Tenali Ramakrishna is a 1956 Indian Telugu-language political drama film produced and directed by B. S. Ranga based on Ch.

Written by Samudrala Sr., Kannadasan, and Murugadasa, Tenali Ramakrishna narrates the story of the 16th century Telugu poet and scholar of the same name, and his life as a member of the court of Sri Krishnadevaraya, the king of the Vijayanagara Empire.

Using his wits, Ramakrishna manages to save Sri Krishnadevaraya from attacks by the Bahmani Sultanate, which tries to invade the Vijayanagara Empire.

The rest of the film is about Ramakrishna's efforts to save Sri Krishnadevaraya from courtesan Krishnasani, a spy, and convincing Emperor Babur against extending support to the Sultanate in the war.

Ramakrishna reaches Hampi and approaches Tatacharya, the royal priest of the Vijayanagara Empire, to find employment in the court of King Sri Krishnadevaