''Durga'' is a 1990

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

-language

children's film A children's film, or family film, is a film genre that contains children or relates to them in the context of home and family. Children's films are made specifically for children and not necessarily for a general audience, while family films are ...

, directed and written by

Rama Narayanan Rama Narayanan (3 April 1949 – 22 June 2014) was an Indian film director and producer. In the 1980s, he was known as a director who specialized in shooting commercial films in which animals played vital roles, while in the 1990s, several of h ...

, with dialogue written by Pugazhmani. Music was by

Shankar–Ganesh Shankar–Ganesh is an Indian music director duo who has worked on Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada movies for around 50 years. Career They started as assistants to Tamil music composers M. S. Viswanathan and T. K. Ramamoorthy in 1964 a ...

. The film stars

Baby Shamili Shamlee, also known as Baby Shamili/Shamlee, (born 10 July 1987), is an Indian actress who has worked in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, and Malayalam films. Her roles include the mentally challenged child Anjali in the 1990 film '' Anjali'', for which ...

(Dual role) playing the titular role, with

Nizhalgal Ravi Ravichandran Samanna (born 16 April 1956), known professionally as Nizhalgal Ravi, is an Indian film, television and voice actor who works mainly in Tamil cinema. He has performed in Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu films and television series. He st ...

, Kanaka and Kitty playing lead with

Sathyapriya Sathyapriya is an Indian actress. She has acted in over 350 films, and played the heroine in a few of them. She made her debut in ''Manjal Mugame Varuga'' opposite Vijayakumar in Tamil. Her notable films include ''Besuge'', ''Dharmasere'', ''H ...

Vagai Chandrasekhar Chandrasekhar (born 3 May 1956), also known as Vagai Chandrasekhar, is an Indian stage, film and television actor working in Tamil language films, known for his histrionics. He is currently the Chairman of Tamil Nadu Eyal Isai Nataka Mandram. He ...

Senthil Senthil (born 23 March 1951) is an Indian comedy actor who works in Tamil cinema. He is famous for his comedian roles along with fellow actor Goundamani. The pair dominated the Tamil industry as comedians in the 1980s and 90s.Vennira Aadai Moorthy Vennira Aadai Moorthy (born 25 July 1936) is an Indian actor and comedian in Tamil cinema. He has starred in many Tamil films and television serials as a comedian and also played supporting roles. He is a lawyer by education, and holds a B.L. ...

playing a pivotal role. The movie fared well at the box office. The film was dubbed into

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

as ''Lakshmi Durga'' in 1990 and dubbed into

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

as ''Devi Aur Durga'' in 1992. Also, the film was remade in

Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

as ''Bhairavi'' in 1991.

Plot

Durga, the only daughter of a wealthy couple, is faced with tragedy when her father passes away and her uncle attempts to take over their wealth. Matters take a turn for the worse when her mother is killed by her uncle. Kitty, an accomplice of her uncle, also plans to kill Durga to secure the fortune for himself. However, Durga manages to escape with the help of her loyal pets - Ramu the monkey and Raja the dog. As Durga flees, she comes across Muthu, a kind-hearted man who befriends her. Meanwhile, Kannamma, a talented

karakattam ''Karakaattam'' ( ta, கரகாட்டம் or "''karakam'' ( 'water pot') dance") is an ancient folk dance of Tamil Nadu performed in praise of the rain goddess Mariamman. The ancient Tamil epic says that this type of dance derived from Bh ...

dancer, falls for Muthu and they both join forces to protect Durga from Kitty's clutches. Despite their efforts, Kitty continues his hunt for Durga in order to eliminate her and take over the family's wealth. Durga returns to her home with the support of Muthu and Kannamma, which catches Kitty off guard. To complicate matters further, Kitty discovers Malliga, a girl who looks identical to Durga and is the daughter of a poor and disabled man. Kitty forces Malliga to act as Durga, threatening to harm her father if she refuses. The plan is to create chaos and in the process, he can kill the real Durga. As the tension between the two girls builds up, a situation arises where they both have to walk over the fire in a temple to prove their true identity. Durga manages to do so successfully, but before Malliga can begin, her father appears and rescues her. He also reveals Kitty's sinister plans to everyone, and in a twist of fate, Kitty accidentally jumps into the fire and dies. In the end, Durga accepts Malliga into her home along with Muthu and Kannamma. They all live together as a happy family, with the memories of the past safely behind them.

Cast

as Durga/Mallika *

as Muthu * Kanaka as Kannamma * Kitty as Durga's Uncle *

as Durga's mother *

Chandrasekhar Chandrasekhar, Chandrashekhar or Chandra Shekhar is an Indian name and may refer to a number of individuals. The name comes from the name of an incarnation of the Hindu god Shiva. In this form he married the goddess Parvati. Etymologically, the nam ...

as Mallika's father *Varalakshmi as Muthu's mother *

as Dr. Marcosa *Bayilvan Ranganathan as Ranga

Soundtrack

Tamil Version

Music was by

and lyrics were written by Vaali.

Telugu Version (Dubbed)

Releases

''Durga''

was released on 10 August 1990. Later, the film was dubbed into

as ''Lakshmi Durga'' (1990) and dubbed into

as ''Devi Aur Durga'' (1992). The film was remade in

as ''Bhairavi'' in 1991. In

enacted in the same role.

References

External links

* {{Rama Narayanan 1990 drama films 1990 films 1990s Tamil-language films Films about dogs Films scored by Shankar–Ganesh Indian children's films Tamil films remade in other languages