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1. Bhakta Prahlada Telugu Songs
2. Bhaktha Prahlada Telugu

Bhakta Prahlada - 1931 Telugu movie. The oldest 'Bhakta Prahlad' at IMDB is 1926. Part-1, Prahlada Story-Ramanand Sagar.

Bhakta Prahlada (transl. Prahlada, the devotee) is a 1967 Telugu-language Indian Hindu devotional film produced by A. V. Meiyappan'sAVM Productions. It was co-produced by his sons M. Murugan, M. Kumaran and M. Saravanan. The film features S. V. Ranga Rao, Anjali Devi and Roja Ramani (in her cinematic debut) in the lead roles, with M. Balamuralikrishna, Haranath, Relangi Venkata Ramaiah and Basavaraju Venkata Padmanabha Rao playing supporting roles. Written by D. V. Narasa Raju and directed by Chitrapu Narayana Rao, the film is based on the legend of Prahlada, a demonic character in Bhagavata Purana, known for his devotion towards the Hindu god Vishnu.

Unlike the 1932 and 1942 Telugu films of the same name (filmed in black and white), Meiyappan opted to shoot this film using Eastman Color Negative. The film's scripting was completed by May 1965. As Bhakta Prahlada was being simultaneously produced by AVM Productions along with Ave Kallu, the principal photography and post-production phases were delayed and lasted for one and a half years.

Bhakta Prahlada was released on 12 January 1967, and was a commercial success, completing a hundred-day run. It received the Nandi Award for the Second Best Feature Film, and Ramani subsequently won the National Film Award for Best Child Artist. In the same year, Bhakta Prahlada was dubbed into Tamil with the same title and Hindi as Bhakt Prahlad, with slight changes in the cast. It was also dubbed into Kannada with the same title and released in 1974.

• 3Production

Plot[edit]

The Four Kumaras visit Vaikuntha, the abode of Vishnu. Jaya-Vijaya, the demigod gatekeepers of Vaikuntha, fail to recognise them and deny entry. In resentment, they curse the duo stating that they would have to give up divinity, be born and live as mortal beings on Earth. Vishnu fails to revoke the curse of the Kumaras and offers two solutions: be Vishnu's devotees in seven human lives, or his enemies in three demonic lives. Jaya-Vijaya cannot bear separation with Vishnu for so long and choose the second possibility.

In their first demonic lives, Jaya-Vijaya are born as Hiranyakashipu and Hiranyaksha to sage Kashyapa and Diti in an inauspicious time during a sunset. Hiranyaksha, in an attempt to win over the deities, torments the Earth and its inhabitants. Bhudevi, the Earth goddess, goes to Vaikuntha and seeks Vishnu's help. Vishnu arrives as Varaha, a wild boar-faced avatar, and kills Hiranyaksha thereby saving the Earth. Seeking revenge for his brother's death, Hiranyakashipu prays to Brahma for gaining powers that could make him immortal. He gains a boon which makes him invulnerable to death either by day or night, either in the morning or the night, and either by a human or a beast.

In Hiranyakashipu's absence, Indra, the king of the deities, tries to kill the former's wife Leelavathi and her unborn child. Sage Narada intervenes and takes Leelavathi to his hermitage, where she gives birth to a boy named Prahlada. Hiranyakashipu invades Vaikuntha but is unable to find Vishnu. He declares himself as the king of all the celestial worlds and returns to Earth. The deities approach Vishnu, who promises to kill Hiranyakashipu at the right time.

Five years later, Prahlada is sent to the hermitage of Chanda-Amarka, the children of Hiranyakashipu's master for education. After returning from the hermitage, Hiranyakashipu learns that Prahlada has become a staunch devotee of Vishnu, and identifies the deity with the name Srihari. Hiranyakashipu explains to Prahlada that Srihari was responsible for Hiranyaksha's death, and is therefore their enemy. He requests Prahlada to stop worshipping Srihari, which the latter politely declines.

Hiranyakashipu then makes repeated attempts of filicide on Prahlada, hoping that the fear of death would make Prahlada cease praying to Srihari. Prahlada is made to starve, and is jailed in a dark room. When he refuses to budge, Hiranyakashipu issues orders to his soldiers to make elephants trample onto Prahlada. When their attempt fails, they throw Prahlada from a steep cliff. Srihari rescues Prahlada, and the soldiers call a group of tribals, who are snake charmers. They ask the group to harm Prahlada using snakes. Prahlada prays to Srihari, and the snakes turn into garlands of roses. Shocked, the snake charmers beg Prahlada to bring the snakes back. He prays to Srihari, who restores the snakes. The tribes declare Prahlada as their leader, which further angers Hiranyakashipu.

