''Shankar Guru'' () is a 1978 Indian

Kannada Kannada () is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, and is additionally a ...

-language

action thriller film The action film is a film genre that predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been in scholarly debate since the 1980s. While some scholars such as D ...

directed by V. Somashekhar and produced by

Parvathamma Rajkumar Parvathamma Rajkumar (6 December 1939 – 31 May 2017) was an Indian film producer and distributor. She was the wife and cousin of veteran Kannada actor Dr. Rajkumar. She produced successful films featuring him and their sons Shiva Rajkumar, Pu ...

under Dakshayini Combines. It stars

Dr. Rajkumar Singanalluru Puttaswamaiah Muthuraj (24 April 1929 – 12 April 2006), better known by his stage name Dr. Rajkumar, was an Indian actor and singer who worked in Kannada cinema. Regarded as one of the greatest and versatile actors in the his ...

in triple role, alongside

Jayamala Jayamala (born 28 February 1959) is an Indian actress and politician. She served as the Minister for Women and Child Development and Empowerment of Differently Abled and Senior Citizens in the Government of Karnataka, by virtue of being a membe ...

Padmapriya Padmapriya (born Padmalochani; died 16 November 1997) was an Indian actress who worked in Kannada, Tamil language, Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu language, Telugu films. Her first movie was in Telugu, ''Adapillala Tandri'' (1974). In Kannada, sh ...

, Kanchana,

Balakrishna Bala Krishna (). Present day Krishna worship is an amalgam of various elements. According to historical testimonies Krishna-Vasudeva worship already flourished in and around Mathura several centuries before Christ. A second important element is ...

Vajramuni Sadananda Sagar (10 May 1944 – 5 January 2006), better known by his stage name Vajramuni, was an Indian actor who appeared in Kannada films. He portrayed negative characters during most of his career and was considered one of Kannada cinema's ...

Thoogudeepa Srinivas Mysore Srinivas (17 April 1943 – 16 October 1995), known by his stage name Thoogudeepa Srinivas was an Indian actor who appeared in Kannada films and is remembered for his portrayal of negative-shaded characters. He is the father of actor, D ...

and

Uma Shivakumar Uma Shivakumar (c. 1941 – 25 June 2013) was an Indian film and theatre character actress, whose career included roles in more than 170 Kannada language films and more than 30 plays. She was nicknamed "Baddi Bangaramma" by audiences, after t ...

. The music was composed by

Upendra Kumar Upendra Kumar (18 July 1941 – 24 January 2002) was an Indian composer who predominantly worked in Kannada films. He was known for his strong association with Rajkumar and his family and scored some of his career best compositions for the films ...

, while the cinematography and editing were handled by R. Madhusudan and P. Bhaktavatsalam. ''Shankar Guru'' marks Parvathamma Rajkumar's debut as a producer. The film was shot extensively in and around

Kashmir Kashmir ( or ) is the Northwestern Indian subcontinent, northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term ''Kashmir'' denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir P ...

. The film was the second film of Rajkumar after ''

Kula Gourava ''Kula Gourava'' ( ) is a 1971 Indian Kannada language romantic drama film directed by Peketi Sivaram and written by G. Balasubramanyam. It stars Rajkumar in triple roles along with Jayanthi and Bharathi. The film was produced under Sri Eswa ...

'' in which he played a triple role and his only colour film in a triple role. ''Shankar Guru'' was released on 17 February 1978 to widespread critical acclaim and became an all-time blockbuster at the box office. P. Bhaktavatsalam won the

Karnataka State Film Award for Best Editor Karnataka State Film Award for Best Editor is a state film award of the Indian state of Karnataka given during the annual Karnataka State Film Awards. The award honors Kannada language films. Superlative winners Award winners The following i ...

. The film was remade in

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of South India ** Telugu literature, is the body of works written in the Telugu language. * Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Tel ...

as '' Kumara Raja'', in

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

as '' Thirisoolam'' and in

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

as '' Mahaan''.

