''Mangalya Balam'' () is a 1959 Indian

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 ...

-language

romantic drama film Romance films or movies involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion (emotion), passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typica ...

, produced by

D. Madhusudhana Rao Dukkipati Madhusudhana Rao (27 July 1917 – 26 March 2006) was an Indian film producer and screenwriter, known for his works in Telugu cinema. He owned the film production houses named Annapurna Pictures Limited based in Chennai. As a pr ...

under

Annapurna Pictures Annapurna Pictures is an independent American media company founded by Megan Ellison in 2011, that specializes in film production, live theatre production, television through its Annapurna Television division, and video game publishing through i ...

banner and directed by

Adurthi Subba Rao Adurthi Subba Rao (16 December 1912 – 1 October 1975) was an Indian film director, cinematographer, screenwriter, editor and producer known for his works predominantly in Telugu cinema. Rao is widely regarded as the intellectual fountain ...

. It stars Savitri and

Akkineni Nageswara Rao Akkineni Nageswara Rao (20 September 1923 – 22 January 2014), widely known as ANR, was an Indian actor and producer, known for his works majorly in Telugu cinema. He starred in many landmark films in his seventy five-year career, and became on ...

, with music composed by

Master Venu Madduri Venugopal better known as Master Venu (1916–1981) was an Indian music composer of the Telugu and Tamil cinemas and the father of the actor Bhanu Chander. He was born 1916 in Machilipatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India and died 1981 in Chenn ...

. The film is a remake of the

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

film '' Agni Pariksha'', which was based on

Ashapurna Devi Ashapurna Devi (8 January 1909 – 12 July 1995), also Ashapoorna Devi or Ashapurna Debi, was a prominent Indian novelist and poet in Bengali. In 1976, she was awarded the Jnanpith Award and Padma Shri by the Government of India, D.Litt. by ...

's novel of the same name. It was simultaneously made by the same banner and director in

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 ...

as ''Manjal Mahimai'' ().

Plot

The film begins, with Zamindar Papa Rao who resides in the city, Kanthamma his shrewish wife always ill-treats her mother-in-law Parvatamma and Papa Rao couple has two children Suryam & Saroja. In their village, Papa Rao's sister Seeta lives with her husband Rangaiah the son Chandra Shekar and a rift erupted between the families as Seeta married her brother's wish. Once Parvatamma learns that Seeta is terminally ill, so, she immediately packs up along with Suryam & Saroja. After looking at Saroja, Seeta aspires for the reunion of families and pleads with her mother to couple up Chandram & Saroja. Thereupon, Parvathamma gives a call for Papa Rao before he reaches Seeta is about to leave her last breath, so, to accomplish her wish Parvatamma jeopardizes and espousals the children. Being cognizant of it, furious Papa Rao leaves the place carrying Suryam & Saroja away when grief-stricken Seeta passes away. On transpired about it, and infuriate Kanthamma annuls through the court and deprives the wedding chain (''Mangalsutram'') of Saroja which is preserved by Suryam. Years roll by, and Chandra Shekar returns to his village to complete his education when Parvatamma divulges regarding his childhood marriage and requests him to get back his wife. Right now, Chandram moves on the mission and gets acquainted with Saroja as Shekar with the help of his friend Kailasam and they love each other. Parallelly, a glimpse, Kailasam rescues Saroja's friend Meenakshi while committing suicide as she spouses to be wedlock an old man and Saroja gives her shelter. After that, Kailasam & Meena too fall in love. At this point, Suryam reveals to Saroja that she is already married and handovers the wedding chain that has been thrown away by their mother. At present, Saroja is in a dichotomy, but as an Indian woman complies with the marriage and keeps Chandram a distance. Meanwhile, Parvatamma's health declines, so, Suryam brings her home. Besides, Chandram makes various attempts to meet Saroja and Papa Rao necks him out knowing his identity. Ultimately, Saroja enlightens reality by Parvatamma and the couple rejoins. Here, stubborn Papa Rao & Kanthamma forcibly fix Saroja's alliance with Kailasam which Parvatamma opposes and quits. At this juncture, Chandram enacts a play, escapes with Saroja to the village, Papa Rao chases, and in enrage tries to shoot them when, unfortunately, Parvathamma is wounded. Spotting it, Papa Rao realizes his mistake and also rebukes Kanthamma. Finally, the movie ends on a happy note with the reunion of the entire family.

