Bedara Kannappa

Bedara Kannappa is a 1954 Indian Kannada-language Hindu mythological film directed by H. L. N. Simha and written by G. V. Iyer. The film stars Rajkumar playing the title character along with Pandari Bai, Kushala Kumari, G. V. Iyer, Sandhya and Narasimharaju in other prominent roles. The film is an adaptation of a stage play by the Gubbi Veeranna Nataka Company,[1] which was based on the folk tale of the hunter Kannappa who proves his extreme devotion to the Hindu God Shiva by gouging out both his eyes.[2]

Bedara Kannappa
Poster
Kannada	ಬೇಡರ ಕಣ್ಣಪ್ಪ
Directed by	H. L. N. Simha
Written by	G. V. Iyer
Produced by	A. V. Meiyappan C. R. Basavaraju Gubbi Veeranna
Starring	Rajkumar Pandari Bai Raja Sulochana Narasimha Raju
Cinematography	S. Maruthi Rao
Edited by	K. Shankar
Music by	R. Sudarsanam
Production companies	AVM Productions The Karnataka Films Ltd.
Release date	7 May 1954
Running time	165 minutes
Country	India
Language	Kannada

Bedara Kannappa started as a play produced by the Gubbi Veeranna Nataka Company before it became a Kannada film.[3] The film rights of the play were later bought by A. V. Meiyappan of AVM Productions. The film's songs were composed by R. Sudarsanam, with lyrics written by S. Nanjappa. The cinematography of the film was handled by S. Maruthi Rao.[4] In 1953, Singanalluru Puttaswamaiah Muthuraj, a dramatist with Gubbi Veeranna Nataka Company was spotted by director H. L. N. Simha, who was on the lookout for well-built, pleasant-faced man for the starring role in film. Simha eventually signed Muthuraj for the film and named him Rajkumar. Filming began in mid-1953 and took over two months to complete.[5] This was the debut film of both Rajkumar and Narasimharaju as actors and of G.V. Iyer as a scriptwriter.[6]

Bedara Kannappa was released on May 7, 1954 in Bangalore's Sagar and Shivaji theatres and New Opera theatre in Mysore to low expectations.[7] The owners of New Opera theatre, thought that at best it would only run for two weeks.[3] However, defying expectations; The film was critically and commercially successful, becoming the first Kannada film to have a direct run of 365 days.[8] The film was the inaugural recipient of National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Kannada (then called the Certificate of Merit)[9] in National film awards 1954.[10] Following the film's success in Karnataka, it was dubbed into Tamil and released as Vedan Kannappa.[11] Later, the film was remade in Telugu as Kalahasti Mahatyam also starring Rajkumar, in his only non-Kannada film appearance.[12] The film was also remade in Hindi in 1955 by the same director-producer duo as Shiv Bhakta.[13] It was again remade in Telugu in 1976 as Bhakta Kannappa.[12][14]