Plot.

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. G.S.Bhaskar, and his work is a visual thunder in this movie. Especially the night scenes & interior scenes are spellbounded. Bhaskar is a famous technician; he used contrast lighting in this movie, that clearly gave the touch of folk life in every frame.

Where to Watch.

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Cast & Crew.

Prakash Raj

Mandya Ramesh

Vijayalakshmi

Jayashree B.

Vanitha Vasu

Chelvi

G.S. Bhaskar

Director of Photography

Annapurnamma

Actress

Girish Karnad

Writer

Rajkumar Kasireddy

Actor

C. Ashwath

Music

T. S. Nagabharana

Director

Dinesh Mangaluru

Actor

Shanthamma

(as: B. Shanthamma)

Shri Hari Khoday L

Producer

Suresh Urs

Editor

Details.

Release Date
January 1, 1997

Status
Released

Genres
Drama

Last updated: 2025-02-09

Wiki.

Nagamandala (lit. 'Nāga Mandala'; transl. Serpent Ritual) is a 1997 Indian Kannada-language drama film, directed by T. S. Nagabharana and written by Girish Karnad. Produced by Srihari L. Khoday with music by C. Aswath, It is an adaptation of a 1988 play by Karnad with the same name which is based on a local folk tale and ritual. It stars Prakash Raj and Vijayalakshmi in the lead roles. The film depicts a romantic plot between a woman and a snake in the disguise of her uncaring husband.

The film, upon release, went on to win many prestigious awards for its content and screen adaptation. The soundtrack, consisting of 15 tracks, tuned by C. Ashwath became very popular for the folksy touch. Vijayalakshmi won Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Kannada for her performance in this film.

Karnad's play has been compared with Vijaydan Detha's 1970s Rajasthani folkloric short story Duvidha which has a similar plotline and has also been cited as a source for this film. Detha's story was adapted into a 1973 film with the same name, which was later remade into the 2005 film Paheli (reportedly also inspired by this film).

It was selected for the Indian Panorama section at the 28th International Film Festival of India in 1997.