Director: Ellis Duncan; Writer: Amritlal Nagar; Producer: T. Sadasivam; Editor: Amritlal Nagar; Cast: M.S. Subbulakshmi, T.V. Rajasundaribai, S. Santhanam, Chittor V. Nagaiah, Radha, Kumari Kamala, T.S. Balaiah, M.G. Ramachandran
Summary: A Saint film about the life of Meera aka Meerabai (1498-1565). In the film, she is forced to marry the King of Mewar (Nagaiah), and is persecuted by her brother-in-law Jayaman (Baliah). The king accedes to her request to have a Krishna temple to be built in Chittoor. When she refuses to accompany the king at a court durbar, and places the necklace gifted to her by Akbar’s envoy Tansen on the Krishna idol, the king orders the temple demolished. She eventually moves to Dwarka where she becomes an itinerant singer before her soul merges into that of Krishna. One of India’s most famous saint poets, her 1400 or so poems, handed down completely in the oral tradition, often address a demystified ideal of Krishna (played in the film by Kumari Kamala). The film features the famous classical singer M.S. Subbulakshmi known for her Carnatic-style music but also for several other, including North Indian styles (her daughter Radha played the young Meera). Her rendition of 18 Meera bhajans in Hindi remained for several years the definitive musical version of the lyrics. They have remained an important part of her live concerts ever since. Originally a Tamil hit, the film’s very successful Hindi version had the poetess-politician Sarojini Naidu introduce Subbulakshmi to a North Indian audience. The
Tamil version has novelist Kalki’s best-known work as a lyric writer, esp.
Katrinile varum geetham.
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