Chenchu Lakshmi


Chenchu Lakshmi is a 1958 bilingual Telugu and Tamil Hindu mythological film, produced and directed by B. A. Subba Rao under the B.A.S. Productions banner. It stars Akkineni Nageswara Rao, Anjali Devi in the lead roles and music composed by S. Rajeswara Rao; both of the movies simultaneously shot in Telugu and Tamil, most of the scenes and artists are same in both the versions, it was also made earlier in 1943 with different cast and crew.

Plot

The film is based on the Hindu mythological story which begins with the marriage ceremony of Lord Vishnu & Goddess Lakshmi. During, Sage Durvasa becomes furious as he is uninvited. So, he curses Mahalakshmi's parents, Samudra & his wife to born as tribals. After some time, Vishnu kills Hiranyaksha, donning Varaha avatar. Learning it, his brother Hiranyakasipa a ferocious, performs a huge penance. Exploiting it, Indra kidnaps his pregnant wife Leelavathi to destroy his heir. Thereupon, Sage Narada safeguards her at his Ashram where he sculpts Prahlada on her womb as an ardent devotee of Lord Vishnu. Meanwhile, Hiranyakasipa succeeds in his penance and gets a boon Lord Brahma that absence of death any weapon, human, animal, demon or divinity. Now, he occupies Indra the entire universe and moves in search of Vishnu who absconds along with Lakshmi. At present, Vishnu transforms the glow of Lakshmi into fruit and plants it on a tree. Parallelly, Samudra & his wife take birth as the tribals but they are perturbed as childless. So, Sage Narada makes a play, by bestowing them the fruit of Lakshmi's glow when the couple is blessed with a baby girl Chenchita. Besides, Prahlada worships towards Vishnu reaches esteem and Hiranyakasipa makes several attempts to bar him but fails. Ultimately, he challenges to show his God when Vishnu appears from the pillar as Lord Narasimha half man & half lion and slays Hiranyakasipa. Here, Narasimha still raging with fury and no-one could make him calm including Lakshmi because she does not contain the glow. During that plight, Narasimha is acquainted with fearless Chenchita one that subsides his anger and turns into the handsome Narahari. Currently, they fall in love and couples up. Being cognizant of it, enraged Lakshmi displays grievance when both the wives squabble. At last, Narada affirms Chenchita as her glow when they conjoin and Samudra & his wife are also relieved from the curse. Finally, the movie ends on a happy note with the reunion of Lord Vishnu & Goddess Lakshmi at Vaikuntha.

Cast

Telugu Cast

Music composed by Saluri Rajeswara Rao. All the tunes for all the songs for both languages are the same. Music released on Audio Company.
S. No.Song TitleLyricsSingerslength
1Aanandamaye Ali NeelaveniArudraGhantasala, Jikki4:18
2Chettulekkagalava O NarahariArudraGhantasala, Jikki3:07
3Chilaka GorinkaVempati SadasivabrahmamGhantasala, Jikki2:54
4Paala KadalipaiArudraP. Susheela3:23
5Adhigo Kanalera KamalaSamudrala SrP. Susheela3:10
5Neelagagana Ghana ShyamaArudraGhantasala4:32
5Kaanaga RaavaaVempati SadasivabrahmamGhantasala, Jikki3:26
6Cheyi CheyiKosarajuP. Susheela, Satyavathi, Vaidehi3:15
7Kaallaku GajjeluVempati SadasivabrahmamP. B. Sreenivas, Jikki2:43
8Ma Chinni PapayiSamudrala SrP. Susheela2:04
9Marapurani ManchiVempati SadasivabrahmamGhantasala, Jikki5:33
10Karunaala VaalaaKosarajuGhantasala7:14
11Sri NadhuniSamudrala SrP. Susheela2:36
12Chenchu Lakshmi SlokamVempati SadasivabrahmamP. Susheela10:03

Tamil Songs

Lyrics by Papanasam Sivan, Thanjai N. Ramaiah Dass & M. S. Subramaniam.

The 1943 film

Chenchu Lakshmi was made in 1943 directed by S. Soundararajan and starring C. H. Narayana Rao and Kamala Kotnis in the lead roles.