Hiranyakashipu orders his soldiers to tie Prahlada's hands and feet, and throw him into the sea. Convinced that Prahlada is dead, Hiranyakashipu laments that he had to kill his son for avenging his brother's death, and that the child had more love for Srihari than him. Prahlada is rescued by Srihari, who sends him back home. Initially happy to see Prahlada alive, Hiranyakashipu is angered that his son still worships Srihari. Narada approaches Hiranyakashipu and confirms that Srihari is saving Prahlada every time, adding that he resides in Prahlada, whose death would defeat him.

In a final attempt, Hiranyakashipu gives Prahlada poisoned milk and orders him to drink it before his eyes. Prahlada drinks it and survives, making Hiranyakashipu believe that his death has arrived in the form of Prahlada. When Hiranyakashipu questions Prahlada about the abode of Srihari, the latter replies that he is omnipresent. Hiranyakashipu breaks a pillar with his mace, calling Srihari to come out of it. Srihari arrives as Narasimha, another avatar of Vishnu with a man's torso and a lion's face, and kills Hiranyakashipu. Narasimha's anger is subdued by Prahlada and the deities, who sing his praises and request him to re-appear as Srihari. Vishnu appears and crowns Prahlada as the king of the demons, advising him to lead a virtuous life as a ruler.

Cast[edit]

Male actors

• S. V. Ranga Rao as Hiranyakashipu
• M. Balamuralikrishna as Narada
• Relangi Venkata Ramaiah as Chanda
• Basavaraju Venkata Padmanabha Rao as Amarka
• Haranath as Vishnu
• Dhulipala Seetarama Sastry as Indra
• Ramana Reddy as a snake charmer
• V. Sivaram as Kashyapa
• Chittor V. Nagaiah as Shukracharya (cameo appearance)

Female actors

Bhakta Prahlada Telugu Songs

• Anjali Devi as Leelavathi
• Jayanthi as Diti
• T. Kanakam as a snake charmer
• Roja Ramani as Prahlada
• L. Vijayalakshmi as royal dancer in Hiranyakashipu's court
• Gitanjali as Menaka
• Vijaya Lalitha as Urvashi
• Vennira Aadai Nirmala as Tilottama
• Shanta as Rambha

Production[edit]

Development[edit]

A. V. Meiyappan, with his sons M. Kumaran, M. Saravanan and M. Murugan, wished to produce a film titled Bhaktha Prahlada for children based on the legend of Prahlada, a demonic character in Bhagavata Purana, known for his devotion towards the Hindu god Vishnu.^[1] Encouraged by the success of Naadi Aada Janme (1965), the Telugu remake of his own Tamil production Naanum Oru Penn (1963), Meiyappan decided to produce Bhaktha Prahlada in Telugu.^[2] According to Kumaran, Meiyappan believed that mythological films found more encouragement from Telugu audience compared to the Tamil diaspora, which was one reason why Bhaktha Prahlada was produced in Telugu.^[1]

Upon Meiyappan's insistence, D. V. Narasa Raju wrote the film's story, screenplay and dialogue as the former wished to have a more contemporary and dramatic approach.^[2] Unlike the 1932 and 1942 Telugu films of the same name (filmed in black and white), Meiyappan opted to shoot this film using Eastman Color Negative.^[1] Thus, it became AVM's second colour film after Anbe Vaa (1966).^[3] In May 1965, Chitrapu Narayana Rao, who directed the 1942 film, approached Meiyappan to give him a chance to direct a film. Meiyappan retained him as the director for this film, considering the fact that Narayana Rao was in financial crisis due to the commercial failure of his production Krishna Kuchela (1961).^[1]S. Rajeswara Rao composed the film's soundtrack and background score. A. Vincent handled the cinematography, R. Vittal edited the film and A. Hdd regenerator 2011 software crack tools. K. Sekhar was the film's art director.^[4][5]

Casting[edit]

S. V. Ranga Rao and Anjali Devi were cast in the lead roles, playing the demon king Hiranyakashipu and his wife Leelavathi (Kayadhu as per Bhagavata Purana).^[2] The makers then held an audition for the third lead role of Prahlada, inviting many children in and around Madras (now Chennai) to AVM Studios. Roja Ramani was cast to play Prahlada after a successful screen test and a song rehearsal, which included her holding an alive snake.^[6] She was recommended to Meiyappan by her father Satyam's employer, who was an editor of the now defunct magazine Cinema Rangam in Madras.^[2] As Ramani looked pale and thin, the makers approached a nutritionist to help her build a proper body which would suit the role's requirement.^[2]

