''Gulebakavali'' () is a 1955 Indian

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

action adventure film Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include lif ...

produced and directed by T. R. Ramanna, and written by Thanjai N. Ramaiah Dass. The film stars

M. G. Ramachandran Maruthur Gopalan Ramachandran (17 January 1917 24 December 1987), also popularly known as M.G.R., was an Indian politician, actor, philanthropist, and filmmaker who served as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu from 1977 until his death in 1987 ...

, T. R. Rajakumari,

Rajasulochana Chittajallu Rajeevalochana (15 August 1935 – 5 March 2013), better known as Rajasulochana, was an Indian classical dancer and actress. She has acted in more than 300 Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi language films. Early life She w ...

and G. Varalakshmi. Based on the story of the same name from the Arabic folklore collection, '' One Thousand and One Nights'', it tells the story of a young prince who sets out to the kingdom of Bakavali to find a mysterious flower which is believed to have the power to restore his father's eyesight. The film was released on 29 July 1955.

Plot

A king has two wives. He banishes his first wife as an astrologer told him that he would lose his vision because of her son Dasan. The mother and son live in the woods and when he meets his father without knowing his identity, the king loses his sight. When the son gets to know about the sad tale from his mother, he sets out to bring a rare flower from the kingdom of Bakavali, which would restore the king's sight. To achieve it, Dasan undergoes many adventures — enters into a debate with the queen Bakavali and wins the battle of wits, challenges a woman Lakbesha held captive by a crook Sukur in a fake dice contest, and rescues a slave dancer Mehmoodha of a tribal chief. Dasan wins them all and succeeds in getting the flower along with the three women who turn out to be princesses and siblings. Meanwhile, his stepbrothers try to steal the flower, but are exposed.

Cast

as Prince Dasan * T. R. Rajakumari as Princess Lakbesha *

as Princess Mehmoodha * G. Varalakshmi as Queen Bakavali * K. A. Thangavelu as Sukur * Chandrababu as Gulam *

E. R. Sahadevan E. R. Sahadevan was a Tamil veteran villain actor. He acted as the villain along with M. G. Ramachandran, Sivaji Ganesan, Gemini Ganesan, S. S. Rajendran in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. He made his debut film Rajasekaran Emantha Sonagiri, rele ...

* A. Karunanidhi as Prince *

E. V. Saroja E. V. Saroja (1935 - 2006) was an Indian actress and dancer. She was born on 3 November 1935 as Engan V. Saroja. She belonged to Engan village of Thiruvarur district, Tamil Nadu. Her debut film was '' En Thangai'' in 1952 starring M. G. Ramacha ...

as Gulzar *

S. D. Subbulakshmi Srivaikundam Duraisamy Subbulakshmi was an Indian actress and singer who was active in Tamil cinema during the 1930s and 1940s. She was the wife of film director K. Subramanyam. She is credited with having introduced the singer and family fri ...

as Dasan's mother

Production

''Gulebakavali'' is the second Tamil film to be based on the story of the same name from the Arabic folklore collection '' One Thousand and One Nights'', following a 1935 film. The film also involved a fight sequence between lead actor M. G. Ramachandran and a tiger. Thanjai N. Ramaiah Dass, who wrote the screenplay, also wrote the songs' lyrics.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by the duo

Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy were an Indian music composing duo composed of M. S. Viswanathan and T. K. Ramamoorthy. They worked together on over 100 films, from 1952's '' Panam'' to 1965's '' Aayirathil Oruvan''. After their split, Ramamoorthy wo ...

and all Lyrics written by Thanjai N. Ramaiah Dass. The song "Mayakkum Maalai" is one of the earliest film songs to be set in the Carnatic raga named ''

Bageshri Raga Bageshri or Bageshree () is a Hindustani classical raga. It is a popular night raga, which is meant to depict the emotion of a woman waiting for reunion with her lover. It is said to have been first sung by Miyan Tansen, the celebrated ...

''. It was originally composed by K. V. Mahadevan for Ramanna's previous film ''

Koondukkili ''Koondukkili'' () is a 1954 Indian Tamil-language drama film directed and co-produced by T. R. Ramanna. The film stars M. G. Ramachandran, Sivaji Ganesan and B. S. Saroja. Although a commercial failure, it gained historical reputation over t ...

'' (1954). As that film was getting delayed and the song was yet to be filmed, Ramanna instead used it in ''Gulebakavali''. Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy were credited as the composers instead of Mahadevan.

Release

''Gulebakavali'' was released on 29 July 1955, and was distributed by K. S. Pictures in Madras.

Namesake

The 2018 film '' Gulaebaghavali'' was named after this film, but with a different spelling. To connect these two films, director Kalyaan devised a "special flashback sequence".

References

External links

* {{T. R. Ramanna 1950s action adventure films 1950s Tamil-language films 1955 films Films based on One Thousand and One Nights Films directed by T. R. Ramanna Films scored by Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy Indian action adventure films Indian swashbuckler films Polygamy in fiction Indian black-and-white films