Few Interesting and Unknown Facts of Puttanna and his films
Puttanna Kanagal, popularly called as " CHITRA BRAHMA" is considered as one of best film makers of not only Kannada Cinema , but of whole of Indian Cinema. A film maker who started as assistant to another Great personality, BR Panthalu, started assisting him from film
Ratnagiriya Rahsaya and finally become an Independent director by doing the Malyalam remake of BR Panthulu's great Kannada Movie School Master.
In this first series of this blog on Puttanna , let me touch upon some Interesting , Unique aspects
of him and his films, few of these facts might be known also, but this attempt is to bring all these bits and pieces of information in simple piece of Blog.
1)In his Carrer spanning a litte over 20 years ( 1964-1984 ), he made only 23 Films, starting from the highly acclaimed Belli Moda.
2)Out of these 23 films , 17 Films were based on Novels/ Story book, so he was the first to advocate use of stories by accomplished Known authors and converting these stories on to
the screen , adding his touch and uniqueness.
3)These 17 films , were based on books by 14 Different authors, which meant, that he did not
restrict himself to converting the stories of one or two specific authors.
4)Music was a very integral part of All Puttana films, so he was very keen that songs are used very meaningfully at each and every stage of any of his films, unlike many other films makers,who used to put songs as diversions or easy breaks in flow of the films.
5)Now for an interesting fact on his choice of Composers for his films, out of 23 Films, 16 Films were composed by One person, no marks for Guessing, Vijaya Bhaskar, 4 Films by Ranga Rao and one each by R Rathna ( Kappu Billipu ), Upendra Kumar ( Dharamsere),and TG Lingappa ( College Ranga) . So in all he used only 5 Composers across 23 Films.!!
6)Now, who all missed working with him, among Top composers of that time, three names comes to mind, Rajan Nagendra, GK Venkatesh and Sathyam . Reasons why these great composers did not work with him, is Unknown, but this remains the saddest part of the story.
7)His preference of Song Writers/ Lyricists were also limited, Most of times it was Vijaya Narasimha ( his combination with Vijaya Bhaskar for Puttana Films is legendary) , Followed by Kanagal Prabhkar Shastry . Few songs by RN Jayagopal in his initial films also, and very limited songs by the most famous lyricist of those times, Chi Udaya Shankar.
8)While on the topic of Songs writings, he was first one and very keen to use Poems written by our Great poets and using them as Songs in his films, right from his first film , Belli Moda
( Mudala Maneya by DR Bendre) , Again in Sharapanjara ( Uttara Dhruvadin.. by DR Bendre), Two songs by GS Shivarudrappa in Manasa Sarovara , (Vedanthi and Haadu haleya ) and in Dharani Mandala.. few songs by Dalita Kavi Siddalingiah ( Gelathi O Gelathi) and of course one song of great Saint Purandara Dasa in film Upasane ( Achara Villada Nallige)
9)Among the Singers, for male play back he preferred PBS in all his early films ( Until Nagarahaavu) and later switched over to SPB , after Haavina Dwesha became a Cult song , among female singers, since most of films were composed by Vijay Bhaskar, it was P Susheela initally and later Vani Jayram who sang most of the songs, but there were quiet a few by S Janaki also, and each of them were real gems. In fact Puttana is credited with reviving the carrers of few singers like BK Sumitra ( Sampige Mareda from Upasane), Kasturi Shnakar ( In Billi hendathi , Katha Sangama) and of course introduced a new singer thro Amruta Galige ( Hindustanu yendu mareyada) , BR Chaaya.
10)Most important aspect, the actors whom he Introduced to Kannada screen, the list is end less , Vajramuni, VishnuVardhana, Ambarish, Chandrashekar, Rajanikant ( for Kannada), Sridhar, Padma Vasanthi, Aparna, Jai Jagadish, .
11)Even Bigger will be list of actors whose carrers he rebuild, Kalpana, Aarti, Shivram, Gangadhar, Dherendra Gopal, Ramakrishna, Ashok, Rekha Rao,etc.
