''Adi Shankaracharya'' is a

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...

Indian film 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, ...

Sanskrit language Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

directed by

G. V. Iyer Ganapathi Venkataramana Iyer (3 September 1917 – 21 December 2003) was a well-known Indian film director and actor. He was nicknamed "Kannada Bheeshma", and was the only person who made films in Sanskrit. His film '' Adi Shankaracharya'' (19 ...

. The film depicts the life and times of 8th century Hindu philosopher,

Adi Shankaracharya Adi Shankara ("first Shankara," to distinguish him from other Shankaras)(8th cent. CE), also called Adi Shankaracharya ( sa, आदि शङ्कर, आदि शङ्कराचार्य, Ādi Śaṅkarācāryaḥ, lit=First Shanka ...

, who consolidated the doctrine of

Advaita Vedanta ''Advaita Vedanta'' (; sa, अद्वैत वेदान्त, ) is a Hindu sādhanā, a path of spiritual discipline and experience, and the oldest extant tradition of the orthodox Hindu school Vedānta. The term ''Advaita'' ...

(

Non-dualism Nondualism, also called nonduality and nondual awareness, is a fuzzy concept originating in Indian philosophy and religion for which many definitions can be found, including: nondual awareness, the nonduality of seer and seen or nondiffe ...

) in

Hindu philosophy Hindu philosophy encompasses the philosophies, world views and teachings of Hinduism that emerged in Ancient India which include six systems ('' shad-darśana'') – Samkhya, Yoga, Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Mimamsa and Vedanta.Andrew Nicholson ( ...

. This movie is prime example of experimental movie era of Kannada film industry. It was the first film in India to be made in Sanskrit. At the 31st National Film Awards, it won four awards, including

Best Film This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

Best Screenplay Best or The Best may refer to: People * Best (surname), people with the surname Best * Best (footballer, born 1968), retired Portuguese footballer Companies and organizations * Best & Co., an 1879–1971 clothing chain * Best Lock Corporation, ...

, Best Cinematography and Best Audiography.

Cast and crew

Cast

Sarvadaman D. 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 th ...

*Sreenivasa Prabhu as Prajnaana *T.S. Nagabharana as Mrithyu *Bharat Bhushan as Kaippilly Shivaguru Nambudiri, Adi Shankara's father *Manjunath Bhat as Padmapada *Gopal as Thotaka *V.R.K. Prasad as Hasthamalaka *M.V. Narayana Rao as Sureshwara *Gopinath Das as Govinda Bhagavathpada *L.V. Sharada Rao as Kaippilly Aryadevi Antarjanam ("Aryamba"), Adi Shankara's mother *Leela Narayana Rao as Ubhaya Bharathi *Sreepathy Ballal as Kumarila Bhatta *

Veda Vyasa Krishna Dvaipayana ( sa, कृष्णद्वैपायन, Kṛṣṇadvaipāyana), better known as Vyasa (; sa, व्यासः, Vyāsaḥ, compiler) or Vedavyasa (वेदव्यासः, ''Veda-vyāsaḥ'', "the one who cl ...

*Gopi as young Shankara *Radhakrishna as baby Shankara *Raghu Iyer as young Pranjana *Vijay Bharan as young Mrithyu *G.V.Shivanand as Guru *Gopalakrishna as Nambudiri *Mallesh as Kapalika *Murgod as Chandala *Bala Subramanya as rich man *Manohar as Mama *G.S.Natraj as

Vishnu Vishnu ( ; , ), also known as Narayana and Hari, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the supreme being within Vaishnavism, one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism. Vishnu is known as "The Preserver" withi ...

*Ajay as Sathyakama *Mahesh Swamy as Boudha Guru *Purushotham as Boudha Bhikshu *Balu as Chiushka *Girish as Vidyananda *Veena Kamal as Jabali *Gayathri Balu as Amalaka Lady

Crew

*Producer:

National Film Development Corporation of India The National Film Development Corporation of India (NFDC) based in Mumbai is the central agency established in 1975, to encourage high quality Indian cinema. It functions in areas of film financing, production and distribution and under Ministr ...

*Director:

*Music director: Dr. M. Balamurali Krishna *Art director: P. Krishna Murthy *Background score:

B. V. Karanth Babukodi Venkataramana Karanth (Kannada: ಬಾಬುಕೋಡಿ ವೆಂಕಟರಮಣ ಕಾರಂತ) (19 September 1929 – 1 September 2002) widely known as B. V. Karanth was an Indian film director, playwright, actor, screenwriter, co ...

*Screenplay:

*Dialogue:

Bannanje Govindacharya Bannanje Govindacharya (3 August 1936 – 13 December 2020) was an Indian philosopher and Sanskrit scholar versed in Veda Bhashya, Upanishad Bhashya, Mahabharata, Puranas and Ramayana. He wrote Bhashyas (commentaries) on Veda Suktas, Upanishads, S ...

*Script (Sanskrit translation): N. Ranganatha Sharma *Film adviser: T.M.P. Mahadevan *Production in charge: K. V. Sundarambai

Awards

National Film Award The National Film Awards is the most prominent film award ceremony in India. Established in 1954, it has been administered, along with the International Film Festival of India and the Indian Panorama, by the Indian government's Directora ...

G V Iyer Ganapathi Venkataramana Iyer (3 September 1917 – 21 December 2003) was a well-known Indian film director and actor. He was nicknamed "Kannada Bheeshma", and was the only person who made films in Sanskrit. His film ''Adi Shankaracharya'' (1 ...

** Best Cinematography (Colour): Madhu Ambatt ** Best Audiography: S.P. Ramanathan

References

External links

* {{NationalFilmAwardBestFeatureFilm 1983 films 1980s biographical films 1980s historical films Indian biographical films Films scored by M. Balamuralikrishna Films scored by B. V. Karanth Films about Hinduism Films set in the 8th century Biographical films about philosophers Best Feature Film National Film Award winners Films whose cinematographer won the Best Cinematography National Film Award Sanskrit-language films Adi Shankara Indian historical films Films that won the Best Audiography National Film Award Films whose writer won the Best Original Screenplay National Film Award Films directed by G. V. Iyer National Film Development Corporation of India films