''Ondu Muttina Kathe'' () is a 1987 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

Shankar Nag Shankar Nagarakatte (9 November 1954 – 30 September 1990) was an Indian actor, screenwriter, director, and producer known for his work in Kannada-language films and television. A popular cultural icon of Karnataka, Nag is often referred to as ...

, starring Rajkumar and Archana. It is based on

John Steinbeck John Ernst Steinbeck Jr. (; February 27, 1902 – December 20, 1968) was an American writer and the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature winner "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humor and keen social ...

's 1947

novella A novella is a narrative prose fiction whose length is shorter than most novels, but longer than most short stories. The English word ''novella'' derives from the Italian ''novella'' meaning a short story related to true (or apparently so) facts ...

'' The Pearl''. This was the last directorial of Shankar Nag. It is also the only movie in which he directed Rajkumar, making him the youngest person to direct him. The movie was not very successful but is still remembered for its screenplay and technical superiority. It is considered one of the cult classic movies in the history of

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 film is also notable for the underwater fighting sequence by Rajkumar at the age of 58 with a London-made artificial octopus shot in the Maldives ocean with a Canadian camera by a German cameraman.Archived a
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It was the first Indian film to have an underwater action sequence shot in an ocean outside India without the help of oxygen mask.

Premise

The movie narrates the tale of Aithu, a

pearl diver Pearl hunting, also known as pearling, is the activity of recovering pearls from wild molluscs, usually oysters or mussels, in the sea or freshwater. Pearl hunting was prevalent in the Persian Gulf region and Japan for thousands of years. On the ...

, who has to face many problems when he decides to sell a precious pearl which he finds in the ocean.

Cast

* Rajkumar as Aithu * Archana as Kaaki *

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 ...

as Abutajja *

Mukhyamantri Chandru Honnasandra Narasimhaiah Chandrashekar (born 28 August 1953), known popularly as Mukhyamantri Chandru, is an Indian actor and politician. As an actor, he is known for his work in Kannada theatre and cinema. The sobriquet ''Mukhyamantri'' (Chief ...

as Mahabala *

Doddanna Doddanna (born 11 November 1949) is an Indian actor in the Kannada film industry who has acted in about 800 films. He started his career as a theatre actor. During this time, he entered the Kannada film industry as a character actor. Early lif ...

as Doctor * T. N. Balakrishna as Narasimha Swami *

Ramesh Bhat Ramesh Bhat is a multiple-award–winning Indian actor. He has worked predominantly in Kannada films and television serials. Early life Ramesh Bhat was born in Kundapur. He completed his primary education at Manki and portrayed national leader ...

as Kutta * L S Sudhindra * Ashok Badaradinni as Doctor's Assistant *

Thoogudeepa Srinivas Mysore Srinivas (17 April 1943 – 16 October 1995), known by his stage name Thoogudeepa Srinivas was an Indian actor who appeared in Kannada films and is remembered for his portrayal of negative-shaded characters. He is the father of actor, D ...

as Bollanna * Sundar Raj as Dhooma * Kaminidharan

Reception

Shankar had confessed in an interview that he had failed to break Rajkumar's image but was satisfied that an effort was made to tamper with the star system and appreciated Rajkumar for being co-operative in this cause by appearing in a role which was not typical. Riding on high expectations, ''Ondu Muttina Kathe'' received mixed response upon release. However, it ended up doubling its investment. It had the lowest share for a Dr Raj movie in the 1980s. The movie just ran for 7 weeks (less than 50 days) in the main theatre which again was the lowest for a Dr Rajkumar movie in the 1980s putting the then lowest ''

Nee Nanna Gellalare ''Nee Nanna Gellalare'' is a 1981 Indian Kannada-language film directed by Vijay and produced by S.A. Srinivas. The film stars Rajkumar and Manjula . Though the movie managed to recover its budget, the movie's performance is considered to be ...

'' (63 day) to the second position., ''Ondu Muttina Kathe'' has achieved cult status which in turn is evident from it being frequently shown on ''

Udaya TV Udaya may refer to * Udaya Pictures, a movie company in Kerala. * Udaya TV, a Kannada-language television channel * Udaya Manikya, a 16th-century king of Tripura Tripura (, Bengali: ) is a state in Northeast India. The third-smallest sta ...

''. It is considered one of the most technically advanced films of the 1980s era of

Indian cinema The Cinema of India consists of motion pictures produced in India, which had a large effect on world cinema since the late 20th century. Major centers of film production across the country include Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Ko ...

Soundtrack

L. Vaidyanathan Lakshminarayana Vaidyanathan ( ta, லக்ஷ்மிநாராயண வைத்தியநாதன்; kn, ಎಲ್.ವೈದ್ಯನಾಥನ್; 9 April 1942 – 19 May 2007) was an acclaimed musicologist, music director and compo ...

composed the background score for the film and the soundtracks. Lyrics for the soundtracks were penned by

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 ...

. The album consists of five soundtracks.Ondu Mutthina Kathe (1987) songs
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References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0245333 1980s Kannada-language films 1987 films Films based on works by John Steinbeck Films directed by Shankar Nag Films scored by L. Vaidyanathan Films about cephalopods