Sati Sulochana
| Sati Sulochana | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Yaragudipati Varada Rao |
| Produced by | Shah Chamanlal Doongaji |
| Screenplay by | Bellave Narahari Shastri |
| Starring |
M. V. Subbaiah Naidu Tripuramba R. Nagendra Rao D. A. Murthy Rao Y. V. Rao C. T. Sheshachalam |
| Music by |
R. Nagendra Rao H. R. Padmanabha Sastry |
| Release dates | 3 March 1934 |
| Running time | 173 minutes |
| Country | India |
| Language | Kannada |
| Budget |
 40,000 |
Sati Sulochana (Kannada: ಸತಿ ಸುಲೋಚನ) is an Indian Kannada-language film. The film was released in the year 1934 and is the first talkie film in Kannada language.[1][2][3] It is also the first film to be screened in the erstwhile Mysore Kingdom.[4]
Plot
Sati Sulochana is based on the character Sulochana from the Ramayana. She is the wife of Indrajit and the daughter-in-law of Ravana, the demon-king in Ramayana. The film tries to portray the goings on of the war between the Hindu god Rama and Ravana as seen from the point-of-view of Sulochana. Ravana abducts Rama's wife Sita to his kingdom of Lanka, drawing Rama into a war. In the course of the war, Rama's brother Lakshman is knocked unconscious by an arrow from Indrajit and is revived by a medicinal herb called Sanjeevani. The revived Lakshman kills Indrajit and makes Sulochana a widow. Ravana's defeat by Lord Rama and the killing of Indrajit is viewed through the eyes of Sulochana. Unable to bear the pain of husband's death, Sulochana commits sati sacrifice.
Cast
- M. V. Subbaiah Naidu as Indrajit
- Tripuramba as Sulochana
- R. Nagendra Rao as Ravana
- Lakshmi Bai asMandodari
- Y. V. Rao as Lakshmana
- C. V. Seshachalam as Narada
- D. A. Murthy Rao as Rama
- S. K. Padmadevi as Sakhi
- Indubala
Background
The producer of the film was a Marwari businessman from Bangalore (a native of Ahore, Jalore District of Rajasthan) named Shah Chamanlal Doongaji,[4] who started a film production company in Bangalore called South India Movietone in 1932. He decided to make a mythological movie called Sati Sulochana involving characters from the Ramayana like Ravana, Ravana's son Indrajit, Ravana's wife Mandodari and Indrajit's wife Sulochana. He engaged Yaragudipati Varada Rao to direct the film as well as play a character of Lakshman, Bellave Narahari Shastri to write the screenplay, dialogues and lyrics. Nagendra Rao, who had previous exposure to films, was selected to play the role of Ravana and was given an additional role of production management.[4] M. V. Subbaiah Naidu was selected to play the lead role of Indrajit and two ladies; Lakshmi Bai and Thripuramaba were selected to play the roles of Mandodari and Sulochana respectively.
Production
Sachin Nayaka chose to shoot the film at Chatrapathi Studio in Kolhapur. The production was started in December 1933 and took 2 months to complete. Shooting was entirely done in natural sunlight and the total amount spent for production was 40,000. The film involved shooting a war scene and this was done using 2 cameras.[5] The film was released on March 3, 1934 at Paramount cinema theatre (later called as Parimala talkies) near the City Market of Bangalore. The length of the film was 173 minutes.[6] Being the first Kannada talkie film, it ran house-full at Bangalore for six weeks.[4]
See also
- List of Kannada films
- Kannada cinema
Notes
- ↑ Dr.Raj's impact on Kannada cinema Rediff.com
- ↑ "First film to talk in Kannada". Chennai, India: The Hindu. Dec 31, 2004.
- ↑ "A revolutionary filmmaker". Chennai, India: The Hindu. Aug 22, 2003.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 "First film to talk in Kannada". Online Edition of the Hindu, dated 2004-12-31 (Chennai, India: The Hindu). 31 December 2004. Retrieved 21 April 2007.
- ↑ "Philatelic show to mark 78th anniversary of 'Sati Sulochana'". The Hindu. 25 February 2012. Retrieved 5 October 2013.
- ↑ "History: Sati Sulochana - First Kannada movie released". Chitraloka. Retrieved 5 October 2013.