungan |
| Starring | M. S. Subbulakshmi Kumari Kamala T. S. Baliah and Chittor V. Nagaiah |
| Release date(s) | 1945 |
| Language | Tamil |
Meera is a 1945 Tamil-language film starring M. S. Subbulakshmi, Kumari Kamala, T. S. Baliah and Chittoor V. Nagaiah based on the life of the devotional singer and dancer Meera. The film was directed by American film director Ellis R. Dungan.[1]
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The story is set around 1580, in the time of King Akbar. Biramdev is the king of Medta, a province in Rajasthan. He has 2 daughters, Meera and Krishna and a son, Jaimal. Meera is in deep emotional love with Lord Krishna, so much so that she consider Lord Krishna to be her husband. Akbar is becoming stronger day by day and hence other small provinces are trying to join against Akbar. Medta, in one such political agreement, decides to join hands with Raja Vikramajit . As a part of this agreement Meera is married (against her wish) to Vikramajit's son, Rana Bhojraj. But even after getting married her love for Lord Krishna remains the same and she follows her own ideals and way of living which are not very acceptable to Bhojraj and his family. One thing leads to another and one day Meera is declared as an outcast and traitor who failed to play a wife's duties towards her husband, a bride's duties towards her family, and a woman's duties towards society. She is jailed and a public trial is ordered to decide her fate. But Meera is still unshakable and her spirituality keeps her going. She is not even afraid of death. Finally, she is given a death sentence and ordered to publicly drink a cup of poison.
Initially, the Kannada singer C. Honnappa Bhagavathar was chosen to play the part of the Rana, but later due to reasons unknown, he was replaced with Chittoor V. Nagaiah.[2]
M. S. Subbulakshmi held the view that the shooting locations should be as similar to the actual pilgrimage spots connected with the life of the saint Mirabai as possible. Hence,she insisted that they shoot the film at the very pilgrimage spots Mirabai had visited.[3]
Ellis R. Dungan agreed and with a vast entourage, the crew set out for North India.[3] Dungan was familiar with Rajputana and its culture to the extent of the color of the bangles the Rajput women used.[3]
Once when the entourage passed through the town of Vrindavan with M. S. singing "Brindavan ki mangal lila", the renditions remained in the memories for many days.[3] On another occasion, she almost drowned during the filming of a rescue scene in the river Yamuna.[3]
Being a Christian, Ellis R. Dungan was not allowed inside Hindu temples.[2] Hence,in order to shoot inside Hindu temples he would occasionally disguise himself as a Kashmiri pandit.[2]
Ellis R. Dungan introduced some new and advanced filming techniques while shooting the movie.[4] The transition of young Mirabai (played by baby Radha) into the adult (M. S. Subbulakshmi) during the song "Nandha Balaa En Manalaa.." was shot in a rapidly-cut extremely fast-paced sequence.[4]
"Kaatrinile Varum Geetham...", written by Kalki, was one of the popular songs in the movie.[2] The tune and melody for the song were taken from a song by the Bengali singer Juthika Roy and were suggested by Kalki to the music director S. V. Venkataraman.[2]
The film was a success and made in Hindi. It was also a success in Hindi. The Hindi version of the film had an introduction by the "Nightingale of India", Sarojini Naidu.
The film was screened at various film festivals such as Prague Film Festival, Venice Film Festival and Toronto Film Festival