Sarangadhara

Sarangadhara సారంగధర
Written by	Gurazada Apparao
Characters	Sarangadhara Rajaraja Narendra Chitrangi Vijayaditya
Date premiered	1883
Place premiered	Rajamahendri, British India
Original language	Telugu
Genre	Historical
Setting	Rajamahendri

Sarangadhara (Telugu: సారంగధర) is an epic story during the reign of Rajaraja Narendra^[1] The famous literature Gurajada Apparao wrote the story in long poetic form in English and published in “Indian Leisure Hour” in 1883.^[2] It was a favourite Telugu drama and made into South Indian films.

The story

Rajaraja Narendra was ruling the Vengi country with capital of Rajamahendri. He had a son by name Sarangadhara. The king had a second wife Chitrangi and he was very much affectionate towards her. He had a bitter enemy, his step mother's son by name Vijayaditya.

One day Chitrangi, invited her step son Sarangadhara for feast. But as Sarangadhara was leaving for hunting he ignored the invitation. His step mother was very angry towards him and it was brought to the notice of Vijayaditya by the intelligence agency. Vijayaditya made bad propaganda of this accusing of an affair between Sarangadhara and his step mother with the sinister motive of creating conflict in the house of Rajaraja Narendra. Without proper inquiry, Rajaraja Narendra ordered the chopping off the hands and legs of innocent Sarangadhara. It was mandatory to obey king's orders to and so the punishment was meted out to the prince in the mountain forest.

Sarangadhara was lying in a pool of blood screaming in pain drawing the attention of Meghanadha a devotee of Siva, who immediately rushed to Sarangadhara and did what ever he could to alleviate the pain and advised Sarangadhara to pray to Lord Shiva and get his blessings. Lord Siva impressed by Sarangadhara's prayer gave his lost legs and hands and made him a beautiful person.

Sarangadhareswara temple

It is an ancient and famous temple in Rajahmundry town (Korukonda road), East Godavari District, Andhra Pradesh. The Lord Siva blessed and gave the rebirth to Sarangadhara. The hill was named as Sarangadhara Metta and the Lord is known as Sarangadhareswara.

Poster of Sarangadhara 1957 film

Stage Drama

In his early years as a stage artiste associated with the Rama Vilasa Sabha of Chitoor, actor Chittor V. Nagaiah secured critical acclaim for his performance in the role of Chitrangi. Pammal Sambandha Mudaliar adaptated to stage dramas and popularized the story in Tamil. S. G. Kittappa and M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar had acted and sang in the various Tamil stage adaptations of Sarangadhara.

Sarangadhara films

Sarangadhara
Directed by	P. Pullayya
Produced by	Ramaiah
Starring	Banda Kanakalingeshwara Rao P. Santha Kumari Kannamba Sriranjani Addanki Srirama Murthy Pulipati Venkateswarlu
Music by	Akula Narasimha Rao
Release date(s)	1937
Country	India
Language	Telugu

1930 film

Sarangadhara is a 1930 silent film directed by Y. V. Rao under the General Pictures Corporation.

1935 Tamil film

Sarangadhara is a 1935 Tamil film directed by V. S. K. Padham under the Lotus Pictures, filmed at Wadia Movietone Studios in Bombay. Starred by Kothamangalam Cheenu and T. M. Saradhambal in the lead roles. Kothamangalam Cheenu sang songs like vidhiyai vendRavar yaar and songs already popularized by S. G. Kittappa in stage dramas such as vEdikkaiyaagavE and kOdaiyilE in the movie.

1936 Tamil film

Naveena Sarangadhara is a 1936 Tamil film directed by K. Subramaniam under Murugan Talkies. Naveena in tamil means modern. The movie was titled thus in order to distinguish itself from the earlier versions and also in order to highlight the slight modifications made to the original story. The cast are M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar and S. D. Subbulakshmi in the lead roles supported by S. S. Mani Bhagavathar, G. Pattu Iyer and Indubala. Papanasam Sivan had written the lyrics and composed music for M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar songs such as sivaperuman krupai vENdum, gnana kumarai nadana singari and abaraatham seithaRiyEn had a successful run wherever the movie was screened.

1937 Telugu film

Sarangadhara is a 1937 Telugu film directed by P. Pullaiah under the Star Combines. Banda Kanakalingeshwara Rao and P. Santha Kumari donned the lead roles supported by Addanki Srirama Murthy as Raja Raja Narendra. The movie was a runaway hit, and in the aftermath of its success Pulliah married Shantakumari.

