A scene from Chandralekha

In Madras, in 1948, after five years of preparation, there appeared one of the most famous films in Indian history, one of the largest all-India box-office triumphs (603 copies of the film were made for release, some of which were subtitled for the English-speaking market)—Chandralekha. This breathtaking extravaganza, a combination of southern excessiveness, Busby Berkeley and Cecil B de Mille, was the work of the producer-studio chief (founder of the legendary Gemini Studios in 1949), SS Vasan. To him, cinema was meant, quite simply, to be entertainment for all. Made in Tamil as well as Hindi, an enormous publicity campaign was devised for Chandralekha, Tamil cinema’s first-ever ‘All-India’ venture.

The film’s budget was unprecedented, its screenplay a classic of its kind; set in an indeterminate epoch, with two princes, brothers both, one virtuous the other evil. Not only do the brothers fight for the throne, they are rivals too in their bid for the heart of the village belle, Chandralekha. She and the virtuous brother elope and join a troupe of itinerant performers. Such episodes offer the right platform for a series of encounters, horseback riding, fencing duels and amazing acrobatic stunts. The evil pretender to the throne captures the young woman and tries to force her to marry him. She consents, with a view to gaining time, on the condition that her captor allows her and her entourage to perform the ‘dance of the drums’ before him. Gigantic drums placed in the palace courtyard led to one of Indian (and perhaps world) cinema’s most famous, and extravagant, scenes. Hundreds of dancers move atop these drums, to the haunting percussion rhythm, to background music, which is a potpourri of various kinds of traditional Indian music, South American tunes and Viennese waltzes, until, at a predetermined signal, soldiers by the hundred emerge from within the drums and overthrow the evil king’s army.

In the meanwhile, the rival brothers engage in Indian cinema’s longest ever sword fight. Quite apart from the spectacular aspect, so markedly influenced by the typical Hollywood extravaganza, the success of Chandralekha was instrumental in the subsequent codification of commercial cinema. SS Vasan later made Mr Sampat (1952), a light film about a gentleman-scoundrel in politics, and Raj Tilak (Coronation, 1958), another hugely successful spectacular adventure film, complete with brigands, exile on a faraway island and the love of a beautiful princess (the superb Vyjayantimala).

Sreeramulu Naidu’s Azad (Free, 1955), made for the Coimbatore-based Pakshiraja Studios, is yet another example of how Madras-based cinema made inroads into the market for Hindi films. Dilip Kumar and Meena Kumari, the stars of this film of adventure and love unfolding against the backdrop of a battle between good and evil, were among the rare actors who condescended to fly all the way to the south. It is noteworthy that, in 1959, just four years later, Madras began to produce more films than Bombay, 46 against 39…

Cast and Production Credits

Year – 1948, Genre – Mythical, Country – India, Language – Hindi, Producer – Gemini Studios, Director – S.S. Vasan, Music Director – S. Rajeshwar Rao, Cast – S. Pillai, T. R. Rajkumari, Rajan, M. K. Radha, Yashodhara Katju, Sundari Bai, L. Desari Narayana Rao, V. N. Janki, H. Krishnamurthy