Satya Harishchandra (1965 Kannada film)

Satya Harishchandra
Directed by	Hunsur Krishnamurthy
Produced by	K. V. Reddy
Screenplay by	K. V. Reddy
Based on	Harishchandra Kavya  by Raghavanka
Starring	Rajkumar Pandari Bai Udaykumar Narasimharaju M. P. Shankar Rajasree
Music by	Pendyala Nageswara Rao
Cinematography	Madhav Bulbule
Edited by	G. Kalyana Sundaram D. G. Jayaram
Production company	Vijaya Productions
Release dates	1965
Running time	221 minutes[1]
Country	India
Language	Kannada
Budget	₹800,000[2]

Satya Harischandra (Kannada: ಸತ್ಯ ಹರಿಶ್ಚಂದ್ರ) is a 1965 Indian Kannada epic film directed by Hunsur Krishnamurthy and produced by K. V. Reddy. It stars Rajkumar in the lead role, as Harishchandra, an Indian mythological king, who was renowned for upholding truth and justice under any circumstance. The film is based on poet Raghavanka's work, Harishchandra Kavya. The supporting cast features Udaykumar, Pandari Bai, Narasimharaju, M. P. Shankar, K. S. Ashwath and Baby Padmini.

At the 13th National Film Awards, the film was awarded the President's silver medal for the Best Feature Film in Kannada.^[3] The film was hugely successful at the time of its release and is seen as a milestone in Kannada cinema.^[1] Satya Harishchandra was the third Indian and first South Indian film to be digitally coloured. The coloured version, released in April 2008, was a commercial success.

Cast

• Rajkumar as Harishchandra
• Pandari Bai as Chandramathi
• Udaykumar as Vishvamitra
• Narasimharaju as Nakshatrika
• M. P. Shankar as Veerabaahu
• K. S. Ashwath as Vashistha
• Baby Padmini as Lohitasya
• M. S. Subbanna
• Kupparaju
• Dwarakish
• Ramadevi
• Ratnakar
• L. Vijayalakshmi
• Rajasree
• Meenakumari

Production

The film was shot mostly shot at the AVM studios in Madras (now Chennai). It was reported that actor N. T. Rama Rao was very keen to make the film in Telugu language with Rajkumar in the lead role after seeing him act with finesse in one of the scenes at the studio. But, it did not take off as the latter showed no interest to act in a film of any language but Kannada. Later, the film was also made in Telugu simultaneously. However, unlike the Kannada version, it failed to perform.^[1]

Soundtrack

Satya Harishchandra
Soundtrack cover
Soundtrack album by P. N. Rao
Genre	Feature film soundtrack
Label	Saregama

Pendyala Nageswara Rao composed the soundtrack and lyrics were written by Hunsur Krishnamurthy. The soundtrack album has twenty soundtracks.^[4][5]

Tracklist
No.	Title	Lyrics	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Vande Suranam Saramsha"	Hunsur Krishnamurthy	Ghantasala	1:12
2.	"Hey Chandrachooda"	Hunsur Krishnamurthy	P. Leela, Ghantasala	2:49
3.	"Neenu Namage"	Hunsur Krishnamurthy	P. Leela, P. Susheela	3:47
4.	"Vamshavanu Mundarisali"	Hunsur Krishnamurthy	Ghantasala
5.	"Ananda Sadana"	Hunsur Krishnamurthy	P. Susheela	2:53
6.	"Naana Deva Dhanagalum"	Hunsur Krishnamurthy	Ghantasala	0:49
7.	"Sathyavanu Paalisalu"	Hunsur Krishnamurthy	Ghantasala	0:49
8.	"Enidi Grahacharavo"	Hunsur Krishnamurthy	Ghantasala	4:17
9.	"Thillana"	Hunsur Krishnamurthy	P. Leela, Pasumarthi Krishnamurthy	4:30
10.	"Lakshmi Ksheerasamudra"	Hunsur Krishnamurthy	P. Leela	1:54
11.	"Kaleda Kaladalu"	Hunsur Krishnamurthy	Nagendrappa	1:58
12.	"Kanasallu Nenasallu"	Hunsur Krishnamurthy	Ghantasala	1:33
13.	"Sathyavadu Naashavaaguva"	Hunsur Krishnamurthy	P. Leela	0:51
14.	"Kuladalli Keelyavudo"	Hunsur Krishnamurthy	Ghantasala	3:24
15.	"Nanna Neenu"	Hunsur Krishnamurthy	Swarnalatha, Jagannath	2:56
16.	"Vidhi Vipareetha"	Hunsur Krishnamurthy	Ghantasala, P. Leela	4:57
17.	"Shraddhadoota Summane"	Hunsur Krishnamurthy	B. Gopalam	3:03
18.	"Bhuviyalli Munigalu"	Hunsur Krishnamurthy	P. Leela	1:01
19.	"Adigo Adithya"	Hunsur Krishnamurthy	Ghantasala	0:38
20.	"Deena Baandhava"	Hunsur Krishnamurthy	P. Leela, Ghantasala	2:16

Colourisation

Satya Harishchandra was the third Indian and the first South Indian black-and-white film to be digitally coloured, after Hindi language films, Mughal-e-Azam and Naya Daur.^[2] Film producer and distributor K. C. N. Gowda of M/s KCN Enterprises, teamed up with Goldstone Technologies Limited, a California based company to colour the film digitally. C. Jaganmohan, the media division business head of Goldstone Technologies said that each frame in the film was converted to colour.^[6] The conversion was from the original 35 mm film to 16 mm film with colour in CinemaScope and DTS sound system.^[2][7] The colourising work was carried out by a team of close to 175 personnel in Hyderabad.^[7] The work on sound effect in the dialogues, background music and the musical track in the DTS system was carried out in Chennai. The entire soundtrack of the film digitally restored by music composer, Rajesh Ramanath.^[8][9] The entire project costed an amount of ₹30 million (US$450,000).^[10]

Re-releases

Prior to the release of its coloured version, the film had been released many times across Karnataka state. The digitally coloured film was re-released for the first time on 24 April 2008, to coincide with the birth anniversary of Rajkumar, in 35 screens across the state.^[2][7] Like each of its previous releases, it completed a 100-day run.^[11]

See also

• List of Hindu mythological films

References

1. Ashish Rajadhyaksha; Paul Willemen (10 July 2014). Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1-135-94325-7.
2. "‘Satya Harishchandra’ CDs to be screened in schools soon". The Hindu. 22 April 2008. Retrieved 7 October 2014.
3. "13th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 7 October 2014.
4. "Satya Harishchandra (1965) music". raaga.com. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
5. "Satya Harishchandra (1965)". kannadamoviesinfo.wordpress.com. 6 June 2013. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
6. "Satya Harischandra coloured". filmibeat.com. 10 April 2008. Retrieved 7 October 2014.
7. "'Satya Harischandra' creates history". indiaglitz.com. 21 April 2008. Retrieved 7 October 2014.
8. "'Satya Harischandra' gets facelift". sify.com. Retrieved 7 October 2014.
9. "Sathya Harishchandra comes to life in colour". The Times of India. 24 April 2008. Retrieved 7 October 2014.
10. "Sathya Harishchandra returns to screen in colour". Hindustan Times. 22 April 2008. Retrieved 7 October 2014.
11. "The truth in English". The Times of India. 15 October 2011. Retrieved 7 October 2014.

External links

• Satya Harischandra at the Internet Movie Database