The demise of legendary singer SP Balasubrahmanyam on September 25 left an indelible void in the film industry. An accomplished playback singer, he also acted in significant roles in over 70 films in various languages in his career. One of the best movies in his acting career is undoubtedly the 2012 Telugu movie Mithunam, in which he shared screen space with veteran actor Lakshmi. The film went on to become a huge hit, and the latest is that it is all set to be dubbed in Kannada. Titled Mithuna in Kannada, the film is expected to be released all over Karnataka next month.
Mithunam was based on a novel penned by Sri Ramana and was made by well-known director, actor and writer Tanikella Bharani. It was bankrolled by Anand Muyida Rao, who has now decided to release the dubbed Kannada version. At present, the dubbing process is going on at a studio that belongs to Gururaj of Sound of Music. Chikkaballapur Varada Raju has been roped in to pen the dialogues and lyrics for the Kannada version.
While the entire film was based only on the two characters played by SPB and Lakshmi, a voiceover was given by Mohana Krishna Indraganti. The soundtrack of the film consisted of five songs, of which SPB rendered the song ‘Aavakaya Mana Andarid’ which went to become a chartbuster. Swara Veenapani scored music for Mithunam with Rajendra Prasad Tanikella handling the cinematography and SB Udhav doing the editing. The screenplay for the movie was penned by Tanikella Bharani, Jonna Vithula and Anand Muyida Rao.
Mithunam also went on to win four Nandi Awards – Best Feature Film – Bronze, Special Jury Award: SP Balasubrahmanyam, Special Jury Award: Lakshmi and Best Dialogue Writer: Tanikella Bharani.
SPB made his acting debut with the 1969 release Pellante Noorella Panta and went on to act in all the four south Indian languages. He was last seen in a cameo appearance in the Telugu movie Devadas. It was an action comedy directed by Sriram Adittya and produced by C Ashwini Dutt under the banner Vyjayanthi Movies. The film had Nagarjuna Akkineni, Nani, Aakanksha Singh and Rashmika Mandanna in the lead roles. The technical crew of Devadas included Mani Sharma for music, Shamdat for cinematography and Prawin Pudi for editing.
SPB, one of the best singers that the country ever produced, had won six National Film Awards for Best Male Playback Singer in different languages, including Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Hindi. He also has to his credit 25 Nandi Awards for his work in Telugu cinema, in addition to state awards from the Karnataka and Tamil Nadu governments. His demise left the film fraternity and his fans in deep shock.
(Content provided by Digital Native)