Sita Rama Kalyanam (1961 film)

Sita Rama Kalyanam is a 1961 Indian Telugu-language Hindu mythological film directed by N. T. Rama Rao in his directorial debut. It stars N. T. Rama Rao, Haranath, Geetanjali, B. Saroja Devi, Kanta Rao, Sobhan Babu. The film was produced by N. Trivikrama Rao on 'National Art Theatres' banner. The music composed by Gali Penchala Narasimha Rao.

The film was a commercial success. It also won the Certificate of Merit for Best Feature Film in Telugu at the 8th National Film Awards. The film was dubbed into Tamil with the same title and was released on 3 February 1961.

Plot
The film begins with the Ravana visiting Kailasa, the abode of Shiva, at an inopportune time, so Nandi hinders. Consequently, a rift erupted when Nandi cursed him that Vanara would distract his clan. Nevertheless, Ravana performs an immense penance that shakes the foundations of Kailasa. Aroused Shiva delights him as invincible, whereby he trounces the universe. Once on his journey, he febriles to the beauty of Rambha and molests her. Being cognizant of it, her fiancé Nalakuvara curses him to atomize when he aspires to possess any woman without her wish. However, his ferocities peek at the summit when all the creators bow before Vishnu, which gives assurance of salvation to eliminate him.

Meanwhile, Lakshmi takes birth on earth as Mathulungi to King Padmaksha owing to his devotion. Time passes, and Narada directs him towards her Svayamvara so that he can also be pleased by Vishnu. Following this, he notifies Ravana, who onslaughts and is about to capture Mathulungi, killing Padmaksha. She disappears, revivals into Vedavati to Kushadhvaja, and carries out orison. After a while, Ravana detects & lusts for her, and she immediately sacrifices herself with a curse to be reborn as a cause for his destruction. So, Ravana brings her ashes, which appalls Mandodari, who discards the box and buries it on either side of the sea.

Dasaratha, the king of Ayodhya, is perturbed as childless, so he conducts Putrakameshti with his 3 wives, Kausalya, Sumitra & Kaikeyi. Here, Vishnu with Shesha, Shanku & Chakra incarnated as his 4 sons: Rama, Lakshmana, Bharata, & Shatrughna. Parallelly, while tilling the ground, Janaka, the king of Mithila, finds the box enclosing the baby whom he rears as Sita. Years roll by, and Vishvamitra arrives and seeks to send Ramalakshmana for the protection of his Yaga. Soon, he endorsed them with powerful armaments, which they used to destroy Tataki & MarichaSubahulu and accomplish the Yaga. Janaka announces Svayamvara to Sita when Vishvamitra moves to Mithila with the sibling.

Amid, they spot a ruined hermitage of Gautama when Vishvamitra spins rearward. Once, Brahma created a gorgeous girl, Ahalya, and kept her marriage as an open contest of the first being to go around the 3 worlds. Though Indra comes first, Narada states that Gautama is the winner because he circumambulates the wish-bearing cow Kamadhenu, which is equal to the task that grudges Indra. One night, he switches into a hen and awakes Gautama before sunrise when he seduces Ahalya in her husband's guise. Spotting it, infuriated Gautama curses him to disfigure with 1000 eyes and transposes Ahalya as stone. Now, Rama relieves her with his feet's touch. Next, the challenge at Svayamvara is to affix the world-renowned bow of Siva. However, Ravana arrives without an invitation but fails and gets humiliated. All at once, Rama breaks it. Knowing it, enraged Parasurama lands and confronts Rama. Later, he realizes Rama is his reincarnation and backs up. Finally, the movie ends happily with Sita & Rama's phenomenal wedding.