Singer M. Balamuralikrishna was cast as the sage Narada,^[1] making his acting debut in film.^[7] When his choice was criticised citing Balamuralikrishna's height, Meiyappan retorted that the casting was apt as the role would be used for comic affect at times.^[1]Haranath played the role of Vishnu.^[8]Relangi Venkata Ramaiah and Basavaraju Venkata Padmanabha Rao were cast as Prahlada's teachers Chanda-Amarka.^[2]Ramana Reddy and T. Kanakam were signed to play snake charmers in a key sequence of the film.^[5]L. Vijayalakshmi played the royal dancer in Hiranyakashipu's court; Shanta, Vijaya Lalitha, Gitanjali, and Vennira Aadai Nirmala were cast as the apsaras (celestial dancers) Rambha, Urvashi, Menaka and Tilottama respectively.^[5]

Filming[edit]

Bhaktha Prahlada's scripting was completed by May 1965, but the principal photography and post-production phases lasted for one and a half year.^[2] Meiyappan was producing another Telugu film Ave Kallu (a remake of his 1967 Tamil production Adhey Kangal) simultaneously with Bhaktha Prahlada.^[2] Meiyappan's sons were more interested in Ave Kallu than Bhaktha Prahlada as they lacked confidence in the latter's commercial viability. When Sekhar showed the set designs to Meiyappan and his sons before erecting them, they used to reject it and gave importance to Ave Kallu. As a result, filming got delayed and the film's cast and crew grew impatient and frustrated towards the end of the filming.^[2]

During the filming, Ramani was trained by 'Rangoon' Ramarao (who played Amarka in the 1942 film) in dialogue diction.^[5] For the scene where the snake charmers place a snake on Prahlada's shoulders, a trained wheat coloured snake was used during the rehearsals and a black cobra was chosen for the actual shoot.^[1] While filming the scene where elephants are made to trample on Prahlada, a child stunt artiste from Great Oriental Circus was initially engaged as Ramani's dupe. However, the child was sent away when Ramani started crying and she performed the scene herself.^[1]

Narayana Rao was reluctant to direct the climax, as he was unable to forget Hiranyakashipu's death scene from a stage play where the actor playing Narasimha was emotionally charged.^[1] Murugan directed the scene as per Meiyappan's wishes,^[1] and a dupe was engaged for Ranga Rao for the climax sequence. Meiyappan was not satisfied with the overall output, and took close-up shots of Ranga Rao for making the scene look authentic.^[2] Gopalakrishnan and K. S. Reddy choreographed the dance sequences in the film.^[9] According to Vincent, to achieve the 'pillar split effect' required for the scene where Narasimha emerges from a pillar and kills Hiranyakasipu, 'we marked each frame increasing the markings step by step'. He described this as the 'one-turn work', and the scene was shot with a Mitchell Camera.^[10] The final cut of the film measured a length of 5,078 metres (16,660 ft).^[11]

Soundtrack[edit]

Ipswitch ws ftp 12 free. Saluri Rajeswara Rao composed the film's soundtrack and background score, and was assisted by Rajagopal and Krishnan.^[4]Bhaktha Prahlada's soundtrack consisted of 23 songs, and poems from Andhra Maha Bhagavatham, the Telugu translation of Bhagavatha Purana by the 15th century poet Pothana.^[5][9]Samudrala Raghavacharya, Samudrala Ramanujacharya, Kosaraju Raghavaiah, Palagummi Padmaraju, Daasarathi Krishnamacharyulu and Aarudhra penned the lyrics for the songs.^[4] The song 'Varamosage Vanamali' was composed using Bihag raga and was sung by Balamuralikrishna, on whom the song was filmed.^[9] The song 'Kanulaku Veluguvu Neeve' based based on both Mohana and Abheri ragas.^[9]

The soundtrack was marketed by HMV Records, and was critically acclaimed.^[5] The songs 'Jeevamu Neeve Kadha', 'Raara Priya Sundara', 'Janani Varadayini Trilochani' and 'Sirisiri Laali Chinnari Laali' gained popularity post release.^[1][9] Among the poems, the rendition of 'Kaladambodhi' and 'Indhugaladu Andhuledanu' received praise from the critics.^[5]

The Tamil version of the soundtrack features lyrics penned by Thiruchi Thiyagarajan, Vaali, Ku. Ma. Balasubramaniam, V. Seetharaman and Alangudi Somu.^[12]

Release and reception[edit]

