Meera is a 1945 Indian Tamil-language historical musical film directed by Ellis R. Dungan, produced by T. Sadasivam and written by Kalki Krishnamurthy.
Based on the life of the 16th century mystic and poet Mirabai, the film stars M. S. Subbulakshmi as the eponymous character, a zealous devotee of Krishna, who considers him to be her husband.
This led to the production of a Hindi-dubbed version, which had a few scenes reshot, that was released two years later on 21 November and also achieved success.
Despite the Hindi version making Subbulakshmi a national celebrity, it would be her last film as an actress, after which she decided to focus solely on her musical career.
An overjoyed Meera remains in the temple most of the time, singing in praise of Krishna along with other devotees, and avoids staying at the palace.
Rana becomes angry when he learns of these developments and her disinterest in fulfilling her duties as a wife and queen; he orders the demolition of the temple using cannons so that she will leave.
[2] T. Sadasivam wanted to produce a film that would make his singer wife M. S. Subbulakshmi's music available to the average person, so he started looking for a good story.
He had several discussions with friends like Kalki Krishnamurthy and was of the opinion that if Subbulakshmi was to act in a film, it could not be a mass entertainer, but would need to carry a universal and uplifting message.
[3] Sadasivam decided to produce the film entirely on his own under the Chandraprabha Cinetone banner, and for the first time was not answerable to any financier, co-producer or co-partner.
In a 1990 interview he recalled, "I had met Sadasivam, and after discussions he told me that he would make arrangements for an advance payment and agreement, but I never heard from him again."
However, Krishnan was arrested in December 1944 as a suspect in the Lakshmikanthan murder case, and he was replaced by T. S. Durairaj, who portrayed Narendran; Madhuram did not remain on the project.
[11][12] Production began in 1944 at Newtone Studio in Madras, before moving to North India, particularly Rajasthan, for location shooting.
[3][13] According to filmmaker and historian Karan Bali, Dungan and Banerji "did a series of elaborate lighting tests on a specially created bust of [Subbulakshmi].
While filming the scene, Subbulakshmi accidentally hurt her head and fell unconscious; the crew barely rescued her from drowning.
She sang the most evocative bhajans on Krishna and wandered about like a minstrel followed by a host of devotees until she attained moksha – that magical moment when the enlightened soul unites with the eternal spirit.
[26] The distributors ran front-page advertisements to announce "the musical movie of your dreams" and specifically to inform all fans that the film's "song hits" available on HMV records.
[19] The film received rave reviews; The Free Press Journal said, "Meera transports us into a different world of bhakti, piety and melody.
"[28] However, the magazine Picturpost (15 November) was more critical, saying the Meera bhajans were not "too pleasing to hear", the film lacked conviction, and realism and was not emotional enough.
[13] The Hindi-dubbed version was released on 21 November 1947,[32] and achieved equal success, making Subbulakshmi a national celebrity.
Lord and Lady Mountbatten, Rajendra Prasad, Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit and Indira Gandhi attended the premiere as well.
[7][11] A reviewer from The Bombay Chronicle wrote: More than the story of the Queen of Mewar who preferred a heavenly to an earthly diadem it is the voice of the star singing her bhajans and padas that is the picture's chief attraction [...] Narendra Sharma's lyrics embellish this photoplay, the story of which is from the pen of Amritlal Nagar.
[37] The scene where young Meera transforms into her older self, and the transition is shown with the song, "Nandha Balaa En Manalaa..", became a milestone in Indian cinema for its filmmaking technique.