Actor	Role
Banda Kanakalingeshwara Rao	Sarangadhara
P. Santha Kumari	Chitrangi
Sriranjani	Kanakangi
Addanki Srirama Murthy	King Narendra
Kannamba	Queen Ratnangi
Pulipati Venkateswarlu

• Producer: Ramaiah, Star Combines
• Director: P. Pullaiah
• Music: Akula Narasimha Rao
• Lyrics:
• Screenplay:
• Dialogues:
• Art Direction:
• Editing:
• Choreography:
• Cinematography:
• Stunt:
• Dance:

1957 Telugu film

Sarangadhara is a 1957 Telugu film directed by V. S. Raghavan of Revathi Studios for Minerva Pictures. N. T. Rama Rao and P. Bhanumathi played the key roles.

Actor	Role
N. T. Rama Rao	Sarangadhara
P. Bhanumathi	Chitrangi
Rajasulochana	Kanakangi
S. V. Ranga Rao	King Narendra
P. Santha Kumari	Queen Ratnangi
Mukkamala
Gummadi Venkateswara Rao
Relangi Venkata Ramaiah
Chalam

• Producer: Namadeva Reddiar & Annamalai Chettiar
• Production Company: Minerva Pictures
• Director: V. S. Raghavan
• Music: Ghantasala
• Lyrics: Samudrala Raghavacharya
• Screenplay:
• Dialogues:
• Art Direction: S. V. S Rama Rao and Wardurkar
• Editing: V. S. Rajan
• Choreography:
• Cinematography: H. N. Srivatsava & Balakrishnan
• Stunt:
• Dance:

List of songs:

• valadammaa ituvanti by Ghantasala
• kaavaka raju chittam by Ghantasala
• jagamu naa seelamu by Ghantasala
• raajipudu raaledu by M. Satyam
• kadidivirupala yandu by M. S. Rama Rao
• annanaa bhaamini by Ghantasala & P. Leela
• saagEnu baala ee sandhyavEla by Jikki
• adugadugO alladugO abhinava naari manmathudu by P. Bhanumathi
• manasEmO maatalO dinusEmO by P. Bhanumathi
• raja naaraja by P. Bhanumathi
• allana gaadhiraajasutudarmili by Ghantasala & P. Bhanumathi

1958 Tamil film

Sarangadhara is released on 15 August 1958 Tamil film directed by V. S. Raghavan Revathi Studios for Minerva Pictures. Sivaji Ganesan and P. Bhanumathi played the key roles.

Actor	Role
Sivaji Ganesan	Sarangadhara
P. Bhanumathi	Chitrangi
Rajasulochana	Kanakangi
S. V. Ranga Rao	King Narendra
P. Santha Kumari	Queen Ratnangi
M. N. Nambiar
Valaiyapathi Muthukrishnan
A. Karunanidhi
T.P. Muthulakshmi

• Producer: Namadeva Reddiar & Annamalai Chettiar
• Production Company: Minerva Pictures
• Director: V. S. Raghavan
• Music: G. Ramanathan
• Lyrics: A. Maruthakasi
• Screenplay:
• Dialogues:
• Art Direction: S. V. S Rama Rao and Wardurkar
• Editing: V. S. Rajan
• Choreography:
• Cinematography: H. N. Srivatsava & Balakrishnan
• Stunt:
• Dance:

List of songs:

• vasantha mullai pOlE vandhu by T. M. Soundararajan
• mEgathirai piLandhu minnalai pOl nuzhaindhu by T. M. Soundararajan, S. C. Krishnan & D. V. Rajagopal
• enna vENdum innum enna vENdum by T. M. Soundararajan
• kaNgaLaal kaadhal kaaviyam by T. M. Soundararajan & Jikki
• Edhukkiththanai mOdi thaan umakku endhan meedhaiyya by Radha Jayalakshmi
• periya idaththu vishayam appadi irukku by S. C. Krishnan & A. G. Rathnamala
• etti etti paarkkudhadi thOppilE by A. G. Rathnamala & K. Rani
• thannai marandhaadum en manam naadum chandiranE by P. Suseela
• vaazhga namadhu naadu, vaLarga anbinOdu by Sirkazhi Govindarajan
• madhiyilla moorkkarukkOr mahimai illai by Sirkazhi Govindarajan
• aRputha kaatchi ondRu kaNdEn by P. Bhanumathi
• kaNNaal nalla paru un eNNam enna kooru by P. Bhanumathi, A. P. Komala & K. Rani
• vandhiduvaar avar en manam pOlE by P. Bhanumathi

References

1. ^ [1]
2. ^ [2]

External links

• 1937 Telugu movie Sarangadhara at IMDb.
• 1957 Telugu movie Sarangadhara at IMDb.