Malliswari (1951 film)

During the reign of the Vijayanagara Empire, "Rani Vasam" was a common tradition that was considered a "boon" for young women. According to the tradition, young women were made the official residents of the palace when palanquins were sent to fetch them from their homes, offering large quantities of gold and jewellery to the parents in exchange. While the families of these women continue to cherish their daughters, these women were prohibited from having any contact with any male or letting any male visit them without permission. The ones who violated the rule were hanged.

Nagaraju and Mallishwari of Veerapuram are cross-cousins who became close friends in childhood. This angers Mallishwari's mother Nagamma, who criticises Nagaraju and his mother Govindamma, mainly for their economic status. Mallishwari's father Narappa, also the village head, is a silent spectator, and her uncle Hanumanthappa is a minister in the court of Krishnadevaraya, the king of the Vijayanagara Empire. Once, Nagaraju and Mallishwari visit the nearby village and take shelter in a mandapa at night during a rainfall. Krishnadevaraya and Allasani Peddana, along with a few soldiers, enter the same mandapa where there are impressed with Mallishwari's talent as a singer and dancer. Nagaraju and Mallishwari, unaware of their true identity, converse with them, and Nagaraju asks them to recommend Mallishwari to Krishnadevaraya for Rani Vasam.

Mallishwari is against this and sees this as a prank by Nagaraju. While Nagamma is keen to send her to Rani Vasam, Narappa wants his daughter to marry Nagaraju. Nagamma voices her opinion insulting Nagaraju and Govindamma. Nagaraju then decides to leave Veerapuram and earn money to convince Nagamma to approve his marriage to Mallishwari. He becomes a successful sculptor in Vijayanagara and decides to return to Veerapuram. However, before he can do so, Krishnadevaraya and his wife Tirumaladevi appoint Mallishwari as the official resident of the palace, thereby granting her "Rani Vasam".

Due to her insatiable desire for wealth, Nagamma forcibly sends Mallishwari to the palace, and, when Nagaraju returns on the same night and learns what has happened, he becomes depressed. Govindamma becomes unstable after Nagaraju begins to lead the life of a recluse, mulling over his memories of Mallishwari. A group of sculptors meet Nagaraju and ask him to accompany them to Vijayanagara to build a special mandapa for dancers, and he agrees. There, he meets Mallishwari. They are separated by her maid Jalaja, who is afraid that they will be beheaded, as stipulated in the Rani Vasam tradition. Knowing about her past, Jalaja arranges a meeting of Mallishwari with Nagaraju on the banks of the Tungabhadra river at midnight.

Krishnadevaraya and his ministry attend the newly constructed dance hall, where they learn that Nagaraju is one of the sculptors. That night, Mallishwari wants to meet Nagaraju again but is held back after receiving a message that Krishnadevaraya and Tirumaladevi, along with other official residents of the palace, will be attending the play "Usha Parinayam" at the dance hall and that Mallishwari is expected to participate in it. Nagaraju, who is waiting for her near the Tungabhadra river, enters the palace and is chased by the soldiers. Mallishwari sees Nagaraju running and calls out to him. To prevent Mallishwari from being hanged, Nagaraju acts as if he does not know her, but they are soon jailed for violating the rules of Rani Vasam.

Jalaja reveals the love story of Mallishwari and Nagaraju to Tirumaladevi. She also reveals that Mallishwari denied any help from her and instead chose to die along with Nagaraju. The next morning, the hanging nooses are kept ready and the duo meet Krishnadevaraya before killing them. When Nagaraju blames Krishnadevaraya for sending a palanquin to her house for Rani Vasam, Krishnadevaraya defends his action and reminds Nagaraju that it was he who had asked him to send Mallishwari to Rani Vasam. Krishnadevaraya forgives both Nagaraju and Mallishwari, and their marriage is conducted in a grand manner at the palace.

