Bhishma (1962 film)

Bhishma is a 1962 Indian Telugu-language Hindu mythological film, based on the life of Bhishma from the epic Mahabharata, produced and directed by B. A. Subba Rao. It stars N. T. Rama Rao and Anjali Devi, with music composed by S. Rajeswara Rao.

Plot
The film begins in the court of Brahma, where Mahabhisha & Ganga lures each other, and the lord curses them to be born as mortals Mahabhisha takes birth as Shantanu in the Kuru dynasty, meets Ganga, and knits her on a condition not to question her actions  Time passes, and Ganga gives birth to 7 children and drowns them in the river  During the turn of the eighth one, devastated, Shantanu confronts her when she disappears with the child who grows up to be Devavratha, a great warrior trained by Parasurama  Once he is acquainted with the father while hunting, Ganga unites them and quits  A few years later, Shantanu attracts Satyavati, the daughter of Dasaraju. So, he moves with the proposal, which they accept, provided Satyavati's son would inherit the throne of Hastinapur. Hence, Devavratha pledges a mighty vow of lifelong celibacy and service to whoever sat on the throne of their dynasty, which debilitates him as Bhishma, and his father gives him a boon that death will not be near him until he calls.

After some time, Shantanu passes away, and Satyavati's son Vichitravirya becomes the king; Bhishma decides to perform his nuptial with the princesses of Kaasi Amba, Ambika, & Ambalika However, the Kaasi king affronts not submitting the proposal to Hastinapur as Satyavati belongs to the grassroots  So, enraged Bhishma abducts the princesses  Following, Amba proclaims her love for Salwa when Bhishma honorably sends her back  Salwa denies her when Amba returns to Bhishma and asks him to splice, which is impossible because of his oath  Then Amba approaches Parasurama, who edicts Bhishma but in vain, and the war erupts, and Bhishma defeats his mentor  Accordingly, Amba takes a pledge to seek to avenge Bhishma, performs immense penance to please Siva, and takes a boon that she will cause Bhishma's death  Next, Amba reincarnates as Sikhandi, a woman who later transforms into a man  The Kurukshetra war begins, which designates Bhishma as the supreme commander of the Kaurava, and Pandavas are unable to defeat him for ten days  Ergo, on the tactic of Krishna, Arjuna shoots Bhishma, keeping Sikhandi in front, and he collapses on Ampashayya, the arrow bed  After the completion of the war, Bhishma leaves his breath on Uttarayana Punyakalam, and Krishna bestows him a boon that the universe celebrates the day as Bhishma Ekadashi.

Cast

 * N. T. Rama Rao as Bhishma
 * Master Nagaraju as young Bhishma
 * Anjali Devi as Amba / Shikhandi
 * Kanta Rao as Salwa
 * Relangi as Narada Maharshi
 * Haranath as Lord Krishna
 * Shobhan Babu as Arjuna
 * Gummadi as Karna
 * Nagabhushanam as Parashurama
 * Dhulipala as Duryodhana
 * Satyanarayana as Lord Shiva
 * Prabhakar Reddy as Shantanu
 * Vangara as Rajaguru Madhava
 * C. S. R as Shalya
 * Peketi Sivaram as Vichitravirya
 * Malladi as Drupada
 * A. V. Subba Rao as Dasaraju
 * A. V. Subba Rao Jr as Drona
 * Jagga Rao as Dushasana
 * Suryakantham as Dasaraju's wife
 * G. Varalakshmi as Kunti
 * Sujatha as Satyavati
 * Anuradha as Ganga
 * Meena Kumari as Hemangini
 * Susheela as Ambika
 * Malleswari as Ambalika
 * Nirmalamma as Drupada's wife

Soundtrack
Music composed by S. Rajeswara Rao. Lyrics were written by Aarudhra.