''Naagarahaavu'' () is a 1972 Indian

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 ...

-language film directed by

Puttanna Kanagal Shubraveshti Ramaswamiah Seetharama Sharma (1 December 1933 – 5 June 1985), known popularly as S. R. Puttanna Kanagal, was an Indian filmmaker known for his work in Kannada cinema. He is often considered one of Kannada cinema's most influent ...

, based on

T. R. Subba Rao Talukina Ramaswamayya Subba Rao (1920–1984), popularly known as TaRaSu, was an Indian novelist and a scholar in the Kannada-language.Mohan Lal and Others (1992), p4185 He is considered as a harbinger of the Kannada literature#Navya, Navya move ...

's three novels ''Nagarahavu'', ''Ondu Gandu Eradu Hennu'' and ''Sarpa Mathsara'', and starring Vishnuvardhan,

Aarathi Aarathi (born 1954) is an Indian actress who mainly acted in Kannada cinema, Kannada films during the 1970s and 1980s. She has won the Filmfare Awards South, Filmfare awards South and the Karnataka State Film Award for Best Actress four times ...

K. S. Ashwath Karaganahalli Subbaraya Ashwathanarayana (25 March 1925 – 18 January 2010) was an Indian veteran actor who appeared in Kannada films He appeared in over 370 films during his five-decade-long career. His only memorial in the whole of Karnata ...

and Shubha. The supporting cast features Leelavathi, M. Jayashree,

M. N. Lakshmi Devi M. N. Lakshmi Devi is a veteran film artist in Kannada films. She is from Chintamani and has had a career of 7 decades. She has acted in more than 700 films. Devi is known for the movies " Bhakta Kanakadasa"(1960), "Bangaarada Manushya"(1972), ...

Ambareesh Malavalli Huchchegowda Amarnath (29 May 1952 – 24 November 2018), known by his screen name Ambareesh, was an Indian actor, media personality, politician from the state of Karnataka. Alongside Rajkumar and Vishnuvardhan, he is counted in ...

Shivaram S. Shivaram (28 January 1938 – 4 December 2021), popularly known simply as Shivaram or Shivaramanna, was an Indian actor, producer and director whose Kannada cinema career has spanned six decades. He has played roles including lead hero p ...

Dheerendra Gopal Gopal Rao, known by his stage name Dheerendra Gopal, was an Indian film and stage actor known for his work in Kannada films. He acted in over 350 films and was predominantly recognized for his performances in villainous and comic roles. After m ...

Lokanath C. H. Loknath (14 August 1927 – 31 December 2018) was an Indian actor with more than 1000 Kannada plays and 650 films to his credit. Loknath is affectionately known as "Uncle Loknath" or "Uppinakayi" in the industry. His last performance wa ...

and

Vajramuni Sadananda Sagar (11 May 1944 – 5 January 2006), better known by his stage name Vajramuni, was an Indian actor who appeared in Kannada films. He portrayed negative characters during most of his career and was considered one of Kannada cinema's ...

. The film has a musical score by

Vijaya Bhaskar Vijaya Bhaskar ( kan, ವಿಜಯಭಾಸ್ಕರ್; 1924–2002) was an Indian music director and composer who composed music for several mainstream and experimental feature films in the Kannada film industry. Scoring music for over 600 fe ...

. Cinematography was done by Chittibabu. The film revolves around the protagonist's relationship with his teacher, Chamayya (

). Chamayya, who is childless treats Ramachari ( Vishnuvardhan) as his son. He takes it upon himself to guide Ramachari on the right path despite Ramachari's legendary anger. He usually acts as the negotiator between his student and the people who have issues with Ramachari's behaviour. Ramachari is a young man whose anger is his weakness. He is difficult to reason with and has a great deal of pride. Chamayya is the only person who can convince him to do anything. His love interests are Alamelu (

) and Margaret ( Shubha) who play pivotal parts in his life. The film was released on 29 December 1972 to widespread critical acclaim and was a success in the box office and paved way for the stardom of Vishnuvardhan,

Ambarish In Hindu mythology, Ambarisha ( sa, अम्बरीषः, ) is an Ikshvaku king, and the son of Mandhata.Pargiter, F.E. (1972) 922 ''Ancient Indian Historical Tradition'', Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, p.92. He is believed to have conquered t ...

and

who became leading actors in

Kannada cinema Kannada cinema, also known as Sandalwood, or Chandanavana, is the segment of Indian cinema dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Kannada language widely spoken in the state of Karnataka. The 1934 film ''Sati Sulochana'' directed ...