12)There were few popular actors of those times, who never got a chance to work with Puttana in their life, to mention, Uday Kumar, Manjula, Anant Nag, JayaMala , Shankar Nag . Even Bharati got a chance to work with after a wait of 15 years , in Runamukthalu .
13) The irony was, Vishnu Vardhana, who became famous thro his Nagarahaavu, could never work with him again. Same way , Rajkumar, did not work with him after Karulina Kare in 1970, and hence never got a chance to Sing in any Puttanna film too.
14)There are many prominent directors who started their life as Assistants to Puttanna and finally became Ace directors themselves, to mention a few, TS Nagabharna and BharatiRaja of Tamil Films. Even Ravi ( KSL Swamy ) is said to be his associate.
15)One last ironic fact, his first film should have been Savira Mettilu , which he started in 1967
but shelved it ( Starring Kalyan Kumar, Jayanti ), finally it was revived, modified and Completed by his Associate KSL Swamy ( Ravi) in 2006 . It was again Ravi who had completed the unfinished portions of Puttanas last movie, Masanada Hoovu.
Hope you liked this Small blog on this great man, please comment and feedback, in next article Will get into a very Tough task, selecting the best 10 or 15 Best Songs of Puttanna. Thanks for your time and encouragement.
Puttanna Kanagal, popularly called as " CHITRA BRAHMA" is considered as one of best film makers of not only Kannada Cinema , but of whole of Indian Cinema. A film maker who started as assistant to another Great personality, BR Panthalu, started assisting him from film
Ratnagiriya Rahsaya and finally become an Independent director by doing the Malyalam remake of BR Panthulu's great Kannada Movie School Master.
In this first series of this blog on Puttanna , let me touch upon some Interesting , Unique aspects
of him and his films, few of these facts might be known also, but this attempt is to bring all these bits and pieces of information in simple piece of Blog.
1)In his Carrer spanning a litte over 20 years ( 1964-1984 ), he made only 23 Films, starting from the highly acclaimed Belli Moda.
2)Out of these 23 films , 17 Films were based on Novels/ Story book, so he was the first to advocate use of stories by accomplished Known authors and converting these stories on to
the screen , adding his touch and uniqueness.
3)These 17 films , were based on books by 14 Different authors, which meant, that he did not
restrict himself to converting the stories of one or two specific authors.
4)Music was a very integral part of All Puttana films, so he was very keen that songs are used very meaningfully at each and every stage of any of his films, unlike many other films makers,who used to put songs as diversions or easy breaks in flow of the films.
5)Now for an interesting fact on his choice of Composers for his films, out of 23 Films, 16 Films were composed by One person, no marks for Guessing, Vijaya Bhaskar, 4 Films by Ranga Rao and one each by R Rathna ( Kappu Billipu ), Upendra Kumar ( Dharamsere),and TG Lingappa ( College Ranga) . So in all he used only 5 Composers across 23 Films.!!
6)Now, who all missed working with him, among Top composers of that time, three names comes to mind, Rajan Nagendra, GK Venkatesh and Sathyam . Reasons why these great composers did not work with him, is Unknown, but this remains the saddest part of the story.
7)His preference of Song Writers/ Lyricists were also limited, Most of times it was Vijaya Narasimha ( his combination with Vijaya Bhaskar for Puttana Films is legendary) , Followed by Kanagal Prabhkar Shastry . Few songs by RN Jayagopal in his initial films also, and very limited songs by the most famous lyricist of those times, Chi Udaya Shankar.
