Meera (1945 film)

Meera
Theatrical release poster
Tamil	மீரா
Directed by	Ellis R. Dungan
Produced by	T. Sadasivam
Written by	Kalki Krishnamurthy
Starring	M. S. Subbulakshmi Chittor V. Nagaiah Kumari Kamala T. S. Baliah
Music by	S. V. Venkatraman
Cinematography	Jithen Banerjee P. S. Selvaraj
Edited by	R. Rajagopal
Production company	Chandraprabha Cinetone Films
Distributed by	Narayanan and Company
Release date	3 November 1945 21 November 1947 (Hindi version)
Running time	113 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Meera is a 1945 Indian Tamil language historical fiction film starring M. S. Subbulakshmi, Kumari Kamala, T. S. Baliah and Chittoor V. Nagaiah based on the life of the devotional singer and dancer Meera. M. G. Ramachandran played a minor role thus making Meera the only movie in which two Bharath Ratna laureates acted. The film was directed by American film director Ellis R. Dungan.

Around 1580 AD during the reign of Emperor Akbar, young Meera (Radha Viswanathan), influenced by the story of Andal and Krishna, is deeply in love with Krishna, so much so that she considers Krishna to be her husband after she garlands him on an auspicious day as advised by her mother. As Meera grows into a young woman (M. S. Subbulakshmi), her devotion to Krishna grows.

Much against her wishes, Meera is married to Rana (Chittor V. Nagaiah), the king of Mewar. But even after marriage, her love for Krishna remains unchanged. She follows her own ideals and way of living which are not acceptable to Rana and his family, especially his brother Vikraman (T. S. Balaiah) and sister Udra Devi. Meera requests Rana to construct a temple for Krishna in Chittor, the capital of Mewar. Out of love for her, Rana agrees and constructs a temple. An overjoyed Meera remains in the temple most of the time, singing in praise of Krishna along with other devotees and avoids staying at the palace.

On Vijayadasami day, Rana expects Meera to be with him at the royal assembly, when other kings come to offer their respects. But on her way to the assembly, Meera hears Krishna's flute playing, returns to the temple and remains there. The king gets angry when he realises that Meera has gone back to the temple again, thus ignoring her duties as a wife. To get rid of Meera, Vikraman gives a poisoned drink through Udra, but Meera is saved by Krishna and the poison does not affect her. Instead, Krishna's idol at the Dwarakadheesh Temple (the origin of Krishna) becomes deep blue (the poison effect), the temple doors close spontaneously, and remain closed.