''Batasari'' () is a 1961 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 S ...

-language

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

, produced and directed by

Ramakrishna Ramakrishna Paramahansa ( bn, রামকৃষ্ণ পরমহংস, Ramôkṛṣṇo Pôromohôṅso; , 18 February 1836 – 16 August 1886),——— — also spelled Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, born Gadadhar Chattopadhyaya,, was an In ...

of Bharani Pictures. It was simultaneously made in Tamil as ''Kaanal Neer'' (). Based on the

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the ...

novel ''Bardidi'' () by Saratchandra Chatterjee, the film stars P. Bhanumathi and

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 ...

, with music composed by Master Venu. ''Batasari'' was released on 30 June 1961, and ''Kaanal Neer'' on 21 July. Both versions did not succeed commercially.

Plot

Surendranath "Suren" is the son of a Zamindar. His good-hearted stepmother, keeping in mind his health objects to his going to London for higher studies. A peeved Suren leaves home, reaches Madras, and stays with a rich man Apparao as a tutor to his younger daughter Pramila. Widowed even before she attained womanhood, Madhavi the eldest daughter of Apparao learns about the distrait ways of Suren and provides him with all his needs. When she writes about Suren to her friend Manorama, Manorama cautions her about showing too much interest in him. Hurt by her servant's gossip about her and Suren and also for neglecting his duty as a teacher, Madhavi chides Suren. Upset, he leaves on an aimless journey, meets with an accident and his father takes him home. Suren marries Shanti, but his heart longs for Madhavi. After performing her brother Siva Chandra's marriage, Madhavi hands over responsibilities to his wife and leaves for her home inherited from her husband, but finds that house under auction due to a plot hatched by Suren's estate manager. Not knowing it was Suren, Madhavi goes to confront the Zamindar. Meanwhile, Suren learns about the manager's wicked ways and despite his grave illness rushes on horseback to meet Madhavi to give her house documents. They meet. She expresses a wish to see his wife, Shanti, while he struggles to express his love for her. He dies in her lap.

Cast

* P. Bhanumathi as Madhavi *

as Surendranath "Suren" * J. V. Ramana Murthy as Siva Chandra * Mudigonda Lingamurthy as Diwan Alwar * Vangara as Pullaiah * B. R. Panthulu Apparao *Vinnakota Ramanna Pantulu as Raghavaiah *Boddapati as Anjaiah *Doraiswamy as Zamindar of Dharapuram * ''Shavukaru'' Janaki as Shanthi * Devika as Manorama *

Suryakantham Suryakantam or Sooryakantam (pronounced sūryakāntam) is a rāgam in Carnatic music (musical scale of South Indian classical music). It is the 17th ''melakarta'' rāgam (parent scale) in the 72 ''melakarta'' rāgam system of Carnatic music. I ...

as Sundaramma *Chaya Devi as Poornamma *

L. Vijayalakshmi Lakshmanan Vijayalakshmi is an Indian actress and classical dancer whose career was from 1959 to 1969. She appeared in Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu and Hindi films. Early life and training Vijayalakshmi was born in Ernakulam and was ...

as Dancer * Lakshmirajyam as Dancer *''Baby'' Sasikala as Prameela

Production

''Batasari'' is based on the novel ''Bardidi'' by Saratchandra Chatterjee. It was simultaneously filmed in Tamil as ''Kaanal Neer''. The Telugu version was originally titled ''Yendamavulu''. Before and during the shoot, for inspiration,

was asked by

to watch

Uttam Kumar Uttam Kumar ( bn, উত্তম কুমার; born Arun Kumar Chattopadhyay; 3 September 1926 – 24 July 1980), popularly known as the Mahanayak, was an Indian actor, producer, director, script writer, composer, and singer who predom ...

's performance in the 1959 film version of ''Bardidi''. Nageswara Rao complied, and even donned the getup just like Kumar, but held to his own on histrionics.

Soundtrack

Music composed by Master Venu. Lyrics were written by Samudrala Sr. For ''Kaanal Neer'', the lyrics were written by

Kannadasan Kannadasan (; 24 June 1927 – 17 October 1981) was an Indian philosopher, poet, film song lyricist, producer, actor, script-writer, editor, philanthropist, and is heralded as one of the greatest and most important lyricists in India. Freq ...

and

Ku. Ma. Balasubramaniam Kurichchi Marimuthu Balasubramaniam better known as Ku. Ma. Balasubramaniam (1920-1994) was an Indian writer and poet who wrote mainly in the Tamil language. Early life Ku. Ma. Balasubramaniam born on 13 May 1920 at Velukkudi near Mannargudi in ...

Release and reception

''Batasari'' was released on 30 June 1961, and ''Kaanal Neer'' on 21 July 1961. ''

The Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932. It is published in Mumbai by the Indian Express Limited, Indian Express Group. In 1999, eight years after the group's founder Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991, ...

'' said, "The standout feature of ''Kaanal Neer'' is the fascinating photography of young Venkat, particularly in the climax. In other technical respects, the film maintains a good standard." Both versions did not succeed commercially; according to historian

Randor Guy Madabhushi Rangadorai (born 8 November 1937), better known by his pen name Randor Guy, is an Indian lawyer, columnist and film and legal historian associated with the English language newspaper '' The Hindu''. He is also the official editor of ...

, this was because audiences felt the story was too highbrow.

References

External links

* * {{IMDb title, 0263529, Kaanal Neer 1960s multilingual films 1960s Tamil-language films 1960s Telugu-language films 1961 drama films 1961 films Films based on works by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay Films directed by P. S. Ramakrishna Rao Films scored by Master Venu Indian black-and-white films Indian drama films Indian multilingual films