''Anarkali'' () is a 1955 Indian Telugu-language

historical romance Historical romance is a broad category of mass-market fiction focusing on romantic relationships in historical periods, which Lord Byron, Byron helped popularize in the early 19th century. The genre often takes the form of the novel. Varieties ...

film, written and directed by Vedantam Raghavayya. The film stars Akkineni Nageswara Rao 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 title roles in movies like Chenchu ...

. It is based on the legend of the romance between Mughal prince Salim (later known as

Jahangir Nur-ud-din Muhammad Salim (31 August 1569 – 28 October 1627), known by his imperial name Jahangir (; ), was List of emperors of the Mughal Empire, Emperor of Hindustan from 1605 until his death in 1627, and the fourth Mughal emperors, Mughal ...

) and the eponymous court dancer. ''Anarkali'' was produced by P. Adinarayana Rao, who also composed the music. It was released on 28 April 1955 and became a commercial success, running for over 100 days in many theatres.

Plot

Nadira, a Persian woman, migrates to

Agra Agra ( ) is a city on the banks of the Yamuna river in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, about south-east of the national capital Delhi and 330 km west of the state capital Lucknow. With a population of roughly 1.6 million, Agra is the ...

with her tribe. Bowled over by her mellifluous voice and beauty, Mughal prince Salim introduces himself to her as a soldier and the two fall in love and meet regularly at the

pomegranate The pomegranate (''Punica granatum'') is a fruit-bearing deciduous shrub in the family Lythraceae, subfamily Punica, Punicoideae, that grows between tall. Rich in symbolic and mythological associations in many cultures, it is thought to have o ...

garden. Once, while strolling in his garden, Emperor

Akbar Akbar (Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar, – ), popularly known as Akbar the Great, was the third Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1556 to 1605. Akbar succeeded his father, Humayun, under a regent, Bairam Khan, who helped the young emperor expa ...

, impressed by Nadira's singing, bestows on her the title " Anarkali", meaning "pomegranate blossom". Thereafter, Salim has entrusted the responsibility as a chief commander for war at Kabul, distressed Anarkali also leaves to know the whereabouts of Salim. To her misfortune, she is caught by burglars and while they are auctioning her prince Salim purchases her. On that night, they are completely under flow of romance when

Man Singh I Mirza Raja Man Singh I (21 December 1550 – 6 July 1614) was the 24th Raja, Kachawaha Rajput ruler of the Kingdom of Amber from 1589 to 1614. He also served as the foremost imperial Subahdar of Bihar Subah from 1587 to 1594, then for Ben ...

caveats the prince regarding his vocation. Immediately, Salim onslaught into the battlefield, grievously injured and goes into a coma. Right now, Man Singh I back-pedals him to Agra when Anarkali also follows. During that plight, her singing brings back to consciousness to Salim when hearten Akbar makes her the court dancer. Spotting her at the court Man Singh I warns to discard but she refuses. Meanwhile, Anarkali acclaims paramount in the court which upsets Gulnar, the former court dancer, who has secret ambitions to marry the prince. On the occasion of Salim's coronation celebration, an envied Gulnar conspires and mixes alcohol in Anarkali's drink. Under its influence, Anarkali expresses her love for Salim which angers Akbar who orders her to be imprisoned. At that juncture, Salim expresses his love for her to his mother Jodha Bai and requests to couple up them. But Akbar rejects the proposal, so Salim rebels and amasses an army to confront his father to rescue Anarkali but Jodha Bai bar him. Right now, Akbar orders capital punishment for the lovers to decapitate Salim and Anarkali is taken to a distant place to entombed alive. At that point in time, everyone shows averse to mete out Salim, so, it is mandatory to the Emperor to do so but he collapses due to the affection of his son. Being cognizant of Anarkali entombment, Salim rushes to save her when Gulnar backstabs him, by the time he reaches there, Anarkali is already buried. Grief-stricken, Salim bangs his head on her grave and dies.

Cast

as Anarkali * Kannamba as Jodha Bai * Nageswara Rao as Salim * S. V. Ranga Rao as

* V. Nagayya as Man Singh * S. Balasaraswathi as Gulnar * Gadiraju Kesavarao as Tansen

Production

After '' Paradesi'' (1953), the inaugural production of Anjali Pictures was an average success at the box office, its producers – husband and wife P. Adinarayana Rao and

– considered making their sophomore production based on folklore. The 1953

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

film '' Anarkali'', which was based on the legendary romance between Mughal prince Salim (later known as

) and the eponymous court dancer, was a success and caught their attention, prompting them to adapt the same story in Telugu with the same title, while putting their folklore film plans on hold (this project would later be revived as ''

Suvarna Sundari ''Suvarna Sundari'' () is a 1957 Indian Telugu language, Telugu-language swashbuckler film directed by Vedantam Raghavayya. It stars Anjali Devi and Akkineni Nageswara Rao (credited as Nageswara Rao) with music composed by P. Adinarayana Rao. Th ...

'', released in 1957). Vedantam Raghavayya was chosen as director and screenwriter, Samudrala Sr. as dialogue writer, Kamal Ghosh for cinematography, N. S. Prakasam for editing, and A. K. Sekhar as art director alongside Vali and Thota. Anjali Devi, besides presenting the film, also played the title character. Gadiraju Kesavarao, an associate director, also appeared briefly as the musician Tansen. ''Anarkali'' began production on 11 March 1954 at Neptune Studios. The outdoor scenes were shot at

Mysore Mysore ( ), officially Mysuru (), is a city in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. It is the headquarters of Mysore district and Mysore division. As the traditional seat of the Wadiyar dynasty, the city functioned as the capital of the ...

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by P. Adinarayana Rao, while the lyrics were written by Samudrala Sr. Though the soundtrack consisted predominantly of original compositions, two were borrowed from the 1953 film. "Ravoyi Sakhaa" was adapted from "Aa Jaane Wafaa", and "Jeevitame Saphalamu" was adapted from "Yeh Zindagi Usi Ki Hai". ;Tamil songs Lyrics were by Thanjai N. Ramaiah Dass. All the tunes for all the songs and singers for both languages are the same.

Release and reception

''Anarkali'' was released on 28 April 1955. The film was a commercial success, running for over 100 days in many theatres. Its namesake Tamil-dubbed version was also successful.

References

External links

* {{Vedantam Raghavaiah 1950s biographical films 1950s historical romance films 1950s Indian films 1950s Telugu-language films 1955 films Biographical films about royalty Cultural depictions of Akbar Cultural depictions of Jahangir Films about courtesans in India Films about royalty Films directed by Vedantam Raghavayya Films scored by P. Adinarayana Rao Films set in the 16th century Films set in the Mughal Empire Historical epic films Indian biographical films Indian black-and-white films Indian epic films Indian historical romance films Indian romantic drama films Romantic epic films