Puttana and His World of Wonderful Cinemas

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.