Chandralekha (also spelt Chandraleka) is a 1948 Indian historical and adventure film produced and directed by S. S. Vasan of Gemini Studios. Starring T. R. Rajakumari, M. K. Radha and Ranjan, the film follows two brothers (Veerasimhan and Sasankan) who fight over ruling their father's kingdom and marrying a village dancer, Chandralekha.
Development began during the early 1940s when, after two successive box-office hits, Vasan announced that his next film would be entitled Chandralekha. However, when he launched an advertising campaign for the film he only had the name of the heroine from a storyline he had rejected. Veppathur Kittoo (one of Vasan's storyboard artists) developed a story based on a chapter of George W. M. Reynolds' novel, Robert Macaire: or, The French bandit in England. Original director T. G. Raghavachari left the film more than halfway through because of disagreements with Vasan, who took over in his directorial debut.
Originally made in Tamil and later in Hindi, Chandralekha spent five years in production (1943–1948). It underwent a number of scripting, filming and cast changes, and was the most-expensive film made in India at the time. Vasan mortgaged all his property and sold his jewellery to complete the film, whose cinematographers were Kamal Ghosh and K. Ramnoth. The music, largely inspired by Indian and Western classical music, was composed by S. Rajeswara Rao and M. D. Parthasarathy with lyrics by Papanasam Sivan and Kothamangalam Subbu.
Chandralekha was released on 9 April 1948. Although the film received generally positive reviews, it did not recoup its production costs. Vasan directed a Hindi version with some changes, including re-shot scenes, a slightly altered cast, and Hindi dialogues from Agha Jani Kashmiri and Pandit Indra. The Hindi version was released on 24 December of that year, becoming a box-office success. South Indian cinema became prominent throughout India with the film's release, and it inspired South Indian producers to market their Hindi films in North India.
Plot
Veerasimhan and Sasankan are the sons of a king. When Veerasimhan rides through a village, he meets a local dancer named Chandralekha and they fall in love. At the palace, the king decides to abdicate his throne in favour of Veerasimhan. This enrages Sasankan, Veerasimhan's younger brother, who forms a gang of thieves; they embark on a crime spree. Chandralekha's father is injured in the ensuing chaos, and dies shortly afterwards and the orphaned Chandralekha joins a band of travelling musicians, whose caravan is raided by Sasankan's gang.
Sasankan orders Chandralekha to dance for him, which she does only after being flogged, but she soon escapes. He later ambushes Veerasimhan and takes him prisoner. Chandralekha watches Sasankan's men imprison Veerasimhan in a cave and seal its entrance with a boulder. She rescues him with the aid of elephants from a passing circus troupe. Veerasimhan and Chandralekha join the circus to hide from Sasankan's men. When Sasankan returns to the palace, he imprisons his parents, declares himself king and sends a spy to find Chandralekha.
The spy sees Chandralekha performing in the circus, and tries to capture her. Veerasimhan saves her; they escape and join a group of gypsies. When Veerasimhan goes to find help, Sasankan's men capture Chandralekha and bring her to the palace. When Sasankan tries to woo Chandralekha, she pretends to faint every time he approaches her. One of her circus friends comes to Sasankan disguised as a gypsy healer and claims that she can cure Chandralekha of her "illness". Behind locked doors, the two women talk. Sasankan is pleased to find Chandralekha miraculously cured and apparently ready to accept him as her husband; in return, he agrees to her request for a drum dance at the royal wedding.
Huge, platform-like drums are arranged in rows in front of the palace and Chandralekha joins the dancers, who dance on the drums. Sasankan is impressed with Chandralekha's performance but, unknown to him, Veerasimhan's soldiers are hiding inside the drums. As the dance ends, they rush out and attack Sasankan's men. Veerasimhan confronts Sasankan, and their lengthy sword fight ends with Sasankan's defeat and imprisonment. Veerasimhan releases his parents and becomes the new king, with Chandralekha as his queen.
Cast
Cast according to the song book:
T. R. Rajakumari as Chandralekha M. K. Radha as Veerasimhan Ranjan as Sasankan M. S. Sundari Bai as Sogusu N. S. Krishnan as the circus buffoon T. A. Mathuram as circus girl L. Narayana Rao as the circus manager Subbaiah Pillai as Chandra's father V. N. Janaki as a gypsy girl V. S. Susheela as a gypsy girl Pottai H. Krishnamoorthy as a circus clown N. Ramamurthi as a circus clown T. A. Jayalakshmi as the palace nurse Appanna Iyengar as the music maestro T. E. Krishnamachariar as the king Kakinada Rajarathnam as the queen
Seshagiri Bhagavathar as Singaru T. V. Kalyani as Singaru's wife N. Seetharaman as Veerasimhan's bodyguard Velayudham as Sasankan's menial assistant Veppathur Kittoo as a spy Ramakrishna Rao as a sepoy Varalakshmi as a circus girl Sundara Rao as an officer Surabhi Kamala as a gypsy woman Seetharaman as the cart driver N. Meera as Chandra's friend Vijaya Rao as a palace guard Sampathkumar as a palace guard Balaraman as a palace guard Gopala Krishnan as a palace guard 100 Gemini Boys & 500 Gemini Girls
Production Development After the box office success of Bala Nagamma (1942) and Mangamma Sabatham (1943), producer S. S. Vasan of Gemini Studios wanted his next film to be made on a grand scale, with no budgetary constraints. He asked the story department—K. J. Mahadevan, Kothamangalam Subbu, Sangu, Naina and Veppathur Kittoo—to write a screenplay. They saw Mangamma Sabatham and Bala Nagamma as "heroine-oriented stories", and suggested a similar story. The group told the story of Chandralekha, a tough woman who "outwits a vicious bandit, delivers the final insult by slashing off his nose and, as a finishing touch, fills the bloodied gaping hole with hot, red chilli powder". Vasan disliked the story's gruesomeness and vulgarity; he rejected it, but kept the heroine's name.
