Nagamandala

The story of the film was adapted from a play of the same name written by well-known writer Girish Karnad. The movie was directed by award-winning director T. S. Nagabharana, who is deemed to be one of the ace directors in Kannada film industry. Music was scored by C. Aswath and Srihari L. Khoday produced the movie.

The film touches one of the most sensitive issues of marital life. In folk style and form, the film throws open a question as to who is the husband – the person who marries an innocent girl and indulges in self pleasures or the person who gives the real and complete experience of life.

The film stars Prakash Raj, Vijayalakshmi, Mandya Ramesh, and B. Jayashri in prominent roles. The film is centered on three people, Appanna (Prakash Raj), his wife Rani (Vijayalakshmi) and Naga, a Cobra, who can assume the form of a human being (Prakash Raj).

The strong points of the movie remain the acting by the leading cast and an authentic portrayal and command on story by the director. The director has made some change to the original play.

The movie begins with Kurudamma (blind woman) and her son Kappanna visiting her nephew for a devi festival. There she sees his beautiful daughter Rani. She returns after the festivities, not before her nephew asks her to find a suitable match for Rani. Kurudamma feels Appanna is a right match but Kappanna disapproves saying that Appanna spends most night at the house of the prostitute Cheluvi. Kurudamma however pesters Appanna regularly for consenting to marry Rani. Finally Appanna gives in and marries Rani.

On their first night at Rani's maternal home, a timid Rani is taken aback by lusty & overbearing husband, she sleeps in a corner of the room. They return to Appanna's village where Rani confides her fear to Kurudamma who convinces Rani to win him over by teasing & playfulness. However that night she is again overcome by fear and locks herself in the pooja room. Appanna scolds her and leaves the house, locking the door from outside. He heads to Cheluvi's house.

Next day, Kurudamma comes there and is taken aback to see the door locked. She finally realizes that Rani is locked and with Kappanna's help talks to her over the window in one of the room. She gives Rani a small root & asks her to mix it with milk and give it to Appanna. Next day she does so & Appanna falls unconscious only to regain consciousness after a minute and leaves the house as usual. Again Kurudamma comes there and learns of Rani's failure and gives her a bigger root, saying that a sage gave it to her in return for her service. Kurudamma had tried it on her relative and Kappanna was thus born.

Rani tries to drug the milk, but it catches fire and Appanna arrives home at the same time and goes to bathe as usual. A terrified Rani pours it under a tree. The milk drains into an anthill under the tree. On seeing this Rani is further scared and returns home. Apparently the snake would have consumed the milk and it comes to her bed that night. a scared Rani locks herself up in the pooja room. The snake then assumes the form of Appanna and talks her out and consoles her and sleeps her on his lap and wins over her affection. The next morning the snake is gone & the real Appanna comes in and is surprised to see a cheerful Rani and scolds her. A perplexed Rani prepares food and Appanna leaves as usual (to the farm, followed by a drinking session with friends & Cheluvi's house at night). At night, a melancholic Rani is waiting near the door for Appanna and the snake arrives in Appanna's form behind her and startles her. She runs in fer to her room, but Appanna pacifies her and wins her over with smooth talk. They consummate their union that night. Next morning, the snake is gone as usual & Appanna arrives only to see a half naked Rani lying in bed with all the clothes & flowers lying around, as if after the marriage night. A suspicious Appanna bathes and goes away and talks about it in his gym. His teacher volunteers to keep a watch at Appanna's house that night. Meanwhile Rani tells Kurudamma about her success in consummating her marriage. However, Kurudamma is surprised when Kappanna says that the front door is locked from outside. This continues for a while.

The next night, Appanna's teacher is watching his door from outside. The snake appears as usual and is playing dice with Rani, when their voice is heard. The teacher bangs the door and shouts calling the man inside to come out. Appanna (snake) sends a scared Rani into the bedroom, while he slips out of the window (in the snake form) and bites the teacher. He comes back to Rani and tells her not to ask questions.

The next day Appanna and his friends are shocked to see their teacher dead. That night they come to the anthill with sticks and chases the snake. Rani sees a tired Appanna (snake) in her bed and nurses him. Meanwhile real Appanna is with Cheluvi, but his mind his puzzled with the happenings in his home. Next morning after the gym session Appanna arrives home and sees Rani lying half naked in bed. This continues for a few days. One night he decides to keep the door himself. That night the snake waits for him to leave. A frustrated Appanna unable to see anyone leaves to Cheluvi's house. Meanwhile, Rani realizes that she is pregnant. The snake comes back to Rani in Appanna's form and learns of her pregnancy and asks her to keep it a secret and not talk about it in the morning.

