The story is based on the life of acclaimed saint poet Shishunala Sharif who wrote several moral poems striving towards social reformation.
The dialogues for this movie was written by Gopala Wajapayi, a well known theatre figure and translator of Bertolt Brecht's play The Caucasian Chalk Circle.
The film's cast comprised Sridhar in the title role along with Girish Karnad, Suman Ranganathan and H. G. Dattatreya, Hema Chaudhary among others.
Shocking both the Hindus and Muslims, he studied under the Hindu Guru Govinda Bhatta (Girish Karnad) and at the same time discovered that Vachana literature and the teaching of mystic saint Allama Prabhu.
Poverty and death of his wife (Suman Ranganathan) made him a wanderer and he toured the country singing his songs.