Cast

* Savitri as Saroja *

as Chandrasekhar *

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 ...

as Meena * Relangi / K. A. Thangavelu as Kailasam *

Suryakantham Suryakantam or Sooryakantam (pronounced sūryakāntam) is a rāgam in Carnatic music (musical scale of South Indian classical music). It is the 17th ''melakarta'' rāgam (parent scale) in the 72 ''melakarta'' rāgam system of Carnatic music. I ...

as Kanthamma *

S. V. Ranga Rao Samarla Venkata Ranga Rao (3 July 1918 – 18 July 1974), popularly known as SVR, was an Indian actor, producer, and director known for his works majorly in Telugu and Tamil films. He is regarded as one of the finest actors in the history of ...

as Papa Rao *

Kannamba Pasupuleti Kannamba (''Pasupulēţi Kannāṃba'') (5 October 1911 – 7 May 1968) was an Indian actress, playback singer and film producer of Telugu cinema, of Andhra Pradesh, India. She acted in more than 170 films and produced about 25 films ...

as Parvatamma * G. Varalakshmi as Seeta *

Ramana Reddy Ramana Reddy (1 October 1921 – 11 November 1974) was an Indian character actor, comedian and producer known for his works predominantly in Telugu cinema. In a career spanning 24 years, he acted in more than 200 movies. Ramana Reddy and Relangi ...

as Achary * Ramana Murthy /

K. Balaji Krishnamachari Balaji (24 June 19342 May 2009) was an Indian film producer and actor. He was a prominent actor in the 1960s and 70s, playing lead, supporting and antagonist roles. He appeared in many Sivaji Ganesan films. Early life Balaji was ...

as Dr. Suryam *A. V. Subba Rao as Rangaiah *Dr. Sivaramakrishnaiah *Vangara

Soundtrack

The music was composed by

. He borrowed only one tune from the Bengali film's composer Anupam Ghatak, for the song "Penu Cheekataye Lokam" from its original version "Ke Tumi Amare Dako". Telugu songs
The Telugu songs were written by Sri Sri, except for My Dear Meena, Chekkili Meeda and Tirupati Venkateswara, which were written by Kosaraju.

Playback singer A playback singer, also known as a ghost singer, is a singer whose singing is pre-recorded for use in films. Playback singers record songs for soundtracks, and actors or actresses lip-sync the songs for cameras; the actual singer does not app ...

s were Ghantasala,

Madhavapeddi Satyam Madhavapeddi Satyam (11 March 1922 – 18 December 2000) was an Indian playback singer and actor who predominantly worked in Telugu cinema. He entered films as a singer-actor in Y. V. Rao's Tamil-Hindi bilingual movie ''Ramadas'' in the year 194 ...

P. Suseela Pulapaka Susheela (born 13 November 1935), popularly known as P. Susheela, is an Indian playback singer associated with the South Indian cinema primarily from Andhra Pradesh for over six decades. She is one of the greatest and best-known playba ...

Jikki Pillavalu Gajapathy Krishnaveni (3 November 1935 – 16 August 2004), more famously known as Jikki, was an Indian playback singer from Andhra Pradesh. She sang around 10,000 songs in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Hindi, and Sinhalese languag ...

K. Jamuna Rani K. Jamuna Rani (born 17 May 1938 in Andhra Pradesh, India) is an Indian playback singer who has sung over 6,000 songs in Sinhalese, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam lnguages. Life and career Rani was born to K. Varadarajulu and violinist K ...

. ;Tamil Track List Lyrics were penned by

Udumalai Narayana Kavi [https://idhatri.com/udumalai-narayana-kavi/ Udumalai Narayana KavUdumalai Narayana Kavi Udumalai Narayana Kavi (25 September 1899 – 23 May 1981) was an Indian poet and lyricist known for his work in Tamil films. Early life Udumalai Narayana wa ...

and A. Maruthakasi.

Production

Bhavanarayana, producer of ''Meghasandesham'' suggested to Dukkipati Madhusudhana Rao to watch the Bengali film '' Agni Pariksha'' (1954). Madhusudhana bought the remake rights after being impressed with the film and approached Atreya to write the screenplay and dialogues for the film. One of the major changes the maker brought in was while in the original version the girl's father dies of shock, in ''Mangalya Balam'', his character was retained till the last frame. ''Mangalya Balam'' was said to be the first Telugu film to shoot in Ooty and it was also Savitri's first visit to the hill town. The Tamil version ''Manjal Mahimai'' was simultaneously made retaining all the leading actors and technicians with two changes to the cast – K. A. Thangavelu and

replacing Relangi and Ramanamurthy respectively.

Release

''Mangalya Balam'' was released on 7 January 1959 and for the first time in the history of Telugu cinema, the hundred days function was held in an open arena, the Municipal High School grounds, Vijayawada with thousands of cine-fans participating and presided over by the then Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Kasu Brahmananda Reddy. ''Manjal Mahimai'' was released on 14 January 1959 and ran for a hundred days.

Awards

National Film Awards The National Film Awards is the most prominent film award ceremony in India. Established in 1954, it has been administered, along with the International Film Festival of India and the Indian Panorama, by the Indian government's Directorat ...

National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Telugu The National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Telugu is one of the National Film Awards presented annually by the Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India. It is one of several ...

– 1959

References

External links

* {{National Film Award Best Feature Film Telugu 1959 films 1950s Telugu-language films 1950s Tamil-language films Telugu remakes of Bengali films Tamil remakes of Bengali films Indian multilingual films Films directed by Adurthi Subba Rao Best Telugu Feature Film National Film Award winners 1950s multilingual films Films based on Indian novels Films based on works by Ashapurna Devi Films scored by Master Venu