Underplayed Gems

Tenali Raman (1956)

Tenali Raman poster
Original title
தெனாலி ராமன்
Directed by
B. S. Ranga
Genre
historical film
Country
India
Runtime
3h 15m
Rated
U
Rating
8.0 of 10 from 1 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
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How it feels

This 1956 film tells the story of Tenali Raman, a witty poet and scholar in the court of King Krishnadevaraya. He uses his intelligence to protect the king from enemy attacks and uncover a spy.

light-heartedwittyhistoricalplayfulcleverheroicentertainingdramatic

What happens

Tenali Raman is a 1956 Indian Tamil-language historical comedy film written and directed by B. S. Ranga, based on Ch. Venkataramaiah's play Tenali Ramakrishna. Produced for the banner Vikram Productions, the film stars Sivaji Ganesan, V. Nagayya, P. Bhanumathi, Jamuna and Thiruvengadam Chettiyar. Ranga also handled the cinematography while P. G. Mohan edited the film. Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy composed the soundtrack and background score. Tenali Raman narrates the story of the 16th century poet and scholar Tenali Rama, and his life as a member of the court of Krishnadevaraya, the king of Vijayanagara Empire. Raman, with his wits, manages to save Krishnadevaraya from the attacks made by the Bahmani Sultanate who try to invade Vijayanagara Empire. The rest of the film is about Raman's efforts in saving Krishnadevaraya from courtesan Krishnasani, a spy and convincing emperor Babur against extending support to the Sultanate in the war. Produced as a bilingual film, it was shot simultaneously in Tamil and Telugu with a slightly altered cast. Tenali Raman was filmed in and around Revathy Studios at Madras. It was released on 3 February 1956, nearly a month after the Telugu version Tenali Ramakrishna. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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