Madhu Malathi

Madhu Malathi is a 1966 Indian Kannada-language romantic drama film, directed by S. K. A. Chari and produced by M. Sampath. The film stars Rajkumar, Udaykumar, Arun Kumar and Bharathi Vishnuvardhan. The film has musical score by G. K. Venkatesh. The title card credited the story to the director with a note that it was based on a book by Bhavabhuti. The story traces its origin to the ancient Indian drama Mālatīmādhava by Bhavabhuti (c. 8th-century) and later went on to be one of the popular Vikram - Vetal stories from Vetala Panchavimshati, a Sanskrit work whose earliest recensions are found in Kathasaritsagara written by Somadeva (c. 11th-century).

The movie was dubbed in Tamil as Vedhalan Sonna Kathai. The movie has the characteristics of swashbuckler films with the three male lead roles playing swashbucklers and the sole female lead playing a damsel in distress. This was the first movie where Bharathi was paired against Rajkumar.

Cast

 * Rajkumar as Trivikramasena
 * Udaykumar
 * Arun Kumar
 * Bharathi Vishnuvardhan as Madhu Malathi
 * K. S. Ashwath as Keshava Chandragupta
 * M. P. Shankar
 * Kuppuraj
 * Ranga
 * M. Jayashree
 * B. R. Hema
 * R. Nagendra Rao in a guest appearance
 * Girimaji
 * Anantharam Maccheri
 * Keshavamurthy
 * Lakshmayya
 * Narayan
 * Shyamsundar
 * Honnappa
 * Stunt Rathnam

Production and release
J. Jayalalithaa was the initial choice for the lead actress role but she couldn't take up the movie when there was production delay and her callsheet dates clashed with her Tamil movie assignments. This movie was the inaugural movie for Sangam Theatre, Majestic where it saw a six-week run. In its second run, it was released in Triveni theatre in 1968.