Abba! A Hudgi

1959 190’ b&w Kannada d/s/lyr H.L.N. Simha pc Shri Jamuna Pics c B. Dorairaj m P. Kalingrao lp Raja Shankar, Mynavathi, Rajkumar, Leelavathi, Narasimhraju, B.R. Panthulu, M.V. Rajamma, Pandharibai, H.L.N. Simha, Dikki Madhava Rao

Taming of the Shrew-type drama. The feminist Sarasa, president of the Anti-Marriage League, is tamed by her lover Sarvottam with the assistance of an urban theatre group performing Samsara Nauka, one of 20th C. Kannada theatre’s most successful plays. The play, which deals with the reforming of a crusty lawyer, is adapted to stage a ‘real life’ fiction in which Sarvottam is accused of having murdered the theatre group’s proprietor. Fear of her lover going to the gallows transforms the woman, as predicted. For the film Simha revived the original stage performance of Samsara Nauka by the Chandrakala group, including Panthulu, Rajamma and Simha himself.

Film