Anthuleni Katha

Anthuleni Katha/Antuleni Katha
Directed by	K. Balachander
Produced by	Rama Arannangal
Written by	K. Balachander; M.S. Perumallu; Acharya Atreya
Starring	Jayaprada; Rajinikanth; Phataphat Jayalaxmi; Sripriya
Music by	M.S.Viswanathan
Cinematography	B. S. Lokanath
Release date	27 February 1976
Running time	2 hours, 30 minutes
Language	Telugu

Anthuleni Katha also spelled as Antuleni Katha (English:Never Ending Story) is a 1976 Telugu film directed by K. Balachander starring Jayaprada in the lead role, with Rajinikanth, Sripriya and Phataphat Jayalaxmi in supporting roles. Kamal Haasan played an extended cameo. The film is a remake of the 1974 Tamil film Aval Oru Thodar Kathai which was also directed by Balachander. This is Jayaprada's first starring role, reprising the role played by Sujatha in the original and is considered to be one of her best films. This was also Rajinikanth's first major role. This film was shot in black-and-white.

Plot

Saritha (Jayaprada) is a working woman in a poor family. She works hard to support her widowed sister, unmarried sister, her blind younger brother, her mother, her drunkard brother Murthy (Rajinikanth) and his family. Her father abandons the family and becomes a saint. Her brother not only does not take responsibilities, but also creates additional problems for her.

She has a longtime boyfriend, who wants to marry her, but she doesn't because of her commitment to her family. His eyes now wander to Saritha's widowed younger sister (Sripriya) who reciprocates his feelings. Saritha, after reading her boyfriend's love letter to her sister, arranges for them to get married, thus giving up her chance of having a life with him. She eventually accepts a marriage proposal of her boss (Kamal Hassan), when she realizes that her brother has become responsible enough to take care of her family. She also helps her distressed friend, played by Phataphat Jayalaksmi to settle in life. She decides to resign from hard work, but could not as the result of turning point in a typical Balachandar style climax.

Original and remakes

The film is a remake of Tamil super hit film Aval Oru Thodar Kathai (1974), also directed by K. Balachander. It was also shot on black & white film. Jayaprada played the role of Sujata , Rajinikanth did the role of Jai Ganesh, Kamal Haasan played the role of Narayana Rao. Same tunes were used in both the languages. Sripriya, Phataphat Jayalaxmi and rest of the cast are same in both the versions. The Tamil film was later was dubbed into Malayalam as Aval Oru Thudarkatha (1975).

In 1977, Mala Sinha starred in the Bengali remake titled Kabita playing the Jayaprada role. Kamal Haasan made his Bengali film debut with this film by acting in the same role that he played in the Tamil original film. Bharat Shamsher directed the black-and-white film.

The film was remade in Hindi as Jeevan Dhaara (1982) by director Tatineni Rama Rao. Rekha did the role of Jayaprada. Raj Babbar did the role of Rajnikanth. Rakesh Roshan did the role of Kamal Haasan, Amol Palekar did the role of Narayana Rao. Karan Razdan did the conductor role, Simple Kapadia (sister of Dimple Kapadia) did Phataphat Jayalaxmi's role. The film was shot in color. The film was a decent hit.

In 1983, Balachander produced the Kannada remake titled Benkiyalli Aralida Hoovu directed by Chandulal Jain and starring Suhasini, whose real-life uncle Kamal Haasan played the guest role of a bus conductor in this remake. The film was shot in color.