Chandralekha
About Chandralekha
Prince Veerasimhan falls in love with the dancer Chandralekha. His younger brother Sasankan, passed over for the throne, turns bandit, kills Chandralekha's father, and later seals Veerasimhan in a cave. She frees him with circus elephants, and the pair hide with the circus and then with gypsies until Sasankan's men drag her back to the palace. She agrees to a wedding only if she may stage a drum dance. Soldiers hidden inside the drums attack, Veerasimhan defeats Sasankan, and Chandralekha becomes queen.
Cast & crew
More about Chandralekha
S. S. Vasan produced it at Gemini Studios and took over direction after T. G. Raghavachari left. Veppathur Kittoo built the story from a chapter of George W. M. Reynolds's Robert Macaire. Shooting ran from 1943 to 1948. Vasan mortgaged his property and sold jewellery to finish it, with help from Kasturi Srinivasan.
Themes
Making
Vasan had advertised Chandralekha when he still had only the heroine's name from a story he had rejected. Kittoo then wrote a plot off a chapter of Reynolds's novel. The dance mixes Kathakali, Bharatanatyam, and Sri Lankan Kandyan dance.
Reviews
On 9 April 1948 The Hindu wrote that the Indian screen had given little that could bear comparison with Chandralekha for the magnificence of its backgrounds. The Indian Express, the next day, said even a harassed housewife would share the pleasure of children at the lions, tigers, ponies, and elephants. Dinamani, also on 10 April, told readers they could now say a great picture could be made in their own land. Kumudam found the story ordinary and objected to the songs, the length, and a wall clock and a quill in the king's office.
Audiences
Reviews were generally favorable, but the Tamil version did not recover its cost. Vasan then issued the Hindi version, which, with more than 600 prints, set box-office records.
Look
Kamal Ghosh and K. Ramnoth photographed the film. Ghosh covered the drum dance with four cameras.
Technique
The wedding number puts dancers on rows of platform drums, with soldiers waiting inside them. Four cameras covered the sequence.
Music
S. Rajeswara Rao wrote the lighter numbers and M. D. Parthasarathy the classical ones. Papanasam Sivan and Kothamangalam Subbu wrote the lyrics. R. Vaidyanathan and B. Das Gupta worked on the background score with Parthasarathy. C. E. Biggs was the audio engineer.
Preservation
A 1950 reissue of the Tamil version added coloured sequences. Running times in circulation fall between 193 and 207 minutes.
Notes
- The Tamil version opened on 9 April 1948. Vasan's Hindi version, with dialogue by Agha Jani Kashmiri and Pandit Indra, opened on 24 December 1948 and was distributed by The Screens.
- Circus scenes were shot for a month with the Kamala Circus Company and Parasuram Lion Circus.
- A. K. Sekhar designed the drum dance, Jayashankar choreographed it, and 400 dancers rehearsed for six months. Kamal Ghosh filmed it with four cameras.
- The Tamil print was reissued in 1950 with coloured sequences.
- In April 1954 it played in Japan as Shakunetsu-no kettō and in Denmark, on 26 April, as Indiens hersker.
- The Hindi version went out in more than 600 prints. The Tamil release did not earn back its cost.
Scenes
- Circus elephants move the boulder that seals Veerasimhan in a cave.
- Chandralekha fakes a faint whenever Sasankan comes near, until a circus friend poses as a healer.
- Dancers stamp on giant drums and Veerasimhan's soldiers climb out to attack.
Influenced by
- Robert Macaire, or the French Bandit in England