Sri Krishna Tulabharam story at a glance

There is a special importance for the character of Satya Bhama as far as mythological roles are concerned. Short Temper, Self Respect, Feeling taken aback, superiority feeling that she is very beautiful than any other woman, aggressiveness became her main traits which were described in epic books, thereby being adapted for stage plays. Jamuna is one unique actress who had all these traits reflected in her personality. She could express the feeling of being hurt in effortless manner and hence Telugu People saw a Satya Bhama in her. In one situation, it became her best portrayed role in her career.

Story Details:
Naarada (Kantha Rao) is known for creating arguments and rifts between people. Rightfully he gets the amazing parijata flower from the heavens to Lord Krishna (Sr.NTR). The latter gifts the flower to his first wife Rukmini Devi (Anjali Devi) which leads to lot of arguments. His second wife Satya Bhama (Jamuna) comes to know about this and gets furious on Lord Krishna. In order to appease her, Lord Krishna goes all the way to the heavens and confronts Lord Indra (Rajanala), takes off the parijata tree along with the roots and gets it for Satya Bhama. As a result, the pride in Satya Bhama increases tenfold. Despite being aware of this, Lord Krishna acts being innocent from outside and indirectly runs the story with Naarada. Naarada goes to Satya Bhama and tells her about a religious ritual where Lord Krishna has to be weighed along with gold and ornaments, and if that wealth is donated to the former, her husband will live a long life and becomes hers. Satya Bhama convinces Lord Krishna of this and starts weighing her husband’s weight with ornaments and gold. No matter how much weight is put, it doesn’t tally with Lord Krishna’s weight. Naarada finally puts Lord Krishna in bazaar for sale which leads to the end of Satya Bhama’s arrogance. She goes to Rukmini Devi, the embodiment of Goddess Lakshmi and requests her to save Lord Krishna. Rukmini comes for the rescue and she just puts a tulasi leaf in devotion on the balance and it weighs equally with Lord Krishna’s weight. The film ends on a good note with Satya Bhama realizing that god will recognize devotion and sincere prayers instead of materialistic things like gold.

Performances:
Sr.NTR is mesmerizing as Lord Krishna. He gives another career best performance in this film. Jamuna is fantastic in the role of Satya Bhama by bringing life to the role with her histrionics, body language and glamour. She looks like a million bucks in songs involving dominance and aggression. Anjali Devi is adequate as the mellowed Rukmini Devi. Kantha Rao is witty as Naarada and does full justice to the role. Raajanala is perfect as the arrogant Lord Indra.

Technical Aspects:
Samudrala Senior rewrote the story based on a stage play with the same name. He does a great job without losing the entertainment factor. Music by Pendyala is a huge lifeline for this mythological epic with songs like ‘Oho Mohana Roopa’, ‘Konumeedhe Kusumanjali’,’Meera Jaalagalada’, ‘Bhale Manchi Chauka Beramu’ and ‘O Cheli Kopama’ became all time hits. In fact this story was re enacted by Jamuna and Sr.NTR many times in order to collect funds for charity. Kamalakara Kameshwara Rao gives an eternal epic with great values along with fun moments.

Cast and Crew:

Lord Krishna- Sr.NTR                                                              

Satya Bhama- Jamuna

Rukmini Devi- Anjali Devi

Naarada- Kantha Rao

Lord Indra- Raajanala

Writtten by- Samudrala Senior

Lyrics- Samudrala Senior, Dasaradhi, Sri Sri, Chandhala Kesavadasu, Sthanam Narasimha Rao

Poems- Muttharaju Subbarao, Nandi Thimmana

Music- Pendyala

Producer- D.Ramanaidu

Direction- Kamalakara Kameshwara Rao

Banner- Suresh Productions

Release Date- 25^th August 1966