• P. Bhanumathi as Mallishwari and the main female lead and singer
• N. T. Rama Rao as Nagaraju
• Sreevatsa as Krishnadevaraya
• Kumari as Tirumaladevi
• T. G. Kamala Devi as Jalaja
• Nyapathi Raghava Rao as Allasani Peddana
• Rushyendramani as Nagamma
• Doraiswamy as Narappa
• Surabhi Kamalabai as Govindamma
• Vangara Venkata Subbaiah as Hanumanthappa
• Revathi in a cameo appearance in the song "Poyi Ravamma"
• Baby Mallika as Young Mallishwari
• Master Venkata Ramana as Young Nagaraju

Virupaksha Temple at Hampi, Karnataka. At the sanctum sanctorum of this temple, B. N. Reddy decided in 1939 to direct a film where Krishnadevaraya would be the central character. This became the genesis of Mallishwari.

During the filming of his directorial debut Vandemataram (1939) at Hampi, B. N. Reddy visited the Virupaksha Temple to capture the beauty of the monuments, which reflected the taste and artistic outlook of Krishnadevaraya, king of the Vijayanagara Empire. At the heart of the temple, Reddy felt that he was standing exactly at a place where Krishnadevaraya had once stood and offered prayers to the deity. From that moment, Reddy decided to make a film in which Krishnadevaraya would be the main character, and he began working on the script.[5]

Reddy chose the concept of Rayalavari Karunakruthyamu, a popular play written by Telugu novelist Buchibabu that was published in the literary journal Bharathi (1944) and later broadcast by All India Radio, Madras.[6] He approached Telugu poet and playwright Devulapalli Krishnasastri to write the film's script and lyrics after being impressed with his previous works.[5] Reddy made a few changes to Buchibabu's play and reworked Krishnadevaraya's character.[5]

Apart from Rayalavari Karunakruthyamu, Krishnasastri's script also took inspiration from Devan Sharar's short story, The Emperor and the Slave Girl, which was published in the now defunct magazine, The Illustrated Weekly of India. It was Reddy's practice to credit the authors of works from which he borrowed the basic premise for a film, but in this film, that was not the case. Krishnasastry revealed the fact in an interview with Vijayachitra magazine after Reddy's death in 1977.[6] However, in the film's opening credits, Buchibabu was listed as the film's writer along with Krishnasastri.[7] Adi M. Irani and B. N. Konda Reddy were the film's cinematographers; S. Rajeswara Rao and Addepalli Ramarao composed the film's music; H. R. Narayana and Vasu edited the film.[7] A. K. Shekhar was the film's production designer and Thota Tharani's father Thota Venkateswara Rao assisted him.[6]

N. T. Rama Rao was chosen to play Nagaraju, a sculptor during the period of Krishnadevaraya's rule. B. N. Reddy wanted to cast a fresh face for the role of Mallishwari and screen-tested Kannada actress Revathi. He later finalised P. Bhanumathi, who played a negative role in his previous film Swarga Seema (1945), as the film's female lead, as he felt an experienced actress with a good voice would do better justice to the role.[5] Revathi made a cameo appearance in the song "Poyi Ravamma".[6] Differences arose between Reddy and Bhanumathi due to the latter's lack of punctuality. Due to the delay in production of Mallishwari, Bhanumathi had begun working in Prema (1952), which was produced by her husband P. S. Ramakrishna Rao. As she sported a curly hairdo, a body double was used for a few sequences as it was in contrast to the simple and soft tresses she sported in this film.[6] Regarding the same, Bhanumathi criticised Reddy, stating that he wanted his actresses to concentrate on his films and avoid getting married.[8]

Despite this, Reddy said that Rama Rao and Bhanumathi "made a cute on-screen pair", adding that one cannot imagine anyone else as Nagaraju and Malleswari. T. G. Kamala Devi, who played the role of Mallishwari in Buchibabu's radio play, was cast as Jalaja, Mallishwari's maid in the film.[6] Pasumarthi Krishnamurthy choreographed the songs. Reddy incorporated a few of his childhood incidents in the film, and according to Bhanumathi, the pranks between Mallishwari and Nagaraju and the sequence before the song "Kothi Bavaku Pellanta" were inspired by his childhood experiences.[6] Apart from designing the sets, Shekhar took care of the artists' hair and costumes. He also recreated the shores of the Tungabhadra River on a floor a Vauhini Studios building in Madras for the song "Manasuna Mallela".[6] The production phase of Mallishwari lasted two years.[5][6]

