Sankarabharanam (1980 film)

Shankarabharanam
శంకరాభరణం
Film poster
Directed byK. Viswanath
Written byK. Viswanath
Dialogue byJandhyala
Produced byEdida Nageswara Rao
Aakasam Sriramulu
StarringJ.V. Somayajulu
Manju Bhargavi
Chandra Mohan
CinematographyBalu Mahendra
Edited byG. G. Krishna Rao
Music byK. V. Mahadevan
Distributed byPoornodaya Movie Creations
Release date
  • 2 February 1980 (1980-02-02)
Running time
143 minutes[1]
CountryIndia
LanguageTelugu
Budget₹13.50 Lakhs

Shankarabharanam (transl. The jewel of Shankara) is a 1980 Indian Telugu-language musical drama film written and directed by K. Viswanath. Produced by Edida Nageswara Rao under Poornodaya Movie Creations, the film stars J. V. Somayajulu, Manju Bhargavi, Chandra Mohan, and Rajyalakshmi. The soundtrack was composed by K. V. Mahadevan. The film explores the cultural divide between Indian classical and Western pop music through the perspectives of characters from different generations.

Released on 2 February 1980, Shankarabharanam opened to near-empty halls, but quickly gained widespread popularity, eventually running for over 25 weeks in many centres. In Tamil Nadu, the film was a major sensation, showing in packed houses in its original version. In Bangalore, it ran for over a year without dubbing. It was later dubbed into Tamil and Malayalam,[2] with the Malayalam version also enjoying a year-long theatrical run.[3]

The film received significant acclaim, winning the Prize of the Public at the Besançon Film Festival, France in 1981.[4] It was screened at several international festivals, including the 8th International Film Festival of India,[5] the Tashkent Film Festival, the Asia Pacific Film Festival, and the Moscow International Film Festival in May 1980.[6][7] Shankarabharanam was also featured in an online poll by CNN-IBN in 2013, where it ranked eleventh for the "greatest Indian film ever" as part of the centenary celebration of Indian cinema.[8] The film was honoured with four National Film Awards, including Best Popular Feature Film, making it the first South Indian film to receive this award.[9] It also received seven state Nandi Awards.[10] Following its success, Viswanath directed a Hindi remake titled Sur Sangam (1985).[11] Forbes India included J. V. Somayajulu's performance in Shankarabharanam in its list of "25 Greatest Acting Performances of Indian Cinema."[12]

  1. ^ Banerjee & Srivastava 1988, p. 158.
  2. ^ name="idlebrain.com"
  3. ^ "10 Malayalam Movies Which Ran For Successfully For Many Days". nettv4u. Retrieved 10 June 2022.
  4. ^ "29th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. April 1982. p. 6.
  5. ^ "8th International Film Festival of India" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 January 2018.
  6. ^ "Filmtsav' 80" (PDF). DFF.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference idlebrain.com was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ "100 Years of Indian Cinema: The 100 greatest Indian films of all time". Archived from the original on 24 April 2013. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
  9. ^ Careers Digest. 1980. p. 396. Retrieved 3 September 2013.
  10. ^ Film World. T.M. Ramachandran. 1980. p. 217. Retrieved 3 September 2013.
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference Telugu Cinema Etc — Idlebrain.com was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ Prasad, Shishir; Ramnath, N. S.; Mitter, Sohini (27 April 2013). "25 Greatest Acting Performances of Indian Cinema". Forbes. Retrieved 27 January 2015.