Plot

Rajashekhar is an upright

business magnate A business magnate, also known as an industrialist or tycoon, is a person who is a powerful entrepreneur and investor who controls, through personal enterprise ownership or a dominant shareholding position, a firm or industry whose goods or ser ...

whose associates are involved in shady deals. During an argument over such a deal, a scuffle ensues and Rajashekhar accidentally shoots one of his associates dead. Fleeing from the cops, Rajashekhar loses contact with his pregnant wife Sumathi. Many years later, Sumathi is now living with her son Shankar in

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

, while Rajashekhar is a rich estate owner in

. Rajashekhar's niece Nalini encounters Shankar in Delhi and recommends him to manage her uncle's estate in Kashmir. Guru, Shankar's

doppelgänger A doppelgänger ( ), sometimes spelled doppelgaenger or doppelganger, is a ghostly double of a living person, especially one that haunts its own fleshly counterpart. In fiction and mythology, a doppelgänger is often portrayed as a ghostly or p ...

, also arrives in Kashmir for a romantic quest with his rich girlfriend Malathi. Through Shankar, Rajashekhar manages to establish contact with Sumathi and is overwhelmed with joy. Before Rajashekhar can meet Sumathi, trouble arrives in the form of Rajashekhar's erstwhile crooked business partners, who are after a valuable necklace stolen from a temple in Delhi, which they believe is now in Rajashekhar's possession. The partners kidnap Sumathi and imprison and torture Rajashekhar and a final fight ensues in which Shankar and Guru (who are revealed to be twins) rescue and reunite with their parents.

Cast

* Rajkumar as Rajashekhar alias Jayaraj ** Shankar, Rajashekhar's son and Guru's brother ** Guru, Rajashekhar's son and Shankar's brother *

as Nalini, Rajashekhar's niece *

as Malathi, Guru's love interest * Kanchana as Sumati, Rajashekhar's wife and Shankar and Guru's mother *

as Adv. Lakshman Rao *

as Premkumar *

as Madanlal * Sampath as Gurumurthy *

Tiger Prabhakar Tiger Prabhakar (30 March 1948 – 25 March 2001) was an Indian actor who predominantly worked in Kannada and Telugu cinema. He has also acted in a few Malayalam, Tamil and Hindi films. He was also known as Kannada Prabhakar. Career Prabhakar ...

as Tiger *

as Dr. Prema * Chandrashekhar as Divakar alias ''Duplicate'' Shankar * Chi. Udayashankar *

Honnavalli Krishna Honnavalli Krishna is an Indian actor in the Kannada film industry. His films include '' Ratha Sapthami'' (1986), '' Aasegobba Meesegobba'' (1990), '' Bhootayyana Maga Ayyu'' (1974), '' Janumada Jodi'' (1996). Career As of October 2017, Honna ...

Vaishali Kasaravalli Vaishali Kasaravalli (12 April 1952 – 27 September 2010) was a noted Kannada actress, television serial director, and costume designer. Early life She was born on 12 April 1952 in Gulbarga to theatre enthusiast parents Dr. Chitagopi and ...

* Keerthi Raj

Soundtrack

The music was composed by

with lyrics for the soundtrack by Chi. Udayashankar. All the songs were sung by Rajkumar himself.

Release

''Shankar Guru'' was released on 17 February 1978

Reception

''Shankar Guru'' garnered positive responses from the audience as well as critics and was a phenomenal success in all centers and completed 100 days in many theatres. The film had a theatrical run of over a year and grossed 3.26 crore in its final run. The film was declared a industry hit when it became the first Kannada film to gross over 3 crores at the box office, breaking the record of 1972 film ''

Bangaarada Manushya ''Bangaarada Manushya'' (, ) is a 1972 Indian Kannada language film based on T. K. Rama Rao's novel of same name. Ramarao was known for his crime and detective novels, but this film was a social drama. It was directed by S. Siddalingaiah under t ...

