Mysooru Mallige (1942) is one of the great literary works of K. S. Narasimhaswamy, a great Kannada poet. This collection of poems inspired the movie[1] made by T.S. Nagabharana and also a musical play by Kalagangothri.
Mysooru Mallige is so popular among people that many used to present the book in marriages and it has seen 27 reprints to-date. The book was first released in 1942 at Maharaja College and Mysore has a special significance in the life of K.S. Narasimhaswamy.
It is the narration style of director of the play B.V. Rajaram, which appealed to the theatre connoisseurs. By according flexibility to the character of "Balegaara Channayya" (fictitious character of a bangle seller in rural parts, who converses with the granddaughter of the poet and looks critically at the socio-economic changes in the post-Independence era), he succeeds in communicating effectively.
With a song on his lips and tears in his eyes, venerated poet Narasimhaswamy (popularly known as KSN) tried to portray grief, joy and adolescent love of his generation in his own inimitable style.
Like R.K. Narayan's fictitious Malgudi, Narasimhaswamy created "Naviluru" and narrated pre-independence life of Karnataka in all its colour and vigour.
While T.S. Nagabharana directed "Mysooru Mallige" based on the poems of Narasimhaswamy and portrayed rural life and the pre-Independence movement, Rajaram dared to explore various stages in the poet's life, beginning from adolescence to old age in a vivid manner and unveil life in its entirety to the viewers.
Rajendra Karanth aptly adopted the poetry to the theatre and made it more contemporary. Actors lived up to the expectation.
He has adopted songs by P. Kalinga Rao, Mysore Ananthaswamy and C. Ashwath, who have popularised poems of Narasimhaswamy and made viewers nostalgic. However, by composing popular tunes, S.R. Ramakrishna lost a golden opportunity to experiment with the (Ranga-Geethegalu) songs meant specifically for theatre production. But poems such as "Balegara Channayya, Bagilige Bandihanu", "Hattu Varshada Hinde" and "Nee Baruva Dariyali" enthralled theatre lovers.
The Audio cassettes of Mysore Mallige songs have enthralled the minds of the Kannadiga for years. The wonderful music composition from the famous Kannada Sugama Sangeetha singer and composer C. Aswath, and beautiful rendering of the songs by the popular Sugama Sangeetha singers namely Ratnamala Prakash and C. Aswath himself, have kept the creation of the great poet alive in the hearts of many till today. The unique aspect of the cassette is the narration before the commencement of the songs by famous Kannada poet Dr.N.S.Lakshmi Narayana Bhatta, which is a poetic bliss by itself. The narration makes some of the rare revelations like the one about the famous Kannada poet Da Ra Bendre`s acknowledgement about K. S. Narasimhaswamy`s prowess. Dr.N.S.Lakshmi Narayana Bhatta in his narration compares Mysore Mallige songs to the beauty of Apsara.