8)While on the topic of Songs writings, he was first one and very keen to use Poems written by our Great poets and using them as Songs in his films, right from his first film , Belli Moda
( Mudala Maneya by DR Bendre) , Again in Sharapanjara ( Uttara Dhruvadin.. by DR Bendre), Two songs by GS Shivarudrappa in Manasa Sarovara , (Vedanthi and Haadu haleya ) and in Dharani Mandala.. few songs by Dalita Kavi Siddalingiah ( Gelathi O Gelathi) and of course one song of great Saint Purandara Dasa in film Upasane ( Achara Villada Nallige)
9)Among the Singers, for male play back he preferred PBS in all his early films ( Until Nagarahaavu) and later switched over to SPB , after Haavina Dwesha became a Cult song , among female singers, since most of films were composed by Vijay Bhaskar, it was P Susheela initally and later Vani Jayram who sang most of the songs, but there were quiet a few by S Janaki also, and each of them were real gems. In fact Puttana is credited with reviving the carrers of few singers like BK Sumitra ( Sampige Mareda from Upasane), Kasturi Shnakar ( In Billi hendathi , Katha Sangama) and of course introduced a new singer thro Amruta Galige ( Hindustanu yendu mareyada) , BR Chaaya.
10)Most important aspect, the actors whom he Introduced to Kannada screen, the list is end less , Vajramuni, VishnuVardhana, Ambarish, Chandrashekar, Rajanikant ( for Kannada), Sridhar, Padma Vasanthi, Aparna, Jai Jagadish, .
11)Even Bigger will be list of actors whose carrers he rebuild, Kalpana, Aarti, Shivram, Gangadhar, Dherendra Gopal, Ramakrishna, Ashok, Rekha Rao,etc.
12)There were few popular actors of those times, who never got a chance to work with Puttana in their life, to mention, Uday Kumar, Manjula, Anant Nag, JayaMala , Shankar Nag . Even Bharati got a chance to work with after a wait of 15 years , in Runamukthalu .
13) The irony was, Vishnu Vardhana, who became famous thro his Nagarahaavu, could never work with him again. Same way , Rajkumar, did not work with him after Karulina Kare in 1970, and hence never got a chance to Sing in any Puttanna film too.
14)There are many prominent directors who started their life as Assistants to Puttanna and finally became Ace directors themselves, to mention a few, TS Nagabharna and BharatiRaja of Tamil Films. Even Ravi ( KSL Swamy ) is said to be his associate.
15)One last ironic fact, his first film should have been Savira Mettilu , which he started in 1967
but shelved it ( Starring Kalyan Kumar, Jayanti ), finally it was revived, modified and Completed by his Associate KSL Swamy ( Ravi) in 2006 . It was again Ravi who had completed the unfinished portions of Puttanas last movie, Masanada Hoovu.
Hope you liked this Small blog on this great man, please comment and feedback, in next article Will get into a very Tough task, selecting the best 10 or 15 Best Songs of Puttanna. Thanks for your time and encouragement.
Really good inputs, have info in parts and bit, but we are getting information which never head , thanks
ReplyDeleteVery interesting blog Nagendra . Learnt a lot about my favourite Director . I had the privilege of watching his movies as an youngster . As a family friend of my uncle , I was fortunate of actually seeing him directing one of the scenes in his last movie Masanadha Hoovu. I think it was in my PUC days. I was enamoured by his personality and the way he gave his 💯 to his movies
ReplyDeleteMost of them were- women - centric as per my observation. I also had the fortune to pay my last respects when he died at his residence. He is a great Legend that Kannada films has ever seen .
By the way Kanagal Prabhakar Shastry was his elder brother who used to tease him as being very stubborn and sometimes change the lyrics he would write .
🙏 Looking forward to your next article .
Good amount of information, Nagendra. Was not sakshaatkaara Dr Raj's last film with Puttanna ?
ReplyDeleteWell documented many unknown facts
ReplyDeleteKeep writing Nagi
Sakshatkara was his last film with Rajkumar. Uday Kumar acted in one film bili hendathi. One of his biggest contribution to cinema was introducing Arathi in a small role as Gangadhar's sister in Gejje Pooje. Sunderkrishna Urs was also his find who did a small role in Gejje Pooje. Musuri krishna murthy was another find through paduvarahalli pandavaru. Supporting actors have had major roles only in puttannas films like Ashwath in nagarahavu, Sitaram in Upasane, Rajanand in Ranganayaki, Leelavathi in Gejje Pooje. Actor Loknath I think was also introduced in Gejje Pooje
ReplyDeleteRamesh jois
ReplyDeleteThanks doctor for extra information and some corrections on my notes
Delete