'' which also made the movie the highest grossing Kannada film of the 1970's."Dr. Rajkumar films box office performance"
''chitratara.com''. 7 April 2007. Archived fro
the original
on 17 July 2007. Retrieved 25 March 2018.

Remakes

It was remade in

as '' Thirisoolam'', in

as '' Kumara Raja'' and in

as '' Mahaan'' in which Rajkumar's characters were played by

Sivaji Ganesan Villupuram. Chinnaiya Manrayar Ganesamoorthy (1 October 1928 – 21 July 2001), better known by his stage name Sivaji Ganesan, was an Indian actor and film producer. He was mainly active in Tamil cinema during the latter half of the 20th centur ...

Krishna Krishna (; Sanskrit language, Sanskrit: कृष्ण, ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme God (Hinduism), Supreme God in his own right. He is the god of protection, c ...

and

Amitabh Bachchan Amitabh Bachchan (; 11 October 1942) is an Indian actor who works in Hindi cinema. He is often considered one of the greatest, most accomplished and commercially successful actors in the history of Indian cinema.* * * * * With a cinemati ...

respectively. The Telugu version had Jayanthi reprising Kanchana's role, while

Jaya Prada Jaya Prada Nahata (born Lalitha Rani Rao; 3 April 1962) is an Indian actress and politician known for her works majorly in Telugu cinema and Hindi cinema as well as in Tamil films in late '70s, '80s and early '90s. Jayaprada is the recipient ...

reprised the role of

. The names of all the characters including the henchmen were retained in the Tamil version.

Awards

*1977–78

Karnataka State Film Awards Karnataka State Film Awards are the most notable and prestigious film awards given for Kannada film industry in Karnataka, India. These are considered the highest awards for Kannada language films. They are given annually by the Government ...

** Best Editor – P. Bhaktavatsalam

Trivia

The film's title ''Shankar Guru'' was named after Chi. Udayashankar's sons Ravishankar and Chi. Guru Dutt. It was the first film in which

's character was called ''Tiger'' and also marks Chandrashekhar's second collaboration with Rajkumar after ''

Raja Nanna Raja ''Raja Nanna Raja'' ( ) is a 1976 Kannada-language romantic thriller film, written by Salim–Javed, and the screenplay was created by Chi. Udaya Shankar. The film was directed by A. V. Sheshagiri Rao, and produced by A. L. Abbaiah Naidu. The ...

''. During the making of the film, S. K. Bhagavan narrated a play called ''Lithuania'' by

Rupert Brooke Rupert Chawner Brooke (3 August 1887 – 23 April 1915The date of Brooke's death and burial under the Julian calendar that applied in Greece at the time was 10 April. The Julian calendar was 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar.) was an En ...

(titled ''The Return of the Soldier'' in

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

) to Rajkumar. The film was planned to be shot in

Ladakh Ladakh () is a region administered by India as a union territory and constitutes an eastern portion of the larger Kashmir region that has been the subject of a Kashmir#Kashmir dispute, dispute between India and Pakistan since 1947 and India an ...

and some preparation was undertaken, but Dr. Rajkumar backed out as he felt the story was too dark. In 2018,

Dayal Padmanabhan Dayal Padmanabhan is an Indian film writer, director and producer, mainly working in Kannada cinema who is a two times Karnataka State award winner and one time Indian Panorama , IFFI( Golden Jublee edition)entrant. His films include ''Baa Bar ...

adapted the play into a film titled '' Aa Karaala Ratri''.

References

External links

* {{V. Somashekhar 1978 films 1970s Kannada-language films 1970s Indian films Kannada films remade in other languages Films scored by Upendra Kumar Films directed by V. Somashekhar Indian action films Twins in Indian films Fictional portrayals of the Karnataka Police 1970s masala films Films shot in Jammu and Kashmir Films shot in Karnataka 1978 action films