''Krishna Bhakthi'' () is a 1949

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, nati ...

-language

historical History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

musical film, directed by R. S. Mani, and produced by S. N. Laxmana Chettiar. The film stars P. U. Chinnappa and

T. R. Rajakumari Thanjavur Radhakrishnan Rajayee (5 May 1922 – 20 September 1999), known by her screen name T. R. Rajakumari, was an Indian actress, Carnatic singer and dancer. She has been called the first "dream girl" of Tamil cinema. Film career Ra ...

as a hypocrite saint and chaste court dancer respectively. Inspired by Matthew Lewis' French novel ''

The Monk ''The Monk: A Romance'' is a Gothic novel by Matthew Gregory Lewis, published in 1796. A quickly written book from early in Lewis's career (in one letter he claimed to have written it in ten weeks, but other correspondence suggests that he h ...

'', it was released on 14 January 1949.

Plot

Harikanandha Bhagavathar is a hypocrite saint who lusts after a chaste court dancer Devakumari.

Cast

''Male cast according to the opening credits of the film and female cast according to the song book'' ;Male cast * P. U. Chinnappa as Harikanandha Bhagavathar * N. S. Krishnan as Vevukarar * K. R. Ramasami as Shri Krishnan * Chithambaram Jayaraman as Naradar * Pullimoottai Ramasami as Neebhushanam, Rajaguru * D. Balasubramaniam as Narasimhan * Azhwar Kuppusami as Alwar * Kulathu Mani * C. S. Pandian * T. V. Namasivayam * K. R. Chellamuthu * E. Krishnamoorthi * S. V. S. Narayanan * T. V. Sivanandam * Chandrasekharan * S. Ramanathan * T. V. Radhakrishnan * V. Srinivasa Rao * C. P. Venkateswaran * Thirupathi * S. S. Mani * A. K. Kaleeswaran ;Female cast *

as Devakumari, Palace Dasi * T. A. Mathuram as Vevukarar's Wife * S. P. L. Dhanalaskhmi as Vasumathi, Rajaguru's Wife * P. A. Periyanayaki as Bhama * A. R. Sakunthala as Rukmani * C. T. Rajakantham as Ragamanjari, Old Mother * M. L. Vasanthakumari as Singer * Kumari N. Rajam as Mridangam Player * C. V. Dhanalakshmi as Yazh Player * T. D. Kusalakumari as Women Dancer * P. Padma as Women Dancer * K. S. Lakshmi as Geetham Singer * M. K. Saroja as Thillana Dancer * C. R. Rajakumari as Thillana Dancer * K. S. Rajam as Women Dancer * K. S. Chandra as Women Dancer * Kumari Vanaja as Women Dancer * R. Saraswathi as Women Dancer * S. Rajeswari as Women Dancer * S. Padma as Women Dancer * Kumari Seetha as Beggar Girl

Production

S. Ramanathan, an assistant of director R. S. Mani, bought a copy of the English translation of Matthew Lewis' French novel ''

'' at

Moore Market The Chennai Suburban Terminal, or Moore Market Complex (station code: MASS), is a railway terminus cum commercial building complex for the Chennai Suburban Railway system, situated in Park Town in Chennai, India. The name Moore Market comes ...

for one rupee. Subsequently, Mani began writing his next film ''Krishna Bhakthi'' taking inspirarion from this novel. While Mani was credited for the story, the dialogues were written by

S. D. S. Yogi S. D. Subramania Yogi ( ta, ச. து. சு. யோகி; 30 November 1904 – 27 July 1963) was a Tamil people, Tamil director, playwright, screenplay writer and poet from Tamil Nadu, India. Life He was born in a family of poets and pub ...

, Shuddhananda Bharati, Ku. Pa. Sedhu Ammal and Sandilyan. Work on the script lasted more than six months, and the protagonist played by P. U. Chinnappa was based on the Russian mystic

Grigori Rasputin Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin (; rus, links=no, Григорий Ефимович Распутин ; – ) was a Russian mystic and self-proclaimed holy man who befriended the family of Nicholas II, the last Emperor of Russia, thus ga ...

. The film was produced by S. N. Laxmana Chettiar under Krishna Pictures. M. L. Vasanthakumari appeared onscreen as a singer, and ''Krishna Bhakthi'' was the only film she ever acted in.

Soundtrack

Music was composed by

S. V. Venkatraman Sozhavanthan Varadharajan Venkatraman (Tamil: சோழவந்தான் வரதராஜன் வெங்கட்ராமன்) (25 April 1911 – 7 April 1998), also known as SVV, was an Indian actor, singer, and music director, wh ...

and Kunnakudi Venkatarama Iyer and lyrics were written by

Udumalai Narayana Kavi [https://idhatri.com/udumalai-narayana-kavi/ Udumalai Narayana KavUdumalai Narayana Kavi Udumalai Narayana Kavi (25 September 1899 – 23 May 1981) was an Indian poet and lyricist known for his work in Tamil films. Early life Udumalai Narayana w ...

. The song "Saarasam Vaseegara" was composed by G. Ramanathan. Kunnakudi Venkatarama Iyer composed music for the song "Kannan Varuvarodi", to which dance was choreographed by Vazhuvoor Ramaiah Pillai, Vazhuvoor B. Ramaiah Pillai. He also composed music for "Thamarai Senkann" and "Entha Vedu". The song "Entha Vedu Kontha O Raagavaa" is set in the

raga A ''raga'' or ''raag'' (; also ''raaga'' or ''ragam''; ) is a melodic framework for improvisation in Indian classical music akin to a melodic mode. The ''rāga'' is a unique and central feature of the classical Indian music tradition, and as a ...

Saraswathi Manohari.

Release and reception

''Krishna Bhakthi'' was released on 14 January 1949. ''

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, ...

'' wrote, "P. U. Chinnappa as the wily Rajaguru does credit to his reputation as top male star of the day. T. R. Rajakumari as the charming and ingenuous Rajanartaki gives a convincing performance". '' The Hindu'' wrote, "''Krishna Bhakthi'' should have a very popular run for several weeks for more reasons than one. The theme has been handled in a very dignified and telling manner." ''

The Mail Mail is a system for physically transporting postcards, letters, and parcels. Mail or The Mail may also refer to: Newspapers * ''Daily Mail'', a British newspaper **The Mail on Sunday **MailOnline * ''Sunday Mail'' (Adelaide), formerly The Mai ...

'' wrote, "The drab found in most Tamil mythological pictures is completely eliminated in ''Krishna Bakthi''".

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, 11987352 1940s historical musical films 1940s Tamil-language films 1949 films Films about Hinduism Films about rape in India Films based on French novels Films scored by S. V. Venkatraman Films scored by Kunnakudi Venkatarama Iyer Hindu devotional films Indian black-and-white films Indian historical musical films Krishna in popular culture