The official soundtrack of Mallishwari composed by S. Rajeswara Rao consists of 19 songs whose lyrics were penned by Devulapalli Krishnasastri. The sound mixing process was supervised by A. Krishnan and P. V. Koteswara Rao. It was processed by N. C. Sen Gupta and orchestrated by Addepalli Ramarao,[6] who was, however, credited as one of the film's music directors in the opening credits.[7] The song "Manasuna Mallela" was composed using the Kalyani raga.[9] Purandara Dasa's composition "Sri Gananatha" was used in the film's opening credits.[5] Being a playback singer, Bhanumathi provided vocals for all the songs featuring her character Mallishwari.[6] Composing the soundtrack took six months and Rajeswara Rao held rehearsals for both Ghantasala and Bhanumathi along with others.[5] The soundtrack, marketed by Saregama, was released on 31 December 1951.[10]

The soundtrack was a critical and commercial success.[5][6][8] In his review for Telugu Swatantra magazine, writer Aarudhra praised the film's sound designing by Krishnan and Koteswara Rao stating, "Heavy rain with winds lashed outside as [Mallishwari]'s mother converses with her husband Nagappa. Their conversation is clearly audible along with the sound of the rain and the wind. Even the flutter of the towel on Nagappa's shoulder is heard clearly".[6] In The Hans India, Aruna Ravikumar surmised that, for the song "Akasha Veedhilo", Krishnasastri had borrowed the image of a cloud as messenger between lovers from the poem "Meghasandesam" by Indian Sanskrit poet Kālidāsa.[11] Rajeswara Rao considered Mallishwari to be his best work after S. S. Vasan's Chandralekha (1948).[6] He especially liked "Akasha Veedhilo" and performed it numerous times at events he attended.[5]

After Bhanumathi's death in December 2005, K. V. S. Madhav of The Hindu recalled, "Even at the ripe age of 70-something, when she rendered her immortal number from Malleswari, 'Manasuna Mallela maalalugene...' in that honey-dipped voice, there was no eye that did not turn moist at Ravindra Bharathi almost a decade ago."[12] The single "Hey Pillagada" from Fidaa (2017) is an adapted version of the song "Parugulu Teeyaali," with the vocals of Bhanumathi and Ghantasala.[13]

Track listing[10]

Sri Thyagaraja Gana Sabha at Chikkadpally, Hyderabad where the film's 60th anniversary celebrations were held on 20 December 2011.[14]

Mallishwari was released on 20 December 1951.[14] Initially, it received a tepid response at the box office. However, ticket sales picked up due to positive word of mouth but the film underperformed commercially.[4][5] Reddy re-released the film after a gap, and it achieved bigger success.[4][5][1] Mallishwari was screened at the 1952 Peking film festival, making it the first Telugu film to be screened in China.[6]

Mallishwari grossed over ₹8 lakh, which according to Reddy, was a huge amount in those days. Vasan advised Reddy to dub the film into Hindi. A 16 mm print was sent to the United States.[1] After being screened in various countries, Reddy wanted to dub Mallishwari into English. However, the plans were dropped due to budget considerations.[8] Delhi Telugu Sangham screened the film at Azad Bhawan, New Delhi, on 21 February 2004.[15] The 60th anniversary of Mallishwari was celebrated with an event at the Sri Thyagaraja Gana Sabha, Chikkadpally, on 20 December 2011.[14]

• Kasbekar, Asha (2006). Pop Culture India!: Media, Arts, and Lifestyle. United States: ABC-CLIO. ISBN 1-85109-636-1.

• Malliswari at IMDb