''Mahakavi Kalidasu'' is a 1960 Indian

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 ...

-language

biographical film A biographical film or biopic () is a film that dramatizes the life of a non-fictional or historically-based person or people. Such films show the life of a historical person and the central character's real name is used. They differ from docudra ...

directed by

Kamalakara Kameswara Rao Kamalakara Kameswara Rao (14 October 1911 – 29 June 1998) was an Indian film director known for his works predominantly in Telugu cinema, and a few Tamil and Hindi films. Widely known as ''Pauranika Chitra Brahma'' (), Kameswara Rao directed fi ...

and written by Pingali. It stars

Akkineni Nageswara Rao Akkineni Nageswara Rao (20 September 1923 – 22 January 2014), widely known as ANR, was an Indian actor and producer, known for his works majorly in Telugu cinema. He starred in many landmark films in his seventy five-year career, and became on ...

and

Sriranjani Jr. Sriranjani (22 February 1927 – 27 April 1974) was an Indian actress active in Telugu and Tamil films. She was the younger sister of Sriranjani (actress), Sriranjani. She is known mainly for her tragedy roles particularly as the long-suffering ...

, with music composed by Pendyala. It was produced by K. Nagamani and P. Suri Babu. The film is based on the life of the poet

Kalidasa Kālidāsa (''fl.'' 4th–5th century CE) was a Classical Sanskrit author who is often considered ancient India's greatest poet and playwright. His plays and poetry are primarily based on the Vedas, the Rāmāyaṇa, the Mahābhārata and t ...

Plot

The king of the Avanti kingdom has a daughter Vidyadhari, an ardent devotee of Goddess Mahakali. Once a soothsayer predicts that she would be the leading woman in a great history. Being cognizant of it, the King decides to espouse his daughter with a glorious poet when Mahamantri Hariharamathyudu (K.V.S.Sarma) expresses his desire to couple up the princess with his idiotic son but King scorns him. Enraged Mahamantri ploys and finds a young charming, retarded guy Kaludu (Akkineni Nageswara Rao), passing him off as a great scholar, and performing his marriage with the princess. Soon after, Vidyadhari realizes the truth, and laments before the goddess, to save her, Kaludu makes a huge penance when Kaali accords him a boon of new Knowledge. Immediately, Kaludu transforms into a Sanskrit scholar Kalidasu but forgets the past and leaves the place. Distressed Vidyadhari stands up with courage and keeping faith in her deity goes ahead in search of her husband. Right now, Kalidasu earns various kudos for his works and reaches Kaasi where he clarifies a stanza and states it is from Ramayana written by Lord Hanuman. Listening to it, self-proclaimed poet Rakshasa (C.S.R) at the court of King Bhoja Raja (S.V.Ranga Rao) heckles when Lord Hanuman appears, punishes him, and affirms Kalidasa as a great poet. Witnessing it, Bhoja Raja himself moves to pursue his whereabouts of him. Both of them meet at a peepal tree where a demon awaiting their conjoining presents them with an idol of Goddess Sharada which they install in Bharatacharya's (P. Suribabu) ashram. Here, Bhoja Raja bestows a great admiration & respect for Kalidasu which irks Kavi Rakshasa and ruses to defame him. Simultaneously, learning regarding her husband Vidyadhari lands at Kaasi where she spots Kalidasu's closeness with court dancer Vilasavati (Rajasulocahana). Humiliated Vidyadhari tries to commit suicide when Bharatacharya rescues and gives her shelter. Currently, she starts serving Kalidasu who calls her Uma and falls for her. But recognizing her as a married woman he goes into depression. During that time, as a coincidence, Bhoja Raja asks him scripture an epic on feelings out of separation when Kalidasu composes a beautiful love story Meghasandesam. Then, Kavi Rakshasa challenges to write the same but fails, so, he steals Kalidasu's book. But by god's grace Bhoja Raja understands the reality when Kavi Rakshana is penalized by withdrawing his laureates. Thereafter, Bhoja Raja requests Kalidasu to pen the story of

Shakuntala Shakuntala (Sanskrit: ''Śakuntalā'') is the wife of Dushyanta and the mother of Emperor Bharata. Her story is told in the ''Adi Parva'' of the ancient Indian epic ''Mahabharata'' and dramatized by many writers, the most famous adaption bei ...

which he hesitates as there is a lack of standards in characters. Later on, with the inspiration of Vidyadhari, he completes another world-class epic

Abhijñānaśākuntalam ''Abhijnanashakuntalam'' (Devanagari: अभिज्ञानशाकुन्तलम्, IAST: ''Abhijñānaśākuntalam''), also known as ''Shakuntala'', ''The Recognition of Shakuntala'', ''The Sign of Shakuntala'', and many other variant ...

. At present, Bhoja Raja decides to accolade Kalidasu with half of his kingdom. At that juncture, Bharatacharya gazes the relationship between Kalidasu & Vidyadhari, so, he invites the King of Avanti too for the event where he professes Kalidasu as his daughter's husband to which he refuses. During that plight, Vidyadhari implores the deity who retrieves Kalidasu's memory. Finally, the movie ends on a happy note with the reunion of the couple.

Cast

as Vidyadhari *

S. V. Ranga Rao Samarla Venkata Ranga Rao (3 July 1918 – 18 July 1974), popularly known as SVR, was an Indian actor, producer, and director known for his works majorly in Telugu and Tamil films. He is regarded as one of the finest actors in the history o ...

as Raja Bhoja * C.S.R as Rakshasa Kavi * Relangi as Sutradhari * K.V.S.Sarma as Hariharamathyudu * Vangara * Mudigonda Lingamurthy as King of Avanti * P. Suri Babu as Bharathacharya *

Rajasulochana Chittajallu Rajeevalochana (15 August 1935 – 5 March 2013), better known as Rajasulochana, was an Indian classical dancer and actress. She has acted in more than 300 Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi language films. Early life She w ...

as Vilasavathi, court dancer * Sandhya * Vasanthi as Goddess Kalika * ''Master'' Nagaraju

Soundtrack

Music was composed by Pendyala.

Poems

Lyrics were written by P. Suribabu

Awards

;

National Film Awards The National Film Awards is the most prominent film award ceremony in India. Established in 1954, it has been administered, along with the International Film Festival of India and the Indian Panorama, by the Indian government's Directorat ...

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Ja ...

: President's silver medal for Best Feature Film in Telugu

References

External links

* {{National Film Award Best Feature Film Telugu 1960 films 1960s biographical films 1960s Telugu-language films Best Telugu Feature Film National Film Award winners Films about Kalidasa Films directed by Kamalakara Kameswara Rao Films scored by Pendyala Nageswara Rao Indian biographical films Indian black-and-white films