''Guna Sundari'' or ''Gunasundari'' is a 1955 Indian

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

-language film starring

Gemini Ganesan Ramasamy Ganesan (17 November 1920 – 22 March 2005), better known by his stage name Gemini Ganesan, was an Indian actor who worked mainly in Tamil cinema. He was referred to as the ''Kaadhal Mannan'' (King of Romance) for his romantic roles ...

and Savitri. The film was remake of the 1949 Telugu film ''

Gunasundari Katha ''Gunasundari Katha'' is a 1949 Indian Telugu language fantasy film produced and directed by K. V. Reddy, starring Sriranjani, Kasturi Siva Rao, Santha Kumari. The script was written by Pingali Nagendra Rao, K. V. Reddy, and Kamalakara Kameswara ...

''. It was not successful at the box office.

Plot

Ugra Senan is the king of Dhara Nagaram. He has three daughters, Rupasundari, Hemasundari and Gunasundari. Gunasundari is the youngest. Their mother dies when Gunasundari is born. Ugra Senan brings up the three girls with the utmost care. After the girls are grown up, one day during a chat between father and daughters, the two older daughters declare that the father is the most important person in a girl's life. However, Gunasundari differs from them and says that the husband is the most important person in a girl's life. Father Ugra Senan becomes displeased and angry at Gunasundari. He marries off the two older daughters to their cousins. But in order to teach Gunasundari a lesson, he marries her off to an aged pauper with a physical deformity. After the wedding, the king learns that the pauper is actually a young prince but suffers from a curse. The king orders Gunasundari and her husband to leave his kingdom. They then live in a hut outside the kingdom. The king become ill. The native physicians says his illness can be cured only with a rare gem called Mahendra Mani. Gunasundari's husband goes in search of the gem and succeeds in finding it. He is turned into a bear due to another curse. His two elder brothers-in-law rob the gem from him and give it to the king who is then cured. Gunasundari prays to

Lord Shiva Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions within Hindu ...

and

Parvati Parvati ( sa, पार्वती, ), Uma ( sa, उमा, ) or Gauri ( sa, गौरी, ) is the Hindu goddess of power, energy, nourishment, harmony, love, beauty, devotion, and motherhood. She is a physical representation of Mahadevi i ...

regularly. Shiva and Parvati are pleased with her devotion and bless her and her husband. Relieved of his curses, Gunasundari's husband regains his handsome princely form. The king learns the truth. He recalls Gunasundari and her husband back to the kingdom and crowns them King and Queen.

Cast

;Male cast * R. Ganesh as prince * M. E. Madhavan as deformed prince * S. V. Ranga Rao as Ugrasenan * M. N. Nambiar as second son-in-law * A. Karunanidhi as Eldest son-in-law * Duraisami * V. M. Ezhumalai * R. Nageswara Rao * C. V. V. Panthulu * R. S. Ramaswamy *

E. R. Sahadevan E. R. Sahadevan was a Tamil veteran villain actor. He acted as the villain along with M. G. Ramachandran, Sivaji Ganesan, Gemini Ganesan, S. S. Rajendran in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. He made his debut film Rajasekaran Emantha Sonagiri, rele ...

* Balakrishna ;Female cast * Savitri as Gunasundari * Lakshmi Prabha as Rupasundari * T. P. Muthulakshmi as Hemasundari * A. Kamala Chandrababu * T. N. Meenakshi *

Rushyendramani Rushyendramani (1 January 1917 – 17 August 2002) was an Indian actress, singer, dancer, and playback singer from South India. She had more than 150 movies to her credit and acted in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi films from the 193 ...

* Seetha * Rajani * Dhanam * ''Kumari'' Thulasi * ''Baby'' Sharada * ''Baby'' Jaya & Nirmala * ''Baby'' Uma & Komala

Production

B. N. Reddy Bommireddy Narasimha Reddy (16 November 1908 – 8 November 1977), professionally known as B. N. Reddy, was an Indian film director, producer, and screenwriter. He was an early figure in the Telugu cinema. Many of his earlier films like ''Vand ...

and A. Chakrapani produced the film under the banner

Vijaya Productions Vijaya Vauhini Studios was one of the premier motion picture movie studios in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It is the combination of Vijaya Productions and Vauhini Studios. B. Nagi Reddy (Bommireddy Nagi Reddy) was the founder of Vijaya Produ ...

. The film was made in

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

with the title ''

'' with

Sriranjani Sriranjani is a ragam in Carnatic music (musical scale of South Indian classical music). It is a hexatonic scale (''shadava'' rāgam, which means "of six"). It is a derived scale (''janya'' rāgam), as it does not have all the seven ''swaras' ...

and Kasturi Siva Rao. The Telugu film was released in 1949. The film is said to be inspired from Shakespeare's ''

King Lear ''King Lear'' is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare. It is based on the mythological Leir of Britain. King Lear, in preparation for his old age, divides his power and land between two of his daughters. He becomes destitute and insane ...

''.

Soundtrack

Music was composed by Ghantasala and lyrics for all songs were penned by Thanjai N. Ramaiah Dass.

Box office

This Tamil version Gunasundari was a flop. However, the Telugu version ''Gunasundari Katha'' was a success and remained a favourite of producer B. Nagi Reddy.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, tt0263408 1955 films 1950s Tamil-language films Indian black-and-white films Films based on King Lear Films scored by Ghantasala (musician) Films directed by Kamalakara Kameswara Rao Tamil remakes of Telugu films