''Satya Harishchandra'' is a 1943 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 R. Nagendra Rao. It stars Subbaiah Naidu, Lakshmibai and Rao. The music of the film was composed by R. Sudarshanam. The film was successful at the box office and ran for 100 days in

Dharwad Dharwad (), also known as Dharwar, is a city located in the north western part of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is the headquarters of the Dharwad district of Karnataka and forms a contiguous urban area with the city of Hubballi. It was merge ...

. The movie was dubbed in Tamil making it the first Kannada movie to be dubbed in other language.

Cast

Soundtrack

The music of the film was composed by R. Sudarsanam with lyrics for the soundtracks penned by Gamiki Ramakrishna Sastry.

Production and release

Film producer A. V. Meiyappan went to his hometown of

Karaikudi Karaikudi is a Greater municipality in Sivagangai district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the 21st largest urban agglomeration of Tamil Nadu based on 2011 census data. It is part of the area commonly referred to as " Chettinad" and has ...

after the success of his 1941

Tamil film Tamil cinema, also known as Kollywood is a part of Indian Cinema; primarily engaged in production of motion pictures in the Tamil language. Based out of the Kodambakkam neighbourhood in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, it is popularly called ''Kollywo ...

'' Sabapathy'' due to apprehensions surrounding bombing of Madras by the Japanese with the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

on. He returned to Madras and began the production of ''Satya Harishchandra'' as a joint venture with the theatre troupe SSS Natakamandali. R. Nagendra Rao was roped in to direct and A. T. Krishnaswamy as the assistant director. The cast included Subbaiah Naidu playing the role of the

Harischandra Harishchandra () is a legendary king of the Solar dynasty, who appears in several legends in texts such as the ''Aitareya Brahmana'', ''Mahabharata'', the ''Markandeya Purana'', and the ''Devi Bhagavata Purana''. The most famous of these storie ...

, Lakshmibai as Chandramathi; Rao, J. V. Krishnamurthy Rao, M. G. Marirao, Kamalabai and Narasimhan. Musician B. S. Raja Iyengar made his acting debut playing

Narada Narada ( sa, नारद, ), or Narada Muni, is a sage divinity, famous in Hindu traditions as a travelling musician and storyteller, who carries news and enlightening wisdom. He is one of mind-created children of Brahma, the creator god. He ...

. The edited length of the film was restricted to due to wartime regulation of raw stock. It was released on 28 May 1943. The film was a commercial success. The film was dubbed into

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 ...

and released as ''Harishchandra'' on 6 January 1944. It was the first Indian film to be dubbed into another language. A. T. Krishnaswamy wrote the dialogues for the Tamil film while R. Nagendra Rao helped him with the words that would match the artistes' lip movement.

V. S. Raghavan V S Raghavan (18 February 1925 – 24 January 2015) was an Indian actor, who has acted both in Tamil films as well as television. He started his career as a dramatist and stage actor and went on to act as a character actor in films, starting ...

was the pioneering sound engineer who dubbed the film.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0263969, Satya Harishchandra
Satya Harishchandra
on Chiloka 1943 films 1940s Kannada-language films Films about Raja Harishchandra Indian black-and-white films Films scored by R. Sudarsanam