Rudraveena (1988)

Original title

రుద్రవీణ

Directed by

K. Balachander

Genre

drama film, musical film

Country

India

Runtime

2h 50m

Rated

U

Rating

6.9 of 10 from 10 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A famous carnatic musician discriminates against lower caste people. His younger son opposes his views and leaves home. The story follows the events that eventually change the father's beliefs.

emotionalmusicalconflict-drivendramaticthought-provokingserioussocially-consciousmelodic

What happens

Rudraveena (lit. 'Strings of fury'; referring to the instrument of the same name) is a 1988 Indian Telugu-language musical-drama film directed and co-written by K. Balachander. Produced by Nagendra Babu's Anjana Productions, the film stars Chiranjeevi alongside Tamil actor Gemini Ganesan and Shobana. P. L. Narayana, Prasad Babu, Sumithra, Devilalitha, and Brahmanandam play supporting roles. Rudraveena focuses on the ideological conflicts between 'Bilahari' Ganapathi Sastry, a reputed carnatic musician and his younger son Suryanarayana "Suryam" Sastry. Sastry's discrimination towards the people belonging to lower castes is criticised by his son, Suryam, who believes in society's welfare and walks out for good later. The events that led to the change in Sastry's views form the remaining part of the story. Ganesh Patro wrote the film's dialogue and worked on the script with Balachander for two months, though it was tweaked many times during the shoot. Ilaiyaraaja composed the soundtrack and background score. R. Raghunadha Reddy was the director of photography. Ganesh Kumar edited the film and Mohanam was the art director. Filmed in and around Madras, Kanchipuram, Courtallam, and Srinagar for 70 days, Rudraveena was produced on a budget of ₹80 lakh. Released on 4 March 1988 to critical acclaim, the film was a commercial failure, resulting in a loss of ₹60 lakh. It gained cult status later and is considered one of the best films made by Balachander. The film won three National Film Awards: Best Feature Film on National Integration, Best Music Direction, and Best Male Playback Singer (for S. P. Balasubrahmanyam). It also won four Nandi Awards, including a Special Jury award for Chiranjeevi. Later the same year, Balachander later remade the film into Tamil as Unnal Mudiyum Thambi with Ganesan reprising his role and Kamal Haasan reprising Chiranjeevi's role in the Telugu original. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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