Bhaktha Prahlada was released on 12 January 1967.^[1] The film was distributed in the Andhra Pradesh, Madras and Nizam regions by Navayuga Films.^[a][9] The first copy was screened for Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, the then President of India, who praised the performances of the cast, particularly Ramani.^[2][5]

Bhaktha Prahlada was a commercial success, completing a hundred-day theatrical run.^[5][9] It won the Nandi Award for the Second Best Feature Film in 1967.^[8] Ramani subsequently won the National Film Award for Best Child Artist that year.^[8] It was subsequently dubbed into Tamil with the same title and Hindi as Bhakt Prahlad,^[14][15] with scenes related to Chanda-Amarka being reshot with different actors.^[2]A. Karunanidhi and T. S. Balaiah played Chanda-Amarka in Tamil, and were replaced by Rajendra Nath and Dumal in Hindi.^[1] The Tamil and Hindi versions were released on 24 March and 2 November 1967 respectively.^[16] The Kannada dubbed version, also titled Bhakta Prahlada was released by AVM Productions on 26 March 1974.^[15]

Notes[edit]

1. ^For film trade purposes, the Nizam region includes the three districts of Gulbarga, Bidar, and Raichur in Karnataka and seven districts in the Marathwada region including Aurangabad, Latur, Nanded, Parbhani, Beed, Jalna and Osmanabad apart from the state of Telangana.^[13]

References[edit]

1. ^ ^{abcdefghijklm}Narasimham, M. L. (23 November 2018). 'The story of a devotee'. The Hindu. Archived from the original on 14 April 2019. Retrieved 14 April 2019.
2. ^ ^abcdefghijkl'ఇది విన్నారా?: ము‌చ్చ‌టగా ‌మూ‌డుసార్లు ‌ము‌రిపిం‌చి‌న ‌భక్త‌ప్రహ్లా‌ద' [Flashback: Prahlada's successful hat-trick]. Sithara (in Telugu). Archived from the original on 14 April 2019. Retrieved 14 April 2019.
3. ^Saravanan 2013, p. 191.
4. ^ ^abcభక్త ప్రహ్లాద [Bhaktha Prahlada] (songbook) (in Telugu). AVM Productions. 1967. Archived from the original on 6 April 2019. Retrieved 20 April 2019.
5. ^ ^abcdefghiManikyeswari, C. V. R. (23 January 2017). 'భక్త ప్రహ్లాద (ఫ్లాష్‌బ్యాక్ @ 50)' [Bhaktha Prahlada (Flashback @ 50)]. Andhra Bhoomi (in Telugu). Archived from the original on 14 April 2019. Retrieved 14 April 2019.
6. ^Nakul, VG (1 October 2018). 'Yesteryear Telugu diva recalls unexpected film debut 50 yrs ago'. Malayala Manorama. Archived from the original on 20 April 2019. Retrieved 20 April 2019.
7. ^'Remembering legendary Carnatic musician M Balamuralikrishna: Rare and unseen photographs'. The Indian Express. 22 November 2016. Archived from the original on 2 May 2019. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
8. ^ ^abcTanmayi, Bhwana (15 April 2017). 'The story of Prahlada'. Telangana Today. Archived from the original on 20 April 2019. Retrieved 20 April 2019.
9. ^ ^abcdefgShamukhachari, Acharam. 'మూడుసార్లు మురిపించిన 'భక్త ప్రహ్లాద'' ['Bhaktha Prahlada' impressed the audience thrice]. Sithara (in Telugu). Archived from the original on 20 April 2019. Retrieved 20 April 2019.
10. ^Narasimham, M. L. (1 December 2012). ''I worked with three Chief Ministers''. The Hindu. Archived from the original on 29 April 2019. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
11. ^'Bhaktha Prahlada' (Celluloid)'. Central Board of Film Certification. 7 January 1967. Archived from the original on 29 April 2019. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
12. ^Neelamegam, G. (November 2016). Thiraikalanjiyam – Part 2 (in Tamil) (1st ed.). Chennai: Manivasagar Publishers. pp. 300–301.
13. ^'Nizam territory will remain indispensable for Tollywood'. The Times of India. 31 July 2013. Archived from the original on 15 February 2015. Retrieved 24 November 2015.
14. ^Saravanan 2013, pp. 192–193.
15. ^ ^ab'Movies from AVM Productions'. AVM Productions. Archived from the original on 20 April 2019. Retrieved 20 April 2019.
16. ^Saravanan 2013, p. 192.

Bibliography[edit]

• Saravanan, M. (2013) [2005]. AVM 60 cinema (3rd ed.). Rajarajan Pathippagam.

External links[edit]

• Bhakta Prahlada on IMDb

Bhaktha Prahlada Telugu