''Narasinha Avatar'' (The Incarnation of Narsinha) is a 1949

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 ...

mythological film produced and directed by

Sohrab Modi Sohrab Merwanji Modi (2 November 1897 – 28 January 1984) was an Indian stage and film actor, director and producer. His films include ''Khoon Ka Khoon'' (1935), a version of Shakespeare's ''Hamlet'', '' Sikandar'', ''Pukar'', ''Prithvi Va ...

. Made under the Minerva Movietone banner, it had music composed by

Vasant Desai Vasant Desai (1912–1975) was an Indian film music composer, most remembered for his score in V. Shantaram films like '' Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baaje'' (1955), '' Do Aankhen Barah Haath'' (1957), Vijay Bhatt's '' Goonj Uthi Shehnai'' (1959), ''Samp ...

with lyrics by Narendra Sharma. The story was written by S. A. Shukla, and the film starred Mahipal,

Shobhana Samarth Shobhana Samarth (17 November 1916 – 9 February 2000) was an Indian actress, director and producer who began her career in the early days of talkie movies in the Hindi film industry and continued in lead roles into the 1950s. She started in ...

, Niranjan Sharma,

Hari Shivdasani Hari Shivdasani (1909–1994) was an Indian character actor in Hindi cinema from 1930s-1980s. Personal life Hari Shivdasani was a Sindhi Hindu from Karachi and had moved with his family to Mumbai at the time of the partition of the British Ra ...

Tiwari Tiwari () is a surname of the Hindu Brahmin communities commonly found in India and Nepal. Alternative spellings include Tiwary and Tewari. Notable people Independence activists *Chandra Shekhar Azad (born Chandrashekhar Tiwari) *Adrian Cola Rie ...

, S. N. Tripathi and Kamal. The film is based on the

Bhagavata Purana The ''Bhagavata Purana'' ( sa, भागवतपुराण; ), also known as the ''Srimad Bhagavatam'', ''Srimad Bhagavata Mahapurana'' or simply ''Bhagavata'', is one of Hinduism's eighteen great Puranas (''Mahapuranas''). Composed in S ...

story of the fourth

Avatar Avatar (, ; ), is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means "descent". It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, goddess or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appeara ...

of the Hindu God

Vishnu Vishnu ( ; , ), also known as Narayana and Hari, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the supreme being within Vaishnavism, one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism. Vishnu is known as "The Preserver" withi ...

( Dashavatara) in the form of Narsimha. The half man, half lion Narsimha, destroys the Asura King

Hiranyakashipu Hiranyakashipu (; also known as Hiranyakashyap) was an Asura king of the ''daityas'' from the Puranic scriptures of Hinduism. His name literally translates to "clothed in gold" (''hiranya'' "gold" ''kashipu'' "soft cushion"), and is often inte ...

and instates his devotional son

Prahlad Prahlada () is an asura king in Hindu mythology. He is known for his staunch devotion towards the preserver deity, Vishnu. He appears in the narrative of Narasimha, the man-lion avatar of Vishnu, who rescues Prahlada by slaying his wicked f ...

as the rightful king.

Plot

The Asura King Hiranyakashipu, having been granted the boon of immortality by

Brahma Brahma ( sa, ब्रह्मा, Brahmā) is a Hindu god, referred to as "the Creator" within the Trimurti, the trinity of supreme divinity that includes Vishnu, and Shiva.Jan Gonda (1969)The Hindu Trinity Anthropos, Bd 63/64, H 1/2, pp. 21 ...

, projects himself as Supreme Being, even beyond Vishnu, whom he wants to avenge for killing his brother Hirnayaksha. After years of penance Brahma grants Hiranyakashipu his boon where he asks not to be killed by man or animal, on earth or space, inside the house or outside, and neither at dawn or at night. In his arrogance he aims for filicide when his son Prahlada rejects him as the supreme power, worshipping only Vishnu as the true God. He makes several attempts at killing Prahlad, one of them by burning him on the pyre. Prahlad is inadvertently saved when Holika's, (sister of Hiranyakashipu) fire-proof veil lands on him and Holika gets burnt instead. Hiranyakashipu is further angered when Prahlad, on being asked if Vishnu exists in the pillar of the palace too, answers He is everywhere. Hiranyakashipu smashes the pillar and a half man half lion form appears. It is Narsimha (Vishnu’s Avatar). The enraged Narsimha stands on the threshold and places the King on his thighs. It is twilight time indicating neither day nor night making Hiranyakashipu no longer invincible. With his talons he rips Hiranyakashipu’s abdomen apart, thereby killing him. Before leaving he installs Prahlad as the new King.

Cast

* Mahipal as Narad *

as Kayadhu * Niranjan Sharma as Hiranyakashipu *

* S. N. Tripathi * Lakshman *

* Kanta Kumari * Kamal

Review And Remakes

Amrit Gangar in his book states that the film was hailed as a "mass entertainer" according to ''

Filmindia ''filmindia'' is an Indian monthly magazine covering Indian cinema and published in English language. Started by Baburao Patel in 1935, ''filmindia'' was the first English film periodical to be published from Bombay. The magazine was reportedl ...

'' 1949. He cites another reviewer of the time who pointed out the discrepancy in Holika's name, quoting H. H. Wilson (1840) that according to the Puranas, Hiranyakashipu's sister's name was Sinhika, and she was married to Viprachitta. Several films have been made in India in different languages on the story of Prahlad and Narsimha. The first film version was made as ''Bhakta Prahlad'' (1926) by

Dadasaheb Phalke Dhundiraj Govind Phalke (Pronunciation: ̪ʱuɳɖiɾaːd͡ʒ pʰaːɭke, popularly known as Dadasaheb Phalke () (30 April 1870 – 16 February 1944), was an Indian producer-director-screenwriter, known as "the Father of Indian cinema". His de ...

. Since then nearly ten more films have been made with

Bhakta Prahlad ''Bhakta Prahlad'' () is a 1946 Indian 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, cen ...

(1967) Telugu version cited as the best remake.

Soundtrack

The music direction was by

with lyrics by Narendra Sharma. Lalita Deulkar,

Lata Mangeshkar Lata Mangeshkar () (born as Hema Mangeshkar; 28 September 1929 – 06 February 2022) was an Indian playback singer and occasional music composer. She is widely considered to have been the greatest and most influential singers in India. Her con ...

, Mohammed Rafi and

Manna Dey Prabodh Chandra Dey (May 1, 1919 − October 24, 2013), known by his stage name Manna Dey, was an internationally acclaimed and celebrated Indian playback singer, music director, and a musician. As a classical vocalist, he belonged to the Bhe ...

provided the main playback singing.

Songlist

References

External links

* {{Sohrab Modi 1949 films 1940s Hindi-language films Films directed by Sohrab Modi Hindu mythological films Indian fantasy films 1940s fantasy films Indian black-and-white films