After a couple of days, Kurudamma and Kappanna learns of the pregnancy and rush to the gym to congratulate Appanna. A furious Appanna beats Kappanna and runs home. He beats Rani asking her who the father is. He pushes her out of the house creating a havoc, denying having slept with Rani. The elders pacify him and decide to call for a panchayat session that evening to investigate. A puzzled Rani locks herself inside the house to escape Appanna's beatings. That evening, the village gathers for the panchayat, when she is about to hold her hands in fire for a test. Some people in the crowd demand a more severe test - 'Naga divya' - holding a snake in the hand and swearing by the truth. Rani agrees to it. They all go to the anthill where Rani bows down and picks up a snake and declares that if she is pure, the snake would not harm her. This snake happens to be the very snake which would come to Rani. Thus Rani escapes unhurt and the village adores her.

Meanwhile Appanna is frustrated and goes away to Cheluvi. Even she tries to convince him of his wife's innocence but is stopped short. That night the snake appears as Appanna and is confronted by Rani in her house. Meanwhile the real Appanna arrives there unseen by Rani. But the snake realizes that and sends Rani to fetch milk. The snake takes its form and slithers away through the window. Appanna sees this and realizes that the snake had taken his form and was sleeping with Rani all these days. He goes to the anthill where the snake appears in Appanna's form and a fight ensures. When the snake is about to kill Appanna, he realizes that Rani's love has eliminated all the poison in him and spares Appanna. Appanna however beats the snake and throws him into the fire. The snake assumes his real form and dies.

After a few months, Appanna is a changed man who loves his wife. He is shown taking his heavily pregnant wife (who is oblivious to all the story so far) to a festival.

Rani is a young bride who is neglected by her indifferent and unfaithful husband, Appanna. Appanna spends most of his time with his concubine and comes home only for lunch. Rani is a typical wife who wants to win her husband’s affection by any means. In an attempt to do so, she decides to drug her husband with a love root, which she mixes in the milk. That milk is spilled on the nearby anthill and Naga, the cobra drinks it.

Naga, who can take the form of a human, is enchanted with her and begins to visit her every night in the guise of her husband. This changes Rani's life completely as she starts to experience the good things in life though she never knows that the person with her is not her husband, but the Naga.

Soon she becomes pregnant and breaks the news to Appanna. He immediately accuses her of adultery and says that he has not impregnated her. The issue is referred to the village Panchayat. Rani is then asked to prove her fidelity by putting her hand in the snake burrow and taking a vow that she has not committed adultery. (It is a popular belief that if any person lies holding the snake in their hand, they will be instantly killed by the snake God.)

Rani places her hand in the snake burrow and vows that she has never touched any male other than her husband and the Naga in the burrow. She is declared chaste by the village Panchayat. However, her husband is not ready to accept that she is pregnant with his child and decides to find out the truth by spying on the house at night. Appanna is shocked to see the Naga visiting Rani in his form, spending time with her and then leaving the house.

Appanna gets furious with the Naga and indulges in a fight with him. Eventually, the Naga dies in the fight. After this incident, Appanna realizes his mistake and accepts Rani along with the child she is carrying.

Karnataka State Awards

Second Best Film State Award
Best Supporting Actor and Actress Awards
Best Art Direction Award
Best Photography Award

Udaya Cine Awards

Best Film Award
Best Direction Award (T. S. Nagabharana)
Best Supporting Actor and Actress Awards (Mandya Ramesh and B. Jayashri)
Best Female Singer Awards (Sangeetha Katti)

Other Awards & Recognitions

Selected for Indian Panorama in the International Film Festival 1997
Filmfare Best Direction Award
Cine Express Best Director Award
Film Fans Association award
Exhibited in nineteen important centers in USA

Nagamandala is a movie based on folk tales spread in North Karnataka, India. The movie portrays lifestyle, food habits, and routine habits of medieval period in Karnataka. Snakes are considered sacred and are feared and worshipped. North Karnataka dialect is used for conversation. Supernatural elements play a central part in the film.

The film uses a magical folktale to reveal the complexity of human life. In particular, the film focuses on the folktale in the Indian context to reveal the social and individual relations. Some of the most complex issues dealt in the movie reflect the prevailing social stigmas of those times.

The film deals with intimate relationships between a man and a woman, and an Indian woman's desperation to win the affections of her husband in spite of the husband’s open infidelity. It also touches on the imposition to prove fidelity on married women while their husbands are not questioned about their extramarital affairs, and the village judicial system.

The music of the film was composed by C. Ashwath. All the 16 songs composed for this film have been written by Gopal Yagnik. The songs are rendered by popular Sugama Sangeetha singers.

The Shah Rukh Khan-Rani Mukherjee starrer Bollywood film Paheli has resemblances to the screenplay of Nagamandala.[5] Paheli’s director, Amol Palekar, was accused of plagiarizing the screenplay and story line from Nagamandala. However, Amol dismissed the accusation saying that Paheli was adapted from a short story Duvidha, written by Vijayadan Detha in Rajasthani language, which had earlier been adapted into the 1973 movie Duvidha.

• Nagamandala on IMDb 
• https://web.archive.org/web/20120206131155/http://www.iicdelhi.nic.in/iic2007/performance_nagamandala.html

Staged in Dublin Ireland by Imandala on 21st June 2014. Directed by T N Kumaradas. Cast: Basil Skaria, Jiby Kurien, Ishitha Sangra, Prince Angamaly & team.