Sati Sulochana

Sati Sulochana (Kannada: ಸತಿ ಸುಲೋಚನ) is an 1934 Indian Kannada-language film directed by Y. V. Rao. The film was released on 3 March 1934 and is the first talkie film in Kannada language. It is also the first film to be screened in the erstwhile Mysore Kingdom.

Sati Sulochana is based on the character Sulochana from the Ramayana. She is the wife of Indrajit and the daughter-in-law of Ravana, the demon-king in Ramayana. The film tries to portray the goings on of the war between the Hindu god Rama and Ravana as seen from the point of view of Sulochana. Ravana abducts Rama's wife Sita to his kingdom of Lanka, drawing Rama into a war. In the course of the war, Rama's brother Lakshman is knocked unconscious by an arrow from Indrajit and is revived by a medicinal herb called Sanjeevani. The revived Lakshman kills Indrajit and makes Sulochana a widow. Ravana's defeat by Lord Rama and the killing of Indrajit is viewed through the eyes of Sulochana. Unable to bear the pain of husband's death, Sulochana commits sati sacrifice.

The producer of the film was a Marwari businessma from Bangalore (a native of Ahore, Jalore District of Rajasthan) named Shah Chamanlal Doongaji, who started a film production company in Bangalore called South India Movietone in 1932. He decided to make a mythological movie called Sati Sulochana involving characters from the Ramayana like Ravana, Ravana's son Indrajit, Ravana's wife Mandodari and Indrajit's wife Sulochana. He engaged Yaragudipati Varada Rao to direct the film as well as play a character of Lakshman, Bellave Narahari Shastri to write the screenplay, dialogues and lyrics. Nagendra Rao, who had previous exposure to films, was selected to play the role of Ravana and was given an additional role of production management. M. V. Subbaiah Naidu was selected to play the lead role of Indrajit and two ladies; Lakshmi Bai and Thripuramaba were selected to play the roles of Mandodari and Sulochana respectively.