Kokila (1977 film)

Kokila is a 1977 Kannada-language romance film starring Kamal Haasan, Shoba playing the title character along with Roja Ramani and Mohan in other prominent roles. The film marked the directorial debut of Balu Mahendra, who was a cinematographer working predominantly in South Indian films then. The film was successful upon release in Karnataka and its neighbouring states, becoming the first Kannada film to be screened for 100 days in Madras (now Chennai). Kokila was remade into Malayalam as Oomakkuyil and in Hindi as Aur Ek Prem Kahani both by Mahendra himself in 1983 and 1996. Mahendra won the National Film Award for Best Cinematography and Karnataka State Film Award for Best Screenplay.

Kokila
Poster of the film
Directed byBalu Mahendra
Produced byT. Mocham Fernando
Written byBalu Mahendra
Starring
Music bySalil Chaudhary
CinematographyBalu Mahendra
Edited byUmesh Kulkarni
Distributed byG.N. Films
Release date
  • 7 October 1977 (1977-10-07)
Running time
140 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageKannada

Plot

Kokila (Shoba), a medical college student lives with her father, an engineer and her mother in a home in Bangalore. A house maid (Roja Ramani) who is very close to the family also lives with them. As Kokila's father travels a lot and his wife suffering from health problems, they decide to keep a paying guest. Vijayakumar (Kamal Haasan), a bank executive comes and lives in the household as a paying guest. Kokila and Vijayakumar fall in love and plan to get married with the consent of her parents. In the meanwhile, suddenly one night Vijayakumar and the house maid are alone in the home. They both end up making love, and Kokila after her return remains unaware about this incident, though the maid is well aware of Kokila's affair with Vijay. Vijay, however, forgets the maid and continues to live with his normal love for Kokila. Suddenly, one day while Kokila is away on a college tour, Vijay gets to know that the maid is pregnant. Baskar suggests the maid that the child be aborted. The dejected maid leaves the house. When Kokila returns from the tour realise both Vijay and the maid missing. She is informed by her mother that Vijay has vacated the room, and makes several unsuccessful attempts to find the whereabouts of Vijay. After a three years, Kokila meets Vijay accidentally, in a village where she is posted as a doctor. At the point in time, she gets to know that Vijay and her maid got married and have a child named "Kokila".

Cast

Production

Kokila was the directorial debut of Balu Mahendra,[1] who was one of the leading cinematographers in South Indian cinema at the time.[2] The film also marked the debut of Mohan, who would go on to establish himself as a successful actor in the Tamil cinema. People from five different industries worked in the film; Kamal Haasan and Balu Mahendra (Tamil), Roja Ramani (Telugu), Mohan (Kannada), Shoba (Malayalam) and Salil Choudhry (Bengali). None of them except Mohan knew the Kannada language.[3] Despite not knowing Kannada at that time, Kamal dubbed in his own voice.[4] Mohan was a student of "Benaka", a drama troupe run by Kannada director B. V. Karanth. Mohan was acting in a play named Sidhathe alongside G. V. Iyer and Girish Karnad and he was asked to send his photograph to Mahendra who was in search of new actors for his directorial venture. Subsequently, Mohan was offered a role in the film where he played Kamal's friend.[5] According to Kamal, the film was made in Kannada, rather than Tamil, because during that time, "it was felt that the Tamil audience would not accept 'different' films".[6]

Reception

Kokila was released in theatres on 7 October 1977.[7] The film was screened at the International Film Festival of India then known as "Filmotsav78" in Madras (now Chennai).[8] Kokila was a box-office success not only in Karnataka, but also in the neighbouring state of Tamil Nadu. In 1980, it became the first Kannada film to have a 100-day run in Chennai.[8] The film was released in its original language without being dubbed to Tamil, three years after the release, and ran for more than 140 days in Chennai, a record for a Kannada film in Tamil Nadu.[8] Mohan became popularly known as "Kokila Mohan" after the film's success.[9] Mahendra later remade the film in Malayalam as Oomakkuyil (1983) and in Hindi as Aur Ek Prem Kahani (1996).[10] In 2008, film critic and cartoonist Madhan said, "When I saw the movie, I was stunned. It was such a beautiful movie, up there in the league of Truffaut and his The 400 Blows."[11]

Accolades
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References
  1. Jayaraman, Gayatri (30 September 2011). "Silk Route". Mint. Archived from the original on 16 April 2015. Retrieved 11 May 2013.
  2. Warrier, Shobha (4 March 2003). "Julie Ganapathy was a big risk". Rediff.com. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 11 May 2013.
  3. "வரலாற்றுச்சுவடுகள் – திரைப்பட வரலாறு 1002 – கமலுடன் 4 மொழிகளில் நடித்த ரோஜாரமணி". Dina Thanthi (in Tamil). 4 September 2008.
  4. Venkatesh, R. G. [@rgvenkateshgnfi] (14 February 2018). "The specialty is @ikamalhaasan #Kamal ji spoke Telugu & Tamil and in my film #Kokila in Kannada no dubbing it was original voice of #KH 2/3" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 28 March 2018. Retrieved 28 March 2018 – via Twitter.
  5. Ashok Kumar, S. R. (28 December 2007). "Mr. Simple is back". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 9 November 2012. Retrieved 11 May 2013.
  6. Swaminathan, Roopa (2003). Kamalahasan, the consummate actor. Rupa & Co. p. 21.
  7. "'பாட்டுராஜா' மோகன் - 42". The Hindu Tamil. 8 October 2019. Archived from the original on 18 October 2019. Retrieved 18 October 2019.
  8. "வரலாற்றுச்சுவடுகள் – திரைப்பட வரலாறு 1022 – கமல்ஹாசனுக்கு நடிகர் ராஜ்குமார் புகழாரம்". Dina Thanthi (in Tamil). 2 October 2008.
  9. "Kokila was Balu's first as director". The Hindu. 14 February 2014. Archived from the original on 14 September 2017. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
  10. "Ilayaraja's 'Thumbi vaa' is hummed in 7 different ways!". Manorama. 9 May 2018. Archived from the original on 7 January 2019. Retrieved 7 January 2019.
  11. Madhan (29 February 2008). "Why I like... Kokila". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 28 March 2018. Retrieved 28 March 2018.
  12. "25th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 January 2017. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
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