Re: ChintaamaNi
Sudhakar Chelikani (sudha@spectre.med.yale.edu)
Thu, 11 Jul 1996 02:27:36 -0400 (EDT)
I greatly appreciate Sri. Srinivas' prompt reply to my post. As usual, he
astonishes and educates us with his supplements and answers.
I have a further question. If I remember correctly, rElangi played
the part of subbisetti in bhaanumati's chintaamaNi. Did he also star in
the earlier chintaamaNi? If so, what role did he play? I thought he made
his debut with paataLabhairavi (or was it padhmanaabham?). Regarding his
comment about bhaanumati taking liberties with the script, it is true.
In her version, chintaamaNi undergoes a transformation and becomes
virtuous.
Did 'eelapaata' raghuraamayya star in the earlier version?
Next, Sri. Sitaram's post: I hope I did not confuse you with references
to subbisetty and gireesam in the same breath. Gireesam is of course,
the protagonist of mahaakavi gurajaada's play kanyaaSulkam, widely
regarded as the greatest play ever written in telugu. Subbisetty, though
very engaging, cannot be compared with gireesam. He is eminently
forgettable beyond the setting of chintaamaNi.
RamaNamuurthi was supposed to have captured the essence of gireesam. I
can't vouch for it as I haven't seen him in that role. I have seen NTR in
the movie and was happy with his performance. However, many discerning
critics feel that he has not done complete justice. They feel that he was
more 'heroic', and less 'roguish', which is a violation of the drama's
spirit.
I have read the play and feel that some of the actors have come up with
sterling performances. The best was by agnihOtraavadhani (I don't
remember the actor's name), followed by CSR as raamappa panthulu,
and gOvindaraajula venkata subbaaravu as lubhdhaavaadhaanulu.
Regards,
Sudhakar.
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