Santhi Nivasam (1960 film)

Santhi Nivasam is a 1960 Indian Telugu-language drama film directed by C. S. Rao. The film stars Akkineni Nageswara Rao, Rajasulochana, Kantha Rao, Krishna Kumari and Devika. It is an adaptation of Palagummi Padmaraju's Telugu play of the same name, which itself was based on B. S. Ramiah's Tamil play Malliyam Mangalam.

Santhi Nivasam was released on 14 January 1960. The film was a commercial success, running for over 100 days in several theatres. It was remade twice in Hindi as Gharana (1961) and Ghar Ghar Ki Kahani (1988).

Plot
The film begins with a wealthy, conscientious joint family residing in a palatial house called Shanti Nivasam. Ramadasu, an introvert, is its paterfamilias and his virago wife, Shantamma. They have 4 progeny, 3 sons & a daughter. The elder son Ranga passed away, and his wife, Rama, lives with her two infants. The second is Raju, a frequent traveler who handles the totality, and his benevolent wife, Lakshmi, who idolizes her husband as a deity. The last Gopi is naughty and spends his life joyful. Chitti, their haughty daughter, knits a callow, Simhalu, and refuses to live with him because of his insane father, Paramanandayya. However, peace is absent at home since Shantamma recurs force on her daughters-in-law by provoking malicious Chitti.

Once, Raju met his childhood mate, Ragini, and often went to her as a nag at the spookhouse. Besides, Gopi falls for a beautiful Radha, the daughter of Advocate Seetapati Rao, whose stepmother, Vimalamma, hounds her. Gopi adores a motherly bond with Lakshmi and shares a single entity with her, including his love affair. Chitti ruses Raju, suspecting their bondage. Unbeknownst, Vimalamma heads Radha's bridal connection with Gopi, and with a play, they splice. On that eve, as Lakshmi is fatigued being pregnant, Gopi moves to pick her up at the venue. Raju authenticates his suspicion at this, spotting their intimacy and Chitti's goad. Devastated, Raju quits when Ragini shields and solaces him. Indeed, she cares for him as a sibling, but Raju misinterprets it. From there, he bestows her with gifts and spends most of his time resigning to the home. Radha forwards to Shanti Nivasam, and the couple starts their comic tale. Parallelly, Shantamma & Chitti's cruelties hike, which leads Rama about to exit. Thus, Gopi raises his father's insight to secure the family, who catapults Shantamma and retrieves his authority. Plus, he gets Chitti out to proceed with Simhalu. Lakshmi also delivers a baby boy.

Simultaneously, Ramadasu is aware of Raju's lavish expenses, which he bars by terminating him. Ergo enraged Raju, came home, clashed with his father, and accused Lakshmi of infidelity. Here, Lakshmi lays waste to and attempts suicide when Gopi oaths her to get back his brother. Currently, he goes to Ragini's house, where Raju spites & smacks him, attributing taint to Lakshmi. Now, Raju seeks Ragini to accompany him when she unveils her brotherhood, and he gets violent to slay her. By the time Ramadasu & Simhalu arrive, Raju freaks out a grudge against Gopi & Lakshmi, and Simhalu strikes & drags him home. Grief-stricken Gopi gets to his mother and discloses his brother's blame. Listening to it, Lakshmi collapses and becomes of sound mind. Next, Simhalu erases Raju's paranoid note by confessing Chitti's guilt and proves Gopi & Lakshmi's sacred affinity when Raju dies out of remorse. Together with, ruined Gopi sets foot for self-sacrifice. At last, Raju prevents it by waking Lakshmi with a regretful implore. Finally, the movie ends happily with the family's reunion.

Cast

 * Akkineni Nageswara Rao as Gopi
 * Rajasulochana as Radha
 * Kantha Rao as Raju
 * Krishna Kumari as Ragini
 * Devika as Lakshmi
 * V. Nagayya as Ramadasu
 * Relangi as Narasimhalu
 * Ramana Reddy as Captain Paramanandaiah
 * K. V. S. Sarma as Seetapati Rao
 * Suryakantham as Santamma
 * Surabhi Balasaraswathi as Chitti
 * Hemalatha as Ramani

Development
The actors Vallam Narasimha Rao and Padmanabham acquired the Telugu rights of S. V. Sahasranamam's Tamil play Malliyam Mangalam, which was written by B. S. Ramiah, for their first stage production made under the Rekha & Murali Arts banner. The Telugu version, Santhi Nivasam, was written by Palagummi Padmaraju. The play, which starred Padmanabhan and Meenakumari, was an immense success, and caught the attention of producers Sundarlal Nahata, T. Aswathanarayana and director C. S. Rao, who saw "immense potential" in it and bought the film rights. Samudrala Jr. was hired to make changes, such as expanding the story and creating new characters for the film adaptation, which was also titled Santhi Nivasam and was produced under Sri Productions. He also worked as a dialogue writer and lyricist. Cinematography was handled by Kamal Ghosh (with J. Sathyanarayana serving as "operative cameraman"), editing by N. M. Shankar and C. Hari Rao.

Casting and filming
Akkineni Nageswara Rao was chosen to play Gopi, reprising the role originally played by Padmanabham in the Telugu play. This role was rewritten for the film as the male lead, unlike the play where it was a supporting role. C. S. Rao, who used to enact scenes for his actors, accidentally slipped during one such exercise on the doormat before Ragini's (Krishna Kumari) house set while entering, but immediately managed to balance himself. Kantha Rao, who portrayed Gopi's older brother Raju, believed this was intentional and part of the story, and did exactly the same when filming the scene. After this, C. S. Rao told Kanta Rao, "Any way, it now turned into a symbolic shot for the critics. For the first time you are entering into another woman’s house and the slip represents your fall and the balancing act symbolises your control." Except for two songs which were shot at Brindavan Gardens in Mysore, the rest of the film was completed in one schedule.

Soundtrack
The soundtrack was composed by Ghantasala, and the lyrics were written by Samudrala Ramanujacharya. Many of the songs were adapted from Hindi songs; "Aasalu Theerchave" was based on "Meethi Meethi Baton Se" from Qaidi No. 911, "Chakkanidaana" was based on the title song of Dil Deke Dekho, "Raave Radha Rani Raave" was based on "Jhumta Mausam" from Ujala, and "Come Come" was based on "Tim Tim Tim" from Mausi. "Sri Raghuram", "Kalanaina Nee Valape" and "Ragala Saragala" were original compositions. The song "Sri Raghuram" is based on Hamsadhwani raga.

Release and reception
Santhi Nivasam was released on 14 January 1960. The film was a commercial success, running for over 100 days in several theatres. It was remade in Hindi as Gharana (1961), and dubbed in Malayalam as Shantinivas (1962).