Without waiting for a full story, Vasan announced that his next project would be entitled Chandralekha and publicised it heavily. Despite hard work by Gemini's writers, the story was not ready three months later. Vasan grew impatient, and told the writers that he would shelve Chandralekha in favour of Avvaiyyar (1953). After he gave them one more week, Kittoo discovered George W. M. Reynolds' novel, Robert Macaire, or the French Bandit in England. In the first chapter, he read:
Vasan was impressed when Kittoo told him a story based on the chapter. He decided to continue with the film, and named the heroine Chandralekha. Although the story was developed by Kittoo, it was credited to the entire Gemini story department. T. G. Raghavachari was hired as director.
Casting The script had two major roles: princes in a kingdom, the elder of whom was the hero and the younger the villain. M. K. Radha was offered the part of Sasankan, the younger prince. Since he was then known for heroic roles, Radha was unwilling to play a villain and instead agreed to play the older prince, Veerasimhan. His wife Gnanambal persuaded Vasan to cast Radha in the role. K. J. Mahadevan (a member of Gemini's story department) was chosen by Vasan to play Sasankan. Although some footage of Mahadevan was filmed, his performance was considered "too soft" and he was removed; however, he remained on the project as a scriptwriter and assistant director. When Raghavachari suggested Ranjan as Sasankan, Vasan was reluctant; although the producer initially considered the actor too effeminate to play a "steel-hard villain", Vasan eventually relented. Ranjan had committed to B. N. Rao's Saalivaahanan (1945), but Kittoo persuaded him to test for Chandralekha and Rao gave the actor a few days off. The screen test was successful, and Ranjan was cast.
T. R. Rajakumari was chosen to play Chandralekha, replacing Vasan's first choice, K. L. V. Vasantha. Film historian Randor Guy believed Vasan chose Rajakumari over Vasantha because she was leaving Gemini for Modern Theatres. In April 1947 N. S. Krishnan, who had been convicted in the Lakshmikanthan murder case, was released from prison on appeal; Vasan recruited him and T. A. Mathuram to play the circus artists who help Veerasimhan rescue Chandralekha from Sasankan, with Mathuram's character named Sumathi. The script was rewritten, with scenes added to showcase the comic duo. P. A. Subbiah Pillai who played Venkatachalam in Gemini's Mangamma Sabatham, was credited as Subbiah Pillai and played Chandralekha's father. Madurai Sriramulu Naidu and S. N. Lakshmi made their acting debuts in the film; Naidu played a horseman, and Lakshmi was a dancer in the climactic drum-dance scene.
Struggling stage actor V. C. Ganeshamurthy (later known as Sivaji Ganesan), who had contacted Kittoo several times for a role in Chandralekha, was interested in a minor role as Veerasimhan's bodyguard and grew his hair long for the part. Kittoo eventually brought Ganeshamurthy to Vasan, who had seen him perform onstage. Vasan turned the actor down, calling him "totally unsuited for films" and telling him to choose another profession; the incident created a permanent rift between Vasan and Ganeshamurthy. The role of the bodyguard was eventually given to N. Seetharaman, who later became known as Javar Seetharaman. Kothamangalam Subbu's wife, Sundari Bai, played a circus performer who helps Chandralekha escape from Sasankan.
T. A. Jayalakshmi, in one of her earliest film roles, appeared briefly in one scene as a dancer. Veppathur Kittoo played Sasankan's spy and was an assistant director. Studio staff members, their families and passers-by were recruited as extras to play spectators in the circus scenes, and Vasan introduced Chandralekha in a voice-over during her circus performance.
Filming
Chandralekha began filming in 1943. Raghavachari directed more than half of the film, but after differences of opinion with Vasan over the shooting of scenes at the Governor's Estate (now Raj Bhavan, Guindy) he left the project. Vasan subsequently took over the direction, marking his directorial debut.
The film did not originally include circus scenes. Vasan decided to add them halfway through production, and the screenplay was changed. For the scene where Veerasimhan is freed from a cave by elephants, "hundreds" of circus elephants were used. Kittoo travelled throughout South India and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), seeing over 50 circuses before he chose the Kamala Circus Company and Parasuram Lion Circus; Vasan employed Kamala for a month. The circus scenes were shot by K. Ramnoth. Kittoo reminisced about the cinematographer's work:In those days, we had no zoom lenses and yet Ramnoth did it. One night, while Chandralekha is performing on the flying trapeze, she notices the villain's henchman in the front row. She is on her perch high up and he is seated in a ringside chair. Shock hits her and to convey the shock the camera zooms fast from her to the man. Today, with a fast zoom shot it can be done very easily, but there was no such lens forty years ago. Ramnoth did it using the crane. He planned it well and rehearsed the shot for long. He took the shot 20 times and selected the best "take".