Thursday, August 31, 2006

Tulu Cinema at 35

Enna Thangadi was the first film to be released in Tulu in 1971. Tulu cinema is turning 35 this year. Rightly for the occassion, film Sudda made it into the international headlines few days back, with it winning the award for the best Indian film at the eighth Asian Film Festival "Ocean - Cinefan" held at New Delhi. The film is based on a Tulu play Bojja by Narayan Shetty Nandalike and was directed by P N Ramchandra. The film depicts the gradual fall of the feudal system in coastal region of Karnataka.

Speaking of Tulu films, first film that strikes in my mind is Koti Chennaya with its immortal songs Padumaleda Brihma and Ekka Saka. Though the new version of Koti Chennaya was made and released this year it made less impact than the original. Koti and Chennaya were twin brothers and heroes of Tulu Nadu and their story is beautifully depicted in the film. Other films which worth mention are : Pagetha Puge, Beesaththi Babu, Tudar, Badkada Bile, Mari Bale, Bollidota, Sathya Olundu, Dareda Budedi, Kaasdaaye Kandani, Yer Malthina Thappu. K N Taylor is the prominent name associated with Tulu films with the films he made. More recently, in the 90's, one film which was huge hit and run successfully in Bangalore too was Bangar Patler starring Kannada actress Sudharani. It also won national award for the best film. It ran for 107 days in Jyothi Talkies in Mangalore.

Another film which made in the 90's was September 8, directed by Richard Castelino, starring Kannada actor Sunil and Kannada writer, Dr. K Shivaram Karanth. The film was shot in 24 hours (One complete day from 6 AM to next morning 5 AM on September 8th - to be exact 23 and half hours) entirely in Mangalore, a record in the world cinema. 9 Cameras with 9 units were used for the completion of the film in the given time.

To mark the 35th year of Tulu cinema a programme was held in Mangalore on Friday, August 25. Kannada actress Jayamala inaugurated the programme and music director V Manohar inaugurated the 7 day long Tulu film festival. Jayamala expressed her desire to make a film on Abbakka, the queen of Tulu Nadu who faught bravely against the Portuguese.

Last year some 7 Tulu films were announced. Some of them had theatre artists like Naveen D Padil who has already made a name for himself with his Tulu dramas like Pudar Deethiji, Nervous Narayane, Oriyardori Asal. Hope to see more and more Tulu films hit the screens in the near future.

A scene from Kadala Mage

Updates : 20th January 2008 : Kadala Mage was released in 2006 and went on to become a hit and had Diganth (of Mungaaru Male and now Gaalipata fame) in a lead role. Diganth hails from Theerthahalli, Shivamogga/Shimoga.

Updates : 02nd May 2008 : Birse starring Tulu drama veteran, Naveen D Padil was released on 11th April 2008 in Prabhath Talkies, Mangalore. You can read the review of the movie here.

Regards,
Raveesh


References :
- mangalorecity.com
- mangalorean.com
- daijiworld.com

14 comments:

  1. nicely written, thanks for refreshing my memory regarding tulu cinema.
    continue your good work, post more and more

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Pavan,

    Thanks for the comments and encouragement.

    ReplyDelete
  3. tulu barpujji (makes sense? I'm trying to say I don't know Tulu)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Nidhi,

    Tulu barpuje(dont know Tulu). Apanda Kalpule(then learn).

    Raveesh

    ReplyDelete
  5. hey any idea where i can get the songs? Any CDs available in the market?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi,

    No idea about the old Tulu film songs, where you can get that.
    but new film starring Tulu drama veteran Naveen D Padil, "BIRSE" is set to release end of this year. I think you should be able to get the audio cassetes/CDs of this in major music stores

    Raveesh

    ReplyDelete
  7. nice review.
    hi guys, you can get 'Suddha' movie from www.IndieFlix.com. It is only 9$. I have ordered one.

    ReplyDelete
  8. One of the actors of ` UDALTHA TUDAR' film Mr. Shripathi Champa is now settled in Mumbai working as an assistant editor of `Karnataka Malla ' a kannada news paper published in Mumbai. Mr.Champa who hails from Hejamadi is a versatile actor as well as a good writer.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hi Anonymous,

    I was not aware of Mr.Sripathgi Champa. Thanks for the info.

    ReplyDelete
  10. hey can you tell me from where i can get the Koti chennaya movie from??

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hi Puja,

    You mean the new Koti Chennaya movie, right? That should be available in leading book stores/CD shops in Mangalore/Bangalore.

    ReplyDelete
  12. namaskara, i want buy tulu drama cds any idea for ....and plz inform about online store to buy this cds

    ReplyDelete
  13. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNeWr5xS1u-iR1sdFpXqpeA

    Here you can watch tulu movies

    ReplyDelete

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