''Amar Bhoopali'' (English: ''The Immortal Song'', French: ''Le Chant Immortel'') is a 1951 Indian Marathi language film, produced and directed by V. Shantaram and written by

Vishram Bedekar Vishwanath Chintamani Bedekar (1906–1998), who professionally used the name Vishram Bedekar, was an Indian Marathi-language writer and film director. Bedekar was born on 13 August 1906, in Amravati. After receiving his college degree in Amra ...

. It is a true story about a simple cow herder who has an innate gift of poetry, set in the waning days of the

Maratha confederacy The Maratha Empire, also referred to as the Maratha Confederacy, was an early modern polity in the Indian subcontinent. It comprised the realms of the Peshwa and four major independent Maratha states under the nominal leadership of the former. ...

, c. early 19th century. It is an ode to the saffron flag of

Maratha The Marathi people (; Marathi: , ''Marāṭhī lōk'') or Marathis (Marathi: मराठी, ''Marāṭhī'') are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are native to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-A ...

s, calling on people to rise again against the foreign enemy. It competed for the Grand Prize of the Festival at the

1952 Cannes Film Festival The 5th Cannes Film Festival took place from 23 April to 10 May 1952. French author Maurice Genevoix served as jury president for the main competition. The Grand Prize of the Festival was awarded, as the highest prize, to ''Othello'' by Orson W ...

Plot

Honaji Bala, a simple cow herder, becomes a legendary bard who has an innate gift of poetry. The film is set in the last days of the Maratha confederacy of the early 19th Century.

Cast

In credits order translated from Marathi * Panditrao Nagarkar as Shahir

Honaji Bala Honaji Sayaji Shilarkhane (1754–1844), known professionally as Honaji Bala, was a Marathi poet from Maharashtra, India. Honaji's compositions were sung by his friend ''Bala Karanjikar'', and together the pair was known for their ''"Honaji Bal ...

* Sandhya as Gunawati *

Lalita Pawar Lalita Pawar (née Amba Laxmanrao Shagun; 18 April 1916 – 24 February 1998) was a prolific Indian actress, who later became famous as a character actress, appearing in over 700 films in Bollywood, Hindi, Marathi cinema, Marathi and Gujarati c ...

as Vitabai *

Bhalchandra Pendharkar Bhalchandra Pendharkar (25 November 1921 – 11 August 2015) was a Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India **Marathi people (Uttar Pradesh), the Marathi people in the Indian state ...

as Bala Karanjikar * Vishwas as Subedar * Gulab as Suguna * Jairampant as Shastribua * Nimbalkar as Balakaka * Amina as Jamuna * Bandopant Sohoni as Ramji Sowcar * M. George as Elfiston * Stokes as Robinson * Chandorkar as Valajimpat * Kanse as Shiledar * Shiv Kumar as Natya Porga (Boy Dancer)

Music

The music for the film was composed by

Vasant Desai Vasant Desai (1912–1975) was an Indian film music composer, most remembered for his score in V. Shantaram films like '' Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baaje'' (1955), ''Do Aankhen Barah Haath'' (1957), Vijay Bhatt's '' Goonj Uthi Shehnai'' (1959), ''Samp ...

, with lyrics penned by Shahir Honaji Bala. The soundtrack consists of twelve songs, featuring vocals by Panditrao Nagarkar,

Lata Mangeshkar Lata Mangeshkar (; born Hema Mangeshkar; 28 September 1929 – 6 February 2022) was an Indian playback singer and occasional music composer. She is considered to be one of the greatest and most influential singers of the Indian subcontinent. He ...

and

Asha Bhosle Asha Bhosle (; ; born 8 September 1933) is an Indian playback singer, entrepreneur, actress and television personality who predominantly works in Indian cinema. Known for her versatility, she has been described in the media as one of the ...

. The song "Ghanashyama Sundara" is from this film.

Track listing

Reception

Accolades

In popular culture

The 1980s advertisement for the Marathi newspaper

Maharashtra Times ''Maharashtra Times'' (), colloquially referred to as 'Ma Ta' (मटा) from its Marathi initialism, is a Marathi newspaper based in Mumbai, India.https://www.mediawire.in/user/corporate/Maharashtra-Times992 It is one of the largest selling d ...

used the song "Ghanashyam Sundara Shreedhara" as part of its jingle.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Amar Bhoopali 1951 films 1950s Marathi-language films 1950s historical films Indian black-and-white films Indian historical films Films directed by V. Shantaram Films set in Maharashtra Films set in the 1810s