''Tathagatha Buddha: The Life & Times of Gautama Buddha'' ( hi, बुद्ध), also known as ''Gautama Buddha'' and as ''The Path Finder'', is a multilingual feature film on the life and times of the

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a śramaṇa, wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was ...

directed by

Allani Sridhar Allani Sridhar is an Indian screenwriter and film director working mainly in Telugu cinema. He made his directorial debut with the critically acclaimed 1988 biopic feature film, ''Komaram Bheem'', in which he also acted. In 1990, the film won t ...

and is based upon the story by Sadguru Sivananda Murty. The film was released in 2008.

Plot

Initially released in 2007 by Dharmapatha Creations, the film tells the story of

Siddhartha Gautama Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in Lu ...

, Prince of Kapilavastu, situated in India, who lived during 6th century B.C. He was born on Vaisakha Poornima. The history of his family, the

Ikshvaku dynasty The Solar dynasty (IAST: Suryavaṃśa or Ravivaṃśa in Sanskrit) or the Ikshvaku dynasty was founded by the legendary king Ikshvaku.Geography of Rigvedic India, M.L. Bhargava, Lucknow 1964, pp. 15-18, 46-49, 92-98, 100-/1, 136 The dynasty is ...

, is traceable to pre-

Ramayana The ''Rāmāyana'' (; sa, रामायणम्, ) is a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic composed over a period of nearly a millennium, with scholars' estimates for the earliest stage of the text ranging from the 8th ...

times. Renouncing the life and responsibility of a king, Siddhartha Gautama sought a solution to human misery. Ever in the midst of the great Indian religious and spiritual traditions, he noticed what was most needed by all people:

Dharma Dharma (; sa, धर्म, dharma, ; pi, dhamma, italic=yes) is a key concept with multiple meanings in Indian religions, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism and others. Although there is no direct single-word translation for '' ...

, and non-violence. He sought a direct path to salvation. He was a lone pathfinder who inspired the religions that eventually spread to China, Japan, and to the United States and Europe as late as the 20th century.

Production

Filming took place primarily in

Ramoji Film City Ramoji Film City is an integrated film studio facility located in Hyderabad, India. Spread over 1,666 acres (674 ha), it is the largest film studio complex in the world and as such has been certified by the Guinness World Records. It was estab ...

Annapurna Annapurna (; ne, अन्नपूर्ण) is a mountain situated in the Annapurna mountain range of Gandaki Province, north-central Nepal. It is the tenth highest mountain in the world at above sea level and is well known for the difficu ...

Manchirevula Manchirevula is a village and panchayat it falls under Rajendranagar mandal in Ranga Reddy district, Telangana, India. Manchirevula village falls within the 10 miles radius of Hyderabad city. With regard to ownership of in Manchirevula, case i ...

Bodh Gaya Bodh Gaya is a religious site and place of pilgrimage associated with the Mahabodhi Temple Complex in Gaya district in the Indian state of Bihar. It is famous as it is the place where Gautama Buddha is said to have attained Enlightenment ( pi, ...

, and

Lumbini Lumbinī ( ne, लुम्बिनी, IPA=ˈlumbini , "the lovely") is a Buddhist pilgrimage site in the Rupandehi District of Lumbini Province in Nepal. It is the place where, according to Buddhist tradition, Queen Mahamayadevi gave birth ...

, and was in

post-production Post-production is part of the process of filmmaking, video production, audio production, and photography. Post-production includes all stages of production occurring after principal photography or recording individual program segments. The ...

by July 2007. The film's audio had its launch by Chief Minister Dr. Rajasekhar Reddy in November 2007, at which event he praised the film and director by saying that "the film and its message were the need of the hour as people were getting tired of all the violence around them" The film was produced and released in three different languages; as ''Tadgatha Buddha'' in

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 ''Gautama Buddha'' in

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 ...

, and as ''The Path Finder'' in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

Cast

* Sunil Sharma as

Kausha Rach Kausha Rach (born 15 August 1982) is an Indian Telugu-language film actress. She has acted in various Telugu films including ''Premaya Namaha'', ''Kuberulu'',, ''Bhagavantudu'', ''Prarambham'', '' Athili Sattibabu LKG'', ''Gautama Buddha'' and ...

as Yashodhara * Suman as

Bimbisara Bimbisāra (in Buddhist tradition) or Shrenika () and Seniya () in the Jain histories (c. 558 – c. 491 BCE or during the late 5th century BCE) was a King of Magadha (V. K. Agnihotri (ed.), ''Indian History''. Allied Publishers, New Delhi 2 ...

Puneet Issar Puneet Issar (born 6 November 1959) is an Indian actor, writer, director, producer and dialect coach best known for his works in Hindi films and television shows. Issar started his acting career as a villain in the Manmohan Desai's 1983 film '' ...

as Anguli Mala *

Parvati Melton Parvati Melton (born January 7, 1988) is an American model turned actress of Indian and German descent known for her works in Telugu and Malayalam language films. She acted with Raja in the film ''Vennela'', which turned out to be a success. She ...

* Surender Pal as Suddhodhana * Appaji Ambarisha Darbha as Rishi

Soundtrack

This film all music composed by Shashi Preetam & all Lyrics by Dr. D. K. Goyal in

Reception

Tathagatha Buddha was a hit at Box Office. ''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...

'' wrote that the director breaks new ground in revealing the fascinating story of Prince Siddhartha and his spiritual transformation into the Buddha, the great teacher who changed the entire world.

Awards

* The film producer K. Rajasekhar won for

Nandi Special Jury Award The Nandi Special Jury Award is given by the state government as part of its annual Nandi Awards for Telugu films since 1981. See also * Nandi Awards * Cinema of Andhra Pradesh References {{DEFAULTSORT:Nandi Special Jury Award Special Ju ...

References

External links

Buddha Photo gallery on Idlebrain
* {{Gautama Buddha 2008 films Films about Gautama Buddha Indian multilingual films Films about Buddhism