''Batasari'' () is a 1961 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

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

, produced and directed by Ramakrishna of

Bharani Pictures Bharani Pictures is a film production company in Chennai, India. It was established by P. S. Ramakrishna Rao and Bhanumathi Ramakrishna in 1947. They later established Bharani Studios in 1950. It is named after their son Bharani. Dr. Bharani Palu ...

. It was simultaneously made in

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 ...

as ''Kaanal Neer'' (). Based on the

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

novel ''Bardidi'' () by

Saratchandra Chatterjee Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, alternatively spelt as Sarat Chandra Chatterjee ( bn, শরৎচন্দ্র চট্টোপাধ্যায়; 15 September 1876 or ৩১ শে ভাদ্র ১২৮৩ বঙ্গাব্দ � ...

, the film stars

P. Bhanumathi P. Bhanumathi Ramakrishna (7 September 1925 – 24 December 2005) was an Indian actress, singer, film producer, director, music composer, and novelist. She is regarded as the first female super star of Telugu cinema. She is also considered the ...

and

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 ...

, with music composed by

Master Venu Madduri Venugopal better known as Master Venu (1916–1981) was an Indian music composer of the Telugu and Tamil cinemas and the father of the actor Bhanu Chander. He was born 1916 in Machilipatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India and died 1981 in Chenn ...

. ''Batasari'' was released on 30 June 1961, and ''Kaanal Neer'' on 21 July. Both versions did not succeed commercially.

Plot

Surendranath "Suren" is the son of a Zamindar. His good-hearted stepmother, keeping in mind his health objects to his going to London for higher studies. A peeved Suren leaves home, reaches Madras, and stays with a rich man Apparao as a tutor to his younger daughter Pramila. Widowed even before she attained womanhood, Madhavi the eldest daughter of Apparao learns about the distrait ways of Suren and provides him with all his needs. When she writes about Suren to her friend Manorama, Manorama cautions her about showing too much interest in him. Hurt by her servant's gossip about her and Suren and also for neglecting his duty as a teacher, Madhavi chides Suren. Upset, he leaves on an aimless journey, meets with an accident and his father takes him home. Suren marries Shanti, but his heart longs for Madhavi. After performing her brother Siva Chandra's marriage, Madhavi hands over responsibilities to his wife and leaves for her home inherited from her husband, but finds that house under auction due to a plot hatched by Suren's estate manager. Not knowing it was Suren, Madhavi goes to confront the Zamindar. Meanwhile, Suren learns about the manager's wicked ways and despite his grave illness rushes on horseback to meet Madhavi to give her house documents. They meet. She expresses a wish to see his wife, Shanti, while he struggles to express his love for her. He dies in her lap.

Cast

as Madhavi *

as Surendranath "Suren" *

J. V. Ramana Murthy Jonnalagadda Venkata Ramana Murthi ( te, జె. వి. రమణమూర్తి; 20 May 1933 – 22 June 2016) was an Indian actor known for his works in Telugu cinema, and Telugu drama. Murthi made his film debut with K. B. Tilak's sociopo ...

as Siva Chandra *

Mudigonda Lingamurthy Mudigonda Lingamurthy, shortly Lingamurthy ( Telugu: ముదిగొండ లింగమూర్తి) (10 October 1908 – 24 January 1980), was an Indian film character actor known for his works in Telugu cinema and theater. Life ...

as Diwan Alwar * Vangara as Pullaiah *

B. R. Panthulu Budaguru Ramakrishnaiah Panthulu (26 July 1910 – 8 October 1974) was an Indian film director, producer and actor. He is best known for directing films in Kannada, Tamil, Telugu and Hindi. His most popular films are '' Karnan'', ''Veerapandiya ...

Apparao *Vinnakota Ramanna Pantulu as Raghavaiah *Boddapati as Anjaiah *Doraiswamy as Zamindar of Dharapuram * ''Shavukaru'' Janaki as Shanthi *

Devika Devika Devadoss (born Prameela Devi) (25 April 1943 – 2 May 2002) was an Indian actress who worked in Tamil, Telugu with few Malayalam, Kannada, Hindi film industry. She was a popular lead actress in the 1960s. Devika is the grand daughte ...

as Manorama * Suryakantham as Sundaramma *Chaya Devi as Poornamma * L. Vijayalakshmi as Dancer * Lakshmirajyam as Dancer *''Baby'' Sasikala as Prameela

Production

''Batasari'' is based on the novel ''Bardidi'' by

. It was simultaneously filmed in Tamil as ''Kaanal Neer''. The Telugu version was originally titled ''Yendamavulu''. Before and during the shoot, for inspiration,

was asked by Ramakrishna to watch

Uttam Kumar Uttam Kumar ( bn, উত্তম কুমার; born Arun Kumar Chattopadhyay; 3 September 1926 – 24 July 1980), popularly known as the Mahanayak, was an Indian actor, producer, director, script writer, composer, and singer who predom ...

's performance in the 1959 film version of ''Bardidi''. Nageswara Rao complied, and even donned the getup just like Kumar, but held to his own on histrionics.

Soundtrack

Music composed by

. Lyrics were written by

Samudrala Sr Samudrala Raghavacharya (19 July 1902 – 16 March 1968), also known as Samudrala Sr., was an Indian screenwriter, lyricist, playback singer, director, and producer known for his works in Telugu cinema. Samudrala Senior made his screen debut in ...

. For ''Kaanal Neer'', the lyrics were written by

Kannadasan Kannadasan (; 24 June 1927 – 17 October 1981) was an Indian philosopher, poet, film song lyricist, producer, actor, script-writer, editor, philanthropist, and is heralded as one of the greatest and most important lyricists in India. Freq ...

and Ku. Ma. Balasubramaniam.

Release and reception

''Batasari'' was released on 30 June 1961, and ''Kaanal Neer'' on 21 July 1961. ''

The Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932. It is published in Mumbai by the Indian Express Group. In 1999, eight years after the group's founder Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991, the group was split be ...

'' said, "The standout feature of ''Kaanal Neer'' is the fascinating photography of young Venkat, particularly in the climax. In other technical respects, the film maintains a good standard." Both versions did not succeed commercially; according to historian Randor Guy, this was because audiences felt the story was too highbrow.

References

External links

* * {{IMDb title, 0263529, Kaanal Neer 1960s multilingual films 1960s Tamil-language films 1960s Telugu-language films 1961 drama films 1961 films Films based on works by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay Films directed by P. S. Ramakrishna Rao Films scored by Master Venu Indian black-and-white films Indian drama films Indian multilingual films