''Sirivennela'' () is a 1986 Indian

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

-language

romance film Romance films or movies involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typically their journey ...

written and directed by

K. Viswanath Kasinadhuni Viswanath (born 19 February 1930) is an Indian film director, screenwriter and actor, known for his works primarily in Telugu cinema. He is recipient of five National Film Awards, seven state Nandi Awards, ten Filmfare Awards South ...

. The film stars

Suhasini Suhasini Maniratnam (born 15 August 1961) known mononymously as Suhasini, is an Indian actress, director, producer and writer in the Tamil film industry. She has worked as an actress in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada films. She made her ...

Sarvadaman Banerjee Sarvadaman D. Banerjee is an Indian film and television actor known for his works in Hindi cinema, Bengali cinema and Telugu cinema. He is best known for playing Krishna in Ramanand Sagar's hit television series ''Krishna'' (1993). He played ...

and

Moon Moon Sen Moon Moon Sen, also credited as Moonmoon Sen (born Srimati Sen; 28 March 1954), is an Indian actress, known for her works in Hindi, Bengali, Malayalam, Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, and Marathi films. She eventually starred in Bollywood films. She h ...

. The film has music composed by K. V. Mahadevan. The film won five

Nandi Awards The Nandi Awards are the awards that recognise the excellence in Telugu cinema, Telugu theatre and Telugu television, and Lifetime achievements in Indian cinema. Presented annually by the Government of Andhra Pradesh, the award is named after ...

. The film was screened at the

Asia Pacific Film Festival The Asia-Pacific Film Festival (abbreviated APFF) is an annual film festival hosted by the Federation of Motion Picture Producers in Asia-Pacific. The festival was first held in Tokyo, Japan, in 1954. History The festival was first held in Toky ...

, the

International Film Festival of India The International Film Festival of India (IFFI), founded in 1952, is one of the most significant film festivals in Asia. Held annually, currently in the state of Goa, on the western coast of the country, the festival aims at providing a common pla ...

, the

Moscow Film Festival The Moscow International Film Festival (russian: Моско́вский междунаро́дный кинофестива́ль, translit. ''Moskóvskiy myezhdunaródniy kinofyestivál''; abbreviated as MIFF) is the film festival first h ...

and the AISFM Film Festival. The film was shot in

Jaipur Jaipur (; Hindi Language, Hindi: ''Jayapura''), formerly Jeypore, is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Rajasthan. , the city had a pop ...

and

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

. The film has

Hariprasad Chaurasia Hariprasad Chaurasia (born 1 July 1938) is an Indian music director and classical flautist, who plays the bansuri, in the Hindustani classical tradition. Early life Chaurasia was born in Allahabad (1938) (officially called Prayagraj) in the ...

's flute rendering and a cameo of drummer

Sivamani Sivamani (1 December 1959), commonly known by his stage name Drums Sivamani, is an Indian percussionist. He plays many instruments including drums, octoban, darbuka, udukai, ghatam and kanjira. He performed drumming during the IPL Championship ...

. The film was dubbed in Tamil as ''Raaga Devathai''. Lyricist Seetharama Sastry derived his stage name Sirivennela from this film.

Plot

Hari Prasad (

), a blind

flutist The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with Reed (instrument), reeds, a fl ...

lives along with his younger sister in a village near

, which was also a tourist attraction. Though he lacks knowledge of classical music, he plays flute beautifully and makes a living by playing it to tourists. One day, guide Jyothirmai (

) comes there along with a bunch of tourists and listens to his flute. She understands his talent and helps him understand nature and to become a famous flutist. Years pass and Hari Prasad becomes Pandit Hari Prasad. Unknown to her, Hari Prasad admires her very much and dedicates all his albums to her. Meanwhile, a mute painter Subhashini (

) who meets him in his village, falls for him. Subhashini expresses her feelings through her paintings and gradually her brother understands her feelings regarding Hari Prasad. He approaches Hari Prasad's uncle with a marriage proposal. But at the same time Hari Prasad reveals his admiration for Jyothirmai. This shocks Jyothirmai as she previously worked as an escort to rich tourists. She tries to hint Hari Prasad about her not so decent past, but is overwhelmed by his pure love and disregard for her external characters. Though she herself admires him, she feels that she would taint him with her impure past. She tells Hari Prasad that she couldn't marry him as she already engaged to a doctor. Hari Prasad takes it well as he always wanted Jyothirmai to be happy, and arranges her wedding. On the wedding day, Jyothirmai commits suicide and requests in her last note that her eyes should be donated to Hari Prasad. She also requests that her funeral procession should appear like a marriage procession and her death should be hidden from Hari Prasad. Everyone tries to act normal and sends her as they are sending a bride to her in-laws. Hari Prasad keeps calm all the time and at last goes to the graveyard to say his final goodbyes to Jyothirmai. He tells shocked Subhashini that it's impossible to hide the death of his angel from him. The film ends with Hari Prasad and Subhashini mourning silently in the graveyard.

Cast

as Subhashini *

as Pandit Hari Prasad *

as Jyotirmayi * Nithya as Hari's sister * J. V. Ramana Murthi * S. K. Misro * Shubha *

Sakshi Ranga Rao Sakshi Ranga Rao (born Rangavajhula Ranga Rao; 15 September 1942 – 27 June 2005) was an Indian character actor who worked in Telugu cinema and Telugu theatre. He appeared in about 450 films over a career spanning four decades, majority of ...

Subhalekha Sudhakar Suravajhala Sudhakar (born 19 November 1960), known by his stage name Subhalekha Sudhakar, is an Indian actor who works in Telugu and Tamil language films and television. Sudhakar's first Telugu film '' Subhalekha'' (1982) gained him wide reco ...

Varalakshmi Varalakshmi or Varalaxmi might refer to: * Varalakshmi, another name for the goddess Lakshmi, especially on the day of Varalakshmi Vratam * G. Varalakshmi, veteran South Indian film actress *P. R. Varalakshmi, South Indian film actress *S. Varalaks ...

*Eashwara Rao * Baby Meena

Soundtrack

''Sirivennela'' abounds in classical music composed by K. V. Mahadevan with flute renditions by the renowned

flautist The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

. All songs were written by Seetharama Sastry. After the success of the soundtrack, he became popularly known as "Sirivennela" Seetharama Sastry. The music was released through Lahari music label.

Awards

, - , rowspan="5",

1986(in

) ,

Sirivennela Sitaramasastri Sirivennela Seetharama Sastry (born Chembolu Seetharama Sastry; 20 May 1955 – 30 November 2021) was an Indian poet and lyricist known for his works in Telugu cinema and Telugu theatre. He acquired the stage name Sirivennela after writing the ...

(for "Vidatha Talapuna") , Best Lyricist , , - ,

S. P. Balasubrahmanyam Sripathi Panditaradhyula Balasubrahmanyam (4 June 1946 – 25 September 2020), also referred to as SPB or SP Balu or Balu, was an Indian playback singer, television presenter, actor, music composer, dubbing artist, and film producer. He is wi ...

(for "Vidatha Talapuna") , Best Male Playback Singer , , - ,

, Best Supporting Actress , , - , Pandurangan , Best Audiographer , , - ,

M. V. Raghu M. V. Raghu is an Indian film cinematographer turned film director, director, screenwriter, and Film producer, producer known for his works predominantly in Telugu cinema. In 1988, he has directed the Neorealism (art), neo-realistic film ''Kall ...

, Special Jury Award ,

References

External links

* {{Kasinathuni Viswanath, state=collapsed 1986 films Films about the arts Films about blind people in India Films about disability in India Films about deaf people Disability in fiction Films directed by K. Viswanath Films scored by K. V. Mahadevan Indian romantic musical films Films about fictional painters 1980s romantic musical films 1980s Telugu-language films