. The character roles of Leelavathi,

Loknath C. H. Loknath (14 August 1927 – 31 December 2018) was an Indian actor with more than 1000 Kannada plays and 650 films to his credit. Loknath is affectionately known as "Uncle Loknath" or "Uppinakayi" in the industry. His last performance wa ...

were also critically acclaimed. The film won eight

Karnataka State Film Awards Karnataka State Film Awards are the most notable and prestigious film awards given for Kannada film industry in Karnataka, India. These are considered the highest awards for Kannada language films. They are given annually by the Government ...

for Second Best Film, Best Actor,

Best Actress Best Actress is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organisations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actresses in a film, television series, television film or play. The first Best Actress awar ...

, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Story,

Best Screenplay Best or The Best may refer to: People * Best (surname), people with the surname Best * Best (footballer, born 1968), retired Portuguese footballer Companies and organizations * Best & Co., an 1879–1971 clothing chain * Best Lock Corporatio ...

and Best Dialogue. The film also wo two

Filmfare Awards South Filmfare Awards South is the South Indian segment of the annual Filmfare Awards, presented by the Filmfare magazine of The Times Group to honour both artistic and technical excellence of professionals in the Indian film industry encompassing ...

for Best Film – Kannada and a Special Award for excellent performance . This film was remade in Hindi as ''

Zehreela Insaan ''Zehreela Insaan'' () is a 1974 Indian Hindi-language romance film directed by Puttanna Kanagal and produced by Virendra Sinha. The film stars Rishi Kapoor, Moushumi Chatterjee, Neetu Singh and Pran. It is a remake of Kanagal's own 1972 Kannad ...

'', directed by Puttanna Kanagal himself and in Tamil as ''

Raja Nagam ''Raja Nagam'' () is a 1974 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film written, produced and directed by N. S. Manian. It is a remake of the Kannada film ''Naagarahaavu'' (1972) which was based on three Kannada novels written by T. R. Subba Rao ...

'' and ''

Kode Nagu ''Kode Nagu'' (; also spelt ''Kode Naagu'') is a 1974 Indian Telugu-language romance film directed by K. S. Prakash Rao and produced by M. S. Reddy. It is a remake of the Kannada film ''Naagarahaavu'' (1972) which was based on three Kannada n ...

'' in Telugu. The film was re-released in its digitized version on 20 July 2018. This movie was digitalized by Balaji who is the brother of

V. Ravichandran Veeraswamy Ravichandran (born 30 May 1961), known mononymously as Ravichandran, is an actor, director, producer, music director, lyricist and editor in the Kannada Film Industry. He is the son of film producer N. Veeraswamy. As producer, Ravi ...

and son of

N. Veeraswamy Nagappa Veeraswamy (17 April 1932 – 23 August 1992) was Indian film producer and distributor, who produced under the house, Sri Eswari Productions. He produced 17 Kannada films and one Hindi film, from the early 1970s till his death in 1992. H ...

, who was the producer. The re-release was popular and created a new record of collection.

Plot details

Ramachari

The story revolves around a short-tempered, yet affable college student named Ramachari in the town of

Chitradurga Chitradurga is a city and the headquarters of Chitradurga district, which is located on the valley of the Vedavati river in the central part of the Indian state of Karnataka. Chitradurga is a place with historical significance which is locate ...

. The story begins with Ramachari being caught in class while trying to copy in an examination and being suspended by the college principal (Loknath). Humiliated and angry, Ramachari throws stones at the principal's house in the night and when the principal wakes up and comes out of his house, ties the half-naked principal to a pole and runs away. Ramachari is the son of pious parents. His father doesn't like Ramachari because he is unpopular in the town as a ruffian. His mother is worried about his future. One person who cares for Ramachari is his primary school teacher, Chamayya (K.S.Ashwath) master. Ramachari finds the company of Chamayya and his wife Tunga (Leelavathi), more comforting than that of his parents. Ramachari has very great regard for Chamayya master willing to do whatever he says, without thinking. The next part of the story is about the two women Almelu (Aarathi) and Margaret (Shubha) who come into Ramachari's life and how the teacher Chamayya influences Ramachari's decisions in these relationships. The teacher tries to bring Ramachari into the "conventional way of life", but he errs and Ramachari's life is destroyed.

Almelu

In college, Ramachari hangs out with Varada (Shivaram) and other friends. Varada has a very beautiful sister named Almelu. Almelu's beauty has maddened a neighbourhood hooligan, Jaleela (

) who stalks her. Varada wants to put an end to this eve-teasing but he is timid. He asks Ramachari for help. Ramachari agrees when Varada tells him he'll get his sister Almelu married to Ramachari. Ramachari fights with Jaleela and drives him away. Almelu and Ramachari fall in love. Almelu's parents arrange for her marriage within their caste. When Almelu refuses the proposal and declares her love for Ramachari, Varada refuses support, denying any promise made to Ramachari. Teacher Chamayya intervenes and requests Ramachari to give up Almelu. He convinces Ramachari by making him understand that sacrifice is a greater act than selfish love. Ramachari, out of respect, agrees to his teacher and sacrifices his love. A few years later, Ramachari runs into Almelu at a five-star hotel, where she is a call-girl. Almelu's husband has forced her into a life of prostitution for money.

