Chandralekha (1948 film)
| Chandralekha | |
|---|---|
International poster
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| Directed by | S. S. Vasan |
| Produced by | S. S. Vasan |
| Written by | Veppathur Kittoo Kothamangalam Subbu K. J. Mahadevan Sangu Naina |
| Starring |
T. R. Rajakumari M. K. Radha Ranjan |
| Music by |
Songs: S. Rajeswara Rao Background music: M. D. Parthasarathy |
| Cinematography |
Kamal Ghosh K. Ramnoth |
| Edited by | Chandru |
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Production
company |
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Release date
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Running time
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193-207 minutes |
| Country | India |
| Language |
Tamil Hindi |
| Budget | ₹3 million (US$45,000) |
| Actor | Role | |
|---|---|---|
| Rajakumari, T. R.T. R. Rajakumari | ... | Chandralekha |
| Radha, M. K.M. K. Radha | ... | Veerasimhan |
| , RanjanRanjan | ... | Sasankan |
| Sundari Bai, M. S.M. S. Sundari Bai | ... | Circus performer |
| Krishnan, N. S.N. S. Krishnan | ... | Circus artist |
| Madhuram, T. A.T. A. Madhuram | ... | Circus artist |
| Narayana Rao, L.L. Narayana Rao | ... | Circus manager |
| Janaki, V. N.V. N. Janaki | ... | Gypsy dancer |
| Krishnamachari, T. E.T. E. Krishnamachari | ... | The king |
Chandralekha (also spelt Chandraleka) is a 1948 Indian Tamil-language historical adventure film directed and produced by S. S. Vasan. Starring T. R. Rajakumari, M. K. Radha and Ranjan in the lead roles, the film follows two brothers named Veerasimhan and Sasankan, who fight with each other over ruling their father's kingdom and marrying the village dancer Chandralekha.
The development of Chandralekha began in the early 1940s when, after two successive box office hits, Vasan announced that his next film would be titled Chandralekha. However, when he launched an advertising campaign for the film, he had only the name of the heroine from a storyline by Gemini Studios' story department he had rejected. Veppathur Kittoo, one of his storyboard artists, eventually developed a story based on a chapter of George W. M. Reynolds' novel Robert Macaire: or, The French bandit in England, which impressed Vasan. The original director T. G. Raghavachari directed more than half of the film, then left the project because of disagreements with Vasan, who took over the film in his directorial debut.
Originally made in Tamil and later in Hindi, Chandralekha was in production for five years from 1943 to 1948. It went through a number of changes to the script, cast, and production, and ultimately became the most expensive film made in India at the time. Vasan mortgaged all of his property and even sold his jewellery to complete the film. Cinematography was by Kamal Ghosh and K. Ramnoth. The music was largely inspired by both Indian and Western classical music; it was composed by S. Rajeswara Rao and by M. D. Parthasarathy, with lyrics by Papanasam Sivan and Kothamangalam Subbu.
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