| Maro Charitra | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | K. Balachander |
| Written by | K. Balachander |
| Produced by | Rama Arangannal |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | B. S. Lokanath |
| Edited by | N. R. Kittu |
| Music by | M. S. Viswanathan |
Production company | Andal Productions |
Release date |
|
Running time | 169 minutes[1] |
| Country | India |
| Language | Telugu |
Maro Charitra (transl. Another History) is a 1978 Indian Telugu-language romantic tragedy film written and directed by K. Balachander. It stars Kamal Haasan and Saritha in the lead with Madhavi appearing in prominent roles. The film deals with cross-cultural romance between a Tamil man and a young Telugu woman. Upon release, it was commercially successful and remains a cult classic. Owing to its success in Andhra Pradesh, the film was released in the neighbouring states of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka without being dubbed into the respective languages. It held the record of being the longest-running Telugu film at theatres in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Across theatres it had an uninterrupted theatrical run of 2+1⁄2 years in Bangalore. The song Ye Theega Poovuno became popular.
Balachander won a Best Director at the Southern Filmfare Awards in 1979. Later in 1981, Balachander remade the film in Hindi as Ek Duuje Ke Liye with Kamal Haasan reprising his role. Saritha, the female lead, was, however, replaced by Punjabi actress Rati Agnihotri. The Hindi remake became a success as well. Both the films were listed among CNN-IBN's 100 greatest Indian films of all time in 2013. This film was also remade in Kannada as Love Story (2005) and remade into a 2010 Telugu film with the same title. Maro Charitra was dubbed in Malayalam as Thirakal Ezhuthiya Kavitha.
- ^ Rajadhyaksha & Willemen 1998, p. 437.