Margaret

The second girl in Ramachari's life is Margaret, a peppy Christian girl. After Ramachari kisses Margaret on an ego tussle between the two she falls in love with him. After he is forced to give up Almelu, Ramachari starts responding to Margaret's advances. However, due to the intense pressure of the society which denounces the marriage between a Brahmin boy and a Christian girl, they decide to run away. Once again teacher Chamayya tries to stop Ramachari saying that sacrifice is greater than love. But this time, Ramachari confronts his teacher and says that he won't budge because the last time he sacrificed his love for Almelu, it went horribly wrong, as Almelu is now a high society call girl. Chamayya realizes perhaps for the first time that Ramachari is right and he himself was wrong.

Climax

Chamayya falls to his death from the hill when Ramachari accidentally pushes him in a fit of rage for saying, "if you want to marry her, you have to witness my death before it." Ramachari, shocked by this incident, asks Margaret to join him in a bid to accompany his beloved teacher in death, to which she happily agrees and they both jump off the cliff. Ramachari, the hero is compared to a King Cobra. Dangerous, yet respected but a misfit in the society.

Other Key Characters

Chamayya Meshtru

Chamayya (

) is the ever-supportive guardian of Ramachari who treats him as his own son. He is the only person able to control and have an influence over Ramachari. The movie focuses on a beautiful relationship with the teacher and student. In one emotional scene, Chamayya Meshtru accuses Ramachari of raping Almelu and then hits him with his walking stick, only to find out from Ramachari that it was a false allegation. The scene concludes with Ramachari tearfully saying, "Betha murdhogide, repairy madi tandkodteeni" and Chamayya Meshtru helplessly regretting his haste is a classic scene.

Jaleela

Jaleela (

) is the rowdy young man who teases Almelu every time she goes to college by singing the then-popular song " Mere sapnon ki Rani kab Ayegi tu". Almelu is fed complains to her brother Varda who turns to Ramachari for help. In a pivotal scene, Ramachari questions Varda as to why he should help his sister to which Varda promises to have Ramachari and Almelu married. This spurs on Ramachari who takes on Jaleela in a thrilling fight scene. The stakes are raised by the pailwan who promises the winner a garland. Ramachari wins and is rewarded with the promised garland. Jaleela asks for forgiveness and limps away even as Varda extracts his own little revenge.

Varada

Varada (

) is a friend of Ramachari. He is usually known to be trying to find a speciality in someone and often uses that word in his dialogues. He is a key character who promises Almelu's hand in marriage to Ramachari, only to flip when he finds out that Ramachari is serious. He accuses Ramachari of raping Almelu. Ultimately, this results in Chamayya Meshtru intervening and have Almelu marry the man chosen by her parents.

Thungamma

Thungamma ( Leelavathi) is the wife of Chamayya meshtru, the doting foster mom of Ramachari. Their mother son equation is well depicted in the aftermath of ramachari tying his college principal to a pole and being made to apologize.

Cast

* Vishnuvardhan as Ramachari *

as Alamelu * Shubha as Margaret *

as Chamayya Meshtru *

H. R. Shastry Halebeedu Ramachandra Shastry (2 November 1905 – 12 December 1976), was an Indian actor and dubbing artist known for his work in Kannada cinema. In his career spanning more than 40 years, Shastry played a variety of supporting roles. He is not ...

as Shyam Iyengar, Alamelu's father * Pratima Devi as Alamelu's mother * Leelavathi as Thungamma, wife of Chammayya Meshtru * M. Jayashree as Sonabai, Ramachari's mother *

as Jaleela *

as Mary, Margaret's mother *

M. P. Shankar M. P. Shankar (20 August 1935 – 17 July 2008) was an Indian actor in Kannada cinema. He acted in films like Satya Harishchandra (1965 Kannada film), Satya Harishchandra as 'Veera Baahu', Naagarahaavu as 'Pailwan Basanna', ''Bhootayyana Maga Ay ...

as Pailwan Basanna *

as Varadha, Alamelu's brother *

as C. H. Shyam Rao, principal of the college *

as Thukaram, classmate of Ramachari *

as "Laxmu", a lawyer *

Shakti Prasad J. C. Ramaswamy (19 May 1928 – 2 August 1986), known by his screen name Shakti Prasad, was an Indian actor who appeared in Kannada films in mostly villainous roles. In a career spanning close to 20 years, he appeared in over 200 films includ ...

as Naidu, Margaret's uncle * Jayanthi as

Onake Obavva Onake Obavva ( kn, ಒನಕೆ ಓಬವ್ವ, 18th Century) was a Karnataka hindu warrior who fought the forces of Hyder Ali single-handedly with a pestle (''Onake'') in the kingdom of Chitradurga of Karnataka, India. Her husband was a guard ...

(cameo)

Soundtrack

The music of the film was composed by

with lyrics penned by

Vijaya Narasimha Vijaya Naarasimha (ಕನ್ನಡ:ವಿಜಯ ನಾರಸಿಂಹ)(16th January 1927 – 31 October 2001) was an Indian lyricist who worked in Kannada cinema. Career Vijaya Naarasimha's first Kannada film song was "Yee Dehadinda Dooranaa ...

Chi. Udaya Shankar Chitnahalli Udayashankar (18 February 1934 – 2 July 1993; born in Chitnahalli) was an Indian lyricist and dialogue writer in the Kannada film industry for over three decades, who penned more than 3000 songs for films and devotional songs. H ...

and

R. N. Jayagopal R. N. Jayagopal (1935 – 19 May 2008) was an Indian film director and lyricist in Cinema of Karnataka, Kannada cinema. He had written over 12,000 film songs. Early life and education R. N. Jayagopal, known to friends and fans as RNJ, was ...

. Two songs from this movie went on to be used in the Telugu version ''

'' – ''Sangama Sangama'' was re-used as ''Sangamam Sangamam'' and ''Kathe Heluve'' was re-used as ''Katha Vinduva''. The song ''Haavina Dwesha'' went on to be used in the Hindi version as ''Saanp Se Badhke''. Vijayabhaskar reused "Karpoorada Gombe" as "Varavendum Vaazhkaiyil" for Tamil film ''Mayangugiral Oru Maadhu''. The song "Kannada Naadina" narrates the story of

who fought the forces of

Hyder Ali Hyder Ali ( حیدر علی, ''Haidarālī''; 1720 – 7 December 1782) was the Sultan and ''de facto'' ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore in southern India. Born as Hyder Ali, he distinguished himself as a soldier, eventually drawing the att ...

Track List

Awards

21st Filmfare Awards South

* Best Film – Kannada * Special Award for excellent performance – Vishnuvardhan

1972–73 Karnataka State Film Awards The Karnataka State Film Awards 1972–73, presented by Government of Karnataka, to felicitate the best of Kannada Cinema Kannada cinema, also known as Sandalwood, or Chandanavana, is the segment of Indian cinema dedicated to the production ...

* Second Best Film * Best Actor – Vishnuvardhan *

–

* Best Supporting Actor –

* Best Supporting Actress – Shubha * Best Story –

–

* Best Dialogue –

Chi. Udayashankar Chitnahalli Udayashankar (18 February 1934 – 2 July 1993; born in Chitnahalli) was an Indian lyricist and dialogue writer in the Kannada film industry for over three decades, who penned more than 3000 songs for films and devotional songs. Hi ...

Criticism

After watching the film,

remarked that

has turned ''Naagarahaavu'' (the cobra) into 'Kerehaavu' (meaning rat snake). The implied meaning is that the characterisation of Ramachari in the novel and the movie is strikingly different and less effective. Nevertheless, Naagarahaavu is an all-time favorite movie and remains popular in all its reruns.

Remakes

* This film was remade in Hindi titled as ''

'', directed by Puttanna Kanagal himself. * The film was remade in Tamil as ''

'' with Srikanth playing the lead role. * This film was remade into Telugu titled ''

'' starring Sobhan Babu, Chandrakala and Lakshmi and noted lyricist Acharya Athreya. This was directed by K. S. Prakash Rao. * The 2016 film ''

Mr. and Mrs. Ramachari ''Mr. and Mrs. Ramachari'' is a 2014 Cinema of India, Indian Kannada cinema, Kannada Romantic drama film, romantic drama film written and directed by Santhosh Ananddram and produced by the duo Jayanna and Bhogendra under the banner Jayanna Combi ...

'' pays homage by loosely basing its plot on this film.

Trivia

* "Baare Baare" was the first song in an Indian film to be fully shot in slow motion. *

had written his novel ''Naagarahaavu'', based on painter Madhugiri Ramu & his teacher Shaamayya. Ramu was a gifted painter, whose paintings have adorned the North Gate of

Mysore Palace The Mysore Palace, also known as Amba Vilas Palace, is a historical palace and a royal residence (house). It is located in Mysore, Karnataka. It used to be the official residence of the Wadiyar dynasty and the seat of the Kingdom of Mysore. Th ...

. *

initially did not like the film version, which was based on his three novels, and criticized it.

References

External links

*
The Complete Index to World Film Since 1895

Naagarahaavu songs lyrics
{{Puttanna Kanagal 1970s Kannada-language films 1972 drama films 1972 films Films based on Indian novels Films based on multiple works Films directed by Puttanna Kanagal Films scored by Vijaya Bhaskar Films shot in Chitradurga Indian drama films Kannada films remade in other languages