''Tilottama'' is a 1951 Indian

swashbuckling A swashbuckler is a genre of European adventure literature that focuses on a heroic protagonist stock character who is skilled in swordsmanship, acrobatics, guile and possesses chivalrous ideals. A "swashbuckler" protagonist is heroic, daring, ...

adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme spo ...

fantasy film Fantasy films are films that belong to the fantasy genre with fantastic themes, usually magic, supernatural events, mythology, folklore, or exotic fantasy worlds. The genre is considered a form of speculative fiction alongside science fiction f ...

, produced and directed by Raja Saheb of Mirzapur under the Sobhanachala Pictures banner. It stars

Akkineni Nageswara Rao Akkineni Nageswara Rao (20 September 1923 – 22 January 2014), widely known as ANR, was an Indian actor and producer, known for his works majorly in Telugu cinema. He starred in many landmark films in his seventy five-year career, and became on ...

and

Anjali Devi Anjali Devi (; 24 August 1927 – 13 January 2014) was an Indian actress, model and producer in Telugu and Tamil films. She was well known for her role as the Devi Sita in ''Lava Kusa'' as well as for the titular roles in movies like Chenchu ...

, with music composed by

P. Adinarayana Rao Penupatruni Adinarayana Rao (21 August 1915 – 19 August 1991) was an Indian music director, film producer, lyricist and play writer. He co-founded "Aswini Pictures" with Akkineni Nageswara Rao and produced some movies in Telugu and Tamil langu ...

. The film was simultaneously shot in

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 ...

and

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, nati ...

, with the latter being titled ''Mayamalai'' (). ''Tilottama'' was a box-office disaster.

Plot

''This plot is about the Telugu version.''
The film begins with Deva Datta the son of a garland maker Haridas who falls for a court dancer Vasantha Sena. Once, while Deva Datta is asleep a heavenly angel Tilottama entices and lifts him together with. Chandrakanth wants to possess Tilottama aware of it. So, she backs Deva Datta by associating with another Tilottama the daughter of King Suurasena. Also accords him a ring with which he can meet her. Tilottama on earth also loves and marries Deva Datta without her parent's knowledge and she conceives. One night when Deva Dattudu thinks of the heavenly Tilottama, he puts the ring on and reaches her. Chandrakanth observes them, in anger curses them to live as hunters on earth and be also oblivious to their past. On one side, Haridas and Vasantha Sena are in search of Deva Datta and on another side, Tilottama on earth feels sorrow that knows no bounds. So, her father prepares the picture of Deva Datta and announces rewards to those who would be able to get him. Ganapathi the Deva Datta's friend, sees the picture and writes a letter to Vasantha Sena to come to Tilottama's kingdom. As a musician, Vasantha Sena gains admission to the court. Vijaya Simha the chief commander of the kingdom is attracted to Vasantha Sena, but she rejects him; in anger, he orders his men to kidnap her. But by mistake, they kidnap princess Tilottama and leave her in the forest, where she gives birth to a baby boy. Unfortunately, Haridas gives her shelter. As hunters, Deva Datta and heavenly Tilottama are getting on happily. Vasantha Sena is suspected of missing princess Tilottama. She was given a death sentence. The soldiers take her to the forest, where Deva Datta protects her, but due to the curse, he is not able to recognize her, so he pushes her and runs away. Meanwhile, heavenly Tilottama is banned from taking part in religious functions because she is childless. In distress, she consults a sorceress who suggests she offer a child to Goddess Kaali for children. Tilottama prevails on her husband to get a baby. Deva Datta kidnaps none other than princess Tilottama's child. Seeing this, she also runs behind him, Vasantha Sena and Haridas also follow them. All of them reach the temple, they try to stop from killing the baby but are goaded to it by Deva Datta. But to the prayers of princess Tilotamma, the Goddess Kali appears and gives back the child and also makes Deva Datta and heavily Tilottama into their former selves. Finally, the movie ends on a happy note with the Goddess blessing them all.

Cast

; Telugu version *

as Deva Dattudu *

as Tilottama *A. V. Subba Rao as Vijaya Simha *M. C. Raghavan as Haridasu *Sadasiva Rao as Chandrakanth *M. Kondayya as Ganapathi *K. V. Subba Rao as Setty *Sundara Rao as Soorasena *Ram Murthy as Venkatesam *Aadi Seshayya as Mantri *Babji as Lambu *Eemaan as Jambu *Kishan as Pingalla *P. M. Naidu as Adhikaari *Suryaprabha as Vasantha Sena *Vijayalakshmi as Chaarulata *Kanaakam as Maalathi *Vaanilakshmi as Manjari *Gangaratnam as Setty's wife *Chitti as Hema *Shanta as Sarala *Pushpalata as Vakula *Saroja as Goddess

Kali Kali (; sa, काली, ), also referred to as Mahakali, Bhadrakali, and Kalika ( sa, कालिका), is a Hinduism, Hindu goddess who is considered to be the goddess of ultimate power, time, destruction and change in Shaktism. In t ...

; Tamil version List adapted from the database of

Film News Anandan Film News Anandan (born Mani) was an Indian film historian and photographer based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. He was popularly known as the "walking encyclopedia" of Tamil cinema. Early life Anandan was born as Mani. His father P. K. Gnanasagaram ...

. ;Male cast *

A. Nageswara Rao Akkineni Nageswara Rao (20 September 1923 – 22 January 2014), widely known as ANR, was an Indian actor and producer, known for his works majorly in Telugu cinema. He starred in many landmark films in his seventy five-year career, and became on ...

*M. V. Mani *C. S. D. Singh *Sayeeram ;Female cast *

*Menaka *Suryaprabha *Kanagam

Soundtrack

Music was composed by

. Lyrics were written by

Tapi Dharma Rao Thapi Dharma Rao Naidu (1887–1973) was a Telugu writer, lyricist and social reformer. He wrote dialogues and lyrics for the films like ''Mala Pilla'', ''Drohi'', ''Thathaji'', ''Bhishma'', and ''Patni''. He was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Awar ...

. Music was released on Audio Company. ; Telugu version ; Tamil version The lyrics were penned by

Papanasam Sivan Paapanaasam Raamayya Sivan (26 September 1890 – 1 October 1973) was an Indian composer of Carnatic music and a singer. He was awarded the Madras Music Academy's Sangeetha Kalanidhi in 1971. He was also a film score composer in Kannada cinema ...

, Rajagopala Iyer and Narasimhan.

Playback singer A playback singer, also known as a ghost singer, is a singer whose singing is pre-recorded for use in films. Playback singers record songs for soundtracks, and actors or actresses lip-sync the songs for cameras; the actual singer does not app ...

s are

M. L. Vasanthakumari Madras Lalitangi Vasanthakumari (popularly referred to as MLV) (3 July 1928 – 31 October 1990) was a Carnatic musician and playback singer for film songs in many Indian languages. MLV and her contemporaries D. K. Pattammal and M. S. Subbulak ...

P. Leela Porayathu Leela (19 May 1934 – 31 October 2005) was an Indian playback singer, Carnatic vocalist and a music director. She has recorded more than 5,000 songs in various Indian languages including Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Hindi, ...

and

Jikki Pillavalu Gajapathy Krishnaveni (3 November 1935 – 16 August 2004), more famously known as Jikki, was an Indian playback singer from Andhra Pradesh. She sang around 10,000 songs in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Hindi, and Sinhalese languag ...

References

{{reflist Indian epic films Indian fantasy films Films based on Indian folklore Films scored by Ghantasala (musician) Indian multilingual films Indian black-and-white films 1950s Tamil-language films 1950s fantasy films 1950s multilingual films