LIFE AND TIMES OF LORD SRINIVASA ON EARTH

The tale of, and events leading thereto, the marriage of Lord Sri Venkateshwara (also Lord Srinivasa) with his consort, Goddess Padmavathi, makes for fascinating narration. The story, no doubt, makes for a riveting watch on the silver screen.

“ಶ್ರೀ ಶ್ರೀನಿವಾಸ ಕಲ್ಯಾಣ” (‘Sri Srinivasa Kalyana’, which translates to: ‘Welfare of Sri Srinivasa’) is a 1974 Kannada movie, which portrays the story of Lord Srinivasa. The mythological drama was a super hit at the box office; it was dubbed into Tamil as “Ezhumalaiyaan Darsanam”.

The story begins with rishis performing a yajna. Sage Narada (Srinath) visits the site of the yajna and asks the rishis about who they are looking to propitiate. Put in a quandary, the rishis entrust Bhrigu (Vajramuni) with the task of ascertaining the Supreme Being among the Trinity. After visiting Satyaloka and Kailasa, the respective abodes of Lord Brahma and Lord Shiva, Bhrigu infers that the former is unworthy of worship; he curses arrogantly the latter too.

Then in Vaikunta, Bhrigu finds Lord Vishnu (Rajkumar) resting with his consort, Goddess Lakshmi (B Saroja Devi). Bhrigu gets infuriated because Lord Vishnu is oblivious of his presence; so, he kicks the Lord on His chest. Woken up abruptly, the Lord apologizes profusely and massages the furious sage’s legs to pacify him and allay his pain. While doing so, the Lord plucks the eye on the sage’s foot, which is the source of the latter’s power and arrogance.

Devoid of his power, the sage begs the Lord’s forgiveness. He concludes that Lord Vishnu is the supreme among the Trinity. Nonetheless, Bhrigu’s vanity upsets Goddess Lakshmi, who deserts Vaikunta and descends to Earth in a mortal form.

Forlorn Lord Vishnu too begins His search for the Goddess on Earth. Thereafter, He falls in love with and weds Princess Padmavathi (Manjula). The rest of the film is about how the Lord appeases Goddess Lakshmi and gets her to return to Vaikunta. 

Director Vijay has put forth an enthralling story on screen, incredibly grand too. Despite the narrative dragging a bit at times, the story-telling has gripping dramatization with a fair amount of sentiment as garnish. The dialogues of Chi Udaya Shankar are sweet as sugar– they enhance the viewing pleasure.

Music compositions of the duo Rajan-Nagendra, set to lyrics of the literary virtuoso, Chi Udaya Shankar, are EXEMPLARY. Chittibabu’s camerawork is simplistic, yet captivating. The editorial essay could have perhaps been tighter and pacier. 

Dr. Rajkumar is perfection personified in his portrayal of Lord Vishnu. Manjula and B Saroja Devi have put forth SUPERB renditions. The rest of the cast, comprising of veterans like Vajramuni, Srinath, Thoogudeepa Srinivas, Sampath, M Jayashree and others, has lent able support. The movie marks the screen debuts, as child artistes, of Shiva and Raghavendra, both sons of Dr. Rajkumar.

I rate this mythological drama: 9.0 on 10!

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