| Devanthakudu | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | C. Pullayya |
| Written by | Sadasivabrahmam(dialogues) |
| Screenplay by | Adurthi Narasimha Murthy |
| Story by | Dinabandhu Mitra |
| Produced by | C. Pullayya |
| Starring | N. T. Rama Rao Krishna Kumari |
| Cinematography | A. Shanmugam |
| Edited by | T. R. Srinivasulu |
| Music by | Aswatthama |
Production company | Bhargavi Films |
Release date |
|
Running time | 180 minutes |
| Country | India |
| Language | Telugu |
Devanthakudu is a 1960 IndianTelugu-languagefantasy action comedy film directed and produced byC. Pullayya. The film starsN. T. Rama Rao andKrishna Kumari, with K. V. S. Sarma,S. V. Ranga Rao,Kanta Rao,Kalyanam Raghuramayya,Peketi Sivaram, P. Hemalatha and Mohana in supporting roles.
Devanthakudu is a remake of the 1958Bengali filmJamalaye Jibanta Manush, itself based on a play with the same title byDinabandhu Mitra.Devanthakudu was simultaneously filmed with itsTamil versionNaan Kanda Sorgam with a largely different cast. The film released on 7 July 1960 and became a commercial success.
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Sundaram is a stage actor. He falls in love with Meenakshi, the daughter of amiserly rich man Bhadrayya who dislikes Sundaram. Bhadrayya fixes his daughter's marriage with an aged billionaire over his wife's protests. Meenakshi and Sundaram marry in secret with the help of his friends. Bhadrayya enters with his goons and drags his daughter home while his goons brutally assault Sundaram. Meenakshi jumps into a river to commit suicide. Crestfallen, Sundaram repents that he was responsible for her death.
While Sundaram sleeps on averanda,Yama's men, unable to find the address of a dead man, take Sundaram instead with them to hell, the abode of Yama. Sundaram finds his bull there and by unleashing it on Yama, he occupies his throne, promotesVichitragupta, rewrites Yamaloka's constitution, and also takes the opportunity to search for Meenakshi with the help ofNarada, who takes him toVaikuntha, the abode ofVishnu andLakshmi, and to Indraloka, the heaven where he finds Meenakshi. With Vishnu and Lakshmi's blessings, Meenakshi is brought to life and Sundar, and the two return to Earth. Bhadrayya relents and accepts Sundar as his son-in-law.
After the success of theTelugu filmPakka Inti Ammayi (1953), which was based on theBengali filmPasher Bari (1952), its directorC. Pullayya waited for five years to adapt another comical Bengali story for Telugu-speaking audiences. The Bengali fantasy comedyJamalaye Jibanta Manush (1958) was running successfully in cinemas inBengal. Its screenplay, written by Gour Shee, incorporated satirical attacks on contemporary life and social issues. Pullayya established the production company Bhargavi Films with Ch. Subbarao, aMadras-based building contractor, as managing director and himself as producer, and bought the rights to remakeJamalaye Jibanta Manush in Telugu andTamil languages. The Telugu version was titledDevanthakudu and the Tamil version was titledNaan Kanda Sorgam. Adurthi Narasimha Murthy was the screenwriter ofDevanthakudu, and the dialogues were written byVempati Sadasivabrahmam. Cinematography was handled by A. Shanmugam and the editing by T. R. Srinivasulu while A. Krishnarao served as art director.[1]
N. T. Rama Rao was cast as the male lead Sundaram andKrishna Kumari as the female lead Meenakshi.[1]S. V. Ranga Rao, who playedYama inSati Savitri (1957), reprised his role inDevanthakudu.[2]Kalyanam Raghuramayya playedNarada in addition to working as playback singer. The Tamil version featured a largely different cast, with only Ranga Rao mutual to both.[1][3] In the Tamil versionNaan Kanda Sorgam, Krishna Kumari's elder sisterSowcar Janaki played Meenakshi.[1]
Devanthakudu andNaan Kanda Sorgam were filmed simultaneously, with scenes from the former being filmed first and those from the latter second. Because of a belief that if Rama Rao wore multiple different get-ups the film would succeed, he sported two additional disguises for this film: that of a woman, and that of an elderly dance teacher. Though a couple of dialogues from the Yama durbar were borrowed from the Bengali version, Sadasivabrahmam largely followed his own diktat and wrote apt and appealing dialogues reflecting the lifestyle and societal problems of the 1960s. The final cut ofDevanthakudu was 17 reels, longer than the Bengali original which was 13 reels.[1]
The soundtrack was composed by G. Aswatthama, and the lyrics were written byAarudra.[4] The songs "Go Go Go Gongura" and "Entha Madhura" attained popularity, as did the variousshlokas and poems narrated byGhantasala and Raghuramayya.[1]
| No. | Title | Singer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Go Go Go Gongura" | P. B. Sreenivas,S. Janaki | 2:09 |
| 2. | "Entha Madhura" | P. B. Sreenivas, S. Janaki | 3:55 |
| 3. | "Sreedevi" | P. Leela | 2:57 |
| 4. | "Santakaram" | Ghantasala | 1:03 |
| 5. | "Parithranaya" | Ghantasala | 0:33 |
| 6. | "Dhoomakethu" | Ghantasala | 0:36 |
| 7. | "Kalaganti Namma" | P. B. Sreenivas, S. Janaki | 6:58 |
| 8. | "Jagamantha" | P. B. Sreenivas, S. Janaki | 2:55 |
| 9. | "Ho Dhim Dhimi" | Ghantasala | 1:09 |
| 10. | "Dharma Devata" | Madhavapeddi Satyam | 0:52 |
| 11. | "Anni Lokalu" | Ghantasala | 0:53 |
| 12. | "Sritha Jana Pala" | Kalyanam Raghuramayya | 3:12 |
| 13. | "Evari Manthramu" | Kalyanam Raghuramayya | 1:08 |
| 14. | "Itu Pakka" | Ghantasala | 1:11 |
| 15. | "Bhoo Bhuvarloka" | Ghantasala | 1:45 |
| 16. | "Bhaliraa" | S. Janaki | 3:12 |
| 17. | "Pooraya" | Kalyanam Raghuramayya | 1:43 |
| 18. | "Deni Mahima" | Kalyanam Raghuramayya | 0:52 |
| 19. | "Ilalo" | P. Leela,N. L. Ganasaraswathi | 8:33 |
Devanthakudu was released on 7 July 1960.[5] The film was commercially successful. Some critics of the time wrote that the Bengali story was copied from the 1934 American film,Death Takes a Holiday. But Mitra wrote the playJamalaye Jibanto Manush before his death in 1873.[1]
Devanthakudu became a trendsetter for "socio-fantasy films" inTelugu cinema.[1] The film inspired N. T. Rama Rao's ownYamagola (1977).[6]S. S. Rajamouli mentioned in an interview that the basic plot of his filmYamadonga (2007) was inspired byDevanthakudu andYamagola.[7]