Cast

 * N. T. Rama Rao as Ravana
 * B. Saroja Devi as Mandodari
 * Haranath as Rama
 * Geetanjali as Sita
 * Kanta Rao as Narada
 * Sobhan Babu as Lakshmana
 * V. Nagayya as Dasaratha
 * Mikkilineni as Janaka
 * Gummadi as Vishwamitra
 * K. V. S. Sarma as Parashurama
 * Kommineni Seshagiri Rao as Bharata
 * M. Kameswara Rao as Brahma
 * Udaykumar as Kumbhakarna
 * A. V. Subba Rao Jr. as Vibhishana
 * Arja Janardhana Rao as Hiranyakashipu
 * Kasturi Siva Rao as Vaishya
 * Sarathi as Nalakubara
 * Master Nagaraju as Prahlada / Young Lakshmana
 * Chhaya Devi as Sumedha Devi (Janaka's wife)
 * Swarna as Soorpanakha
 * Kuchala Kumari as Rambha

Production
N. T. Rama Rao portrayal of the demon king Ravana (the antagonist of the Hindu epic Ramayana) in Bhookailas (1958) earned him critical acclaim. However, after the release of its Kannada-language version Bhookailasa in the same year which featured a different cast and crew, Rama Rao's portrayal was often compared with that of Rajkumar who played Ravana. This, along with Ravana's reputation as a renowned Shiva devotee, made Rama Rao consider reprising the role in another film which focused on a more layered representation of the character. He and writer Samudrala Sr. studied Ravana's arcs from various versions of Ramayana and other mythologies. Later, Rama Rao's friend Dhanekula Buchi Venkata Krishna Chowdhary came up with a story which they liked, and Samudrala wrote the dialogues, songs and poems. Though the film's narrative was centered around Ravana, Samudrala named the film Sita Rama Kalyanam after Ramayana protagonists Rama and Sita.

Rama Rao's brother N. Trivikrama Rao decided to produce the film for his company National Art Theatre and approached the former's mentor K. V. Reddy to direct the film. Reddy declined the offer, saying that he could not envision Rama Rao playing a demon. Rama Rao then decided to direct the film himself, marking his directorial debut. He, however, refrained from crediting himself as the director and instead paid homage to his parents. When Trivikrama Rao suggested that Rama Rao should play a dual role as both Rama and Ravana, the latter refused and chose to work with younger actors. He met Haranath at Pondy Bazaar and signed him to play Rama. Sobhan Babu was cast as Rama's brother Lakshmana. Impressed with her cameo appearance in Rani Ratnaprabha (1960), Rama Rao cast Geetanjali for the role of Sita. B. Saroja Devi, Gummadi and V. Nagayya were cast in key supporting roles. Sita Rama Kalyanam also marked Kanta Rao first on-screen appearance as Narada, a mythological character which he would reprise later in multiple unrelated Telugu films.

Rama Rao approached M. A. Rahman, the cinematographer of the former's acting debut Mana Desam (1949), to collaborate for this film as the director of photography. When Rahman was unavailable, he signed Ravikant Nagaich for the job, marking the latter's debut in Telugu cinema. S. P. S. Veerappa edited the film and I. N. Murthy served as the co-director. All the sequences were filmed in sets erected at the Vijaya Vauhini Studios in Madras (now Chennai). For filming the Ravananugraha sequence, Nagaich opted for using mask shots capturing varying expressions of Rama Rao instead of working with nine dummy heads. This took more than ten hours to shoot, and Rama Rao had to stay motionless for longer intervals.

Music
S. Rajeswara Rao was signed to compose the film's soundtrack and score. He worked on the song "Kanarara Kailasa Nivasa" and a poem "Jayatwada Bravibhrama" before walking out of the film citing creative differences with Rama Rao. Gali Penchala Narasimha Rao replaced him and composed the score and the remaining songs. Samudrala wrote the lyrics for all the songs and composed the poems. Emani Sankara Sastry recited the veena for the Ravananugraha sequence. The soundtrack was released on 31 December 1961 and was marketed by HMV (now Saregama).

Release and reception
Sita Rama Kalyanam was released theatrically on 6 January 1961, in 28 centres, with an attempt to cash in on the Makara Sankranti holiday weekend. Due to good word of mouth, the film was a commercial success, completing a 50-day run in all the 28 centres. It also completed a 156-day run at the Sri Lakshmi Picture Palace in Vijayawada. It also won the Certificate of Merit for Best Feature Film in Telugu at the 8th National Film Awards. The film was dubbed into Tamil with the same title and was released on 3 February 1961.