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Karnan/Karna/Daanveer? Karna
1964 177’[Ta]/187’[Te] col Tamil/Telugu/Hindi? d/p B.R. Panthulu pc Padmini Pics sc A.S. Nagarajan dial Sakthi Krishnaswamy lyr Kannadasan c V. Ramamurthy m Vishwanathan-Ramamurthy lp Sivaji Ganesan, N.T. Rama Rao, Savitri, Devika, M.V. Rajamma, Sandhya, Jawar Seetaraman, Ashokan, Muthuraman The big-budget follow-up to Panthulu’s multilingual Ganesan hit Veerapandiya
Kattaboman (1959) tells the tragic Mahabharata tale of Karnan (Ganesan), Kunti’s (Rajamma) eldest son, known for his charitable nature and archery expertise. Although a brother of the Pandavas, he remains faithful to Duryodhana (Ashokan) who raised him and fights his kinfolk until Krishna (NTR) overcomes him. Savitri played Duryodhan’s wife, Devika played Karnan’s wife Shubhangi while Muthuraman played Arjuna. Shot with three camera units at Jaipur, the massive action scenes such as the Kurukshetra battle required the participation of the 61st Cavalry, 80 elephants and 400 horses. Tamil and Telugu stars Ganesan and NTR had worked together in K. Somu’s hit mythological Sampoorna Ramayanam (1958). The film is also known for Kannadasan’s remarkable condensation of the Bhagavad Geeta into a poem of seven stanzas, considered one of his most accomplished lyrics.