''Sati Sulochana'' () is a

1934 Events January–February * January 1 – The International Telecommunication Union, a specialist agency of the League of Nations, is established. * January 15 – The 8.0 1934 Nepal–Bihar earthquake, Nepal–Bihar earthquake strik ...

Indian

Kannada-language 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 sp ...

film directed by

Y. V. Rao Yaragudipati Varada Rao (Telugu: యెర్రగుడిపాటి వరదరావు; 30 May 1903 – 13 February 1979) was an Indian director, producer, actor, screenwriter, and editor known for his works primarily in Telugu, Kannada, ...

. The film was released on 3 March 1934 and is the first talkie film in Kannada language.Dr.Raj's impact on Kannada cinema

Rediff.com Rediff.com (stylized as ''rediff.com'') is an Indian news, information, entertainment and shopping web portal. It was founded in 1996. It is headquartered in Mumbai, with offices in Bangalore, New Delhi and New York City. , it had more than 300 e ...

It is also the first film to be screened in the erstwhile Mysore Kingdom. It is a lost film. Though initially it was believed that the movie had 18 songs, a gramophone record jacket found in private archives showed that the movie had as many as 30 songs belying the notion that the first four Kannada talkie movies had no recorded sound tracks.

Plot

''Sati Sulochana'' is based on the character

Sulochana Sulochana ( hi, सुलोचना, "one with beautiful eyes") is a popular Indian feminine given name, and may refer to: People * Sulochana Brahaspati (born 1937), Indian vocalist of Hindustani classical music * Sulochana Chavan (1933–2022 ...

from the Ramayana. She is the wife of

Indrajit Meghanada (), also referred to by his epithet Indrajita , according to Hindu texts, was the crown prince of Lanka, who conquered Indraloka (Heaven). He is regarded as one of the greatest warriors in Hindu texts. He is a major character mentio ...

and the daughter-in-law of Ravana, the demon-king in Ramayana. The film tries to portray the goings-on of the war between the

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

god Rama and Ravana as seen from the point of view of Sulochana. Ravana abducts Rama's wife Sita to his kingdom of

Lanka Lanka (, ) is the name given in Hindu epics to the island fortress capital of the legendary asura king Ravana in the epics of the ''Ramayana'' and the ''Mahabharata''. The fortress was situated on a plateau between three mountain peaks known ...

, drawing Rama into a war. In the course of the war, Rama's brother Lakshmana is knocked unconscious by an arrow from Indrajit and is revived by a medicinal herb called Sanjeevani. The revived Lakshmana kills Indrajit and makes Sulochana a widow. Ravana's defeat by Lord Rama and the killing of Indrajit is viewed through the eyes of Sulochana. Unable to bear the pain of husband's death,

commits sati sacrifice.

Cast

Subbaiah Naidu Mysore Venkatappa Subbaiah Naidu (1896 – 21 July 1962) was an Indian stage artiste in the silent movies era. He was an actor and director, well known for the movies '' Sati Sulochana'' (1934) in Kannada, which was also the first Kannada talkie ...

Tripuramba Tripuramba (1910–1979) was an Indian actress and singer who worked in Kannada films. She is best remembered for her role Sulochana in the first Kannada talkie Sati Sulochana, released in 1934, which made her the first heroine of Kannada cinema. ...

R. Nagendra Rao Rattihalli Nagendra Rao (23 June 1896 – 9 February 1977) was an Indian theatre actor, film actor and director in South Indian cinema. Following his career in theatre, Rao turned to film a where he became an actor, director, producer, screenwr ...

as Ravana * Lakshmi Bai as

Mandodari Mandodari ( sa, मंदोदरी, , lit. "soft-bellied";) was the queen consort of Ravana, the king of Lanka, according to the Hindu epic ''Ramayana''. The ''Ramayana'' describes Mandodari as beautiful, pious, and righteous. She is extoll ...

as Lakshmana * C. V. Seshachalam as Narada * D. N. Murthy Rao as Rama * S. K. Padmadevi as Sakhi *

Indubala Indubala (1898 – November 30, 1984), sometimes credited as Miss Indubala, Indubālā Debī, or Indubala Devi, was a Bengali singer and actress. She received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1975. Early life Indubala was born in Amritsar ...

Background

The producer of the film was a Marwari businessman from Bangalore (a native of Ahore,

Jalore District Jalore District is a district of Rajasthan state in western India. The city of Jalore is the administrative headquarters of the district. The district has an area of (3.11 percent of Rajasthan's area), and a population of 1,828,730 (2011 census) ...

of Rajasthan) named Shah

Chamanlal Doongaji Chamanlal Doongaji was an Indian businessman, film producer and distributor known for producing the first-ever talking film in Kannada, ''Sati Sulochana''. He founded a film distribution company named ''South India Movietone'' in 1932. He was f ...

, who started a film production company in Bangalore called South India Movietone in 1932. He decided to make a mythological movie called ''Sati Sulochana'' involving characters from the Ramayana like Ravana, Ravana's son

, Ravana's wife

and Indrajit's wife

. He engaged Yaragudipati Varada Rao to direct the film as well as play a character of Lakshmana, Bellave Narahari Shastri to write the screenplay, dialogues and lyrics. Nagendra Rao, who had previous exposure to films, was selected to play the role of Ravana and was given an additional role of production management. M. V. Subbaiah Naidu was selected to play the lead role of

and two ladies; Lakshmi Bai and

were selected to play the roles of

and

respectively.

Production

Sachin Nayaka chose to shoot the film at Chatrapathi Studio in Kolhapur. The production was started in December 1933 and took 2 months to complete. Shooting was entirely done in natural sunlight and by man-made reflectors. The camera assistants carried mirrors on their shoulders to project light onto the set to provide back lighting. They had to keep moving mirrors in alignement with the moving sun. The sets were not having ceiling but they were covered with white cloth. Also, there was no glycerine at that time. Some water drops were sprayed near to the eyes of actress to pass them off as tears. The total amount spent for production was 40,000. The film involved shooting a war scene and this was done using 2 cameras. The film was released on 3 March 1934 at Paramount cinema theatre (later called as Parimala talkies) near the City Market of Bangalore. The length of the film was 173 minutes. Being the first Kannada talkie film, it ran house-full at Bangalore for six weeks.

Soundtrack

Notes

Everything you need to know about the Kannada's first talkie movie
Updated June 17th 2018

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0265702, Sati Sulochana 1934 films 1930s Kannada-language films Indian black-and-white films Lost Indian films Indian war drama films 1930s war drama films 1934 lost films Lost drama films Films based on the Ramayana 1934 drama films Films directed by Y. V. Rao Films scored by H. R. Padmanabha Sastry Films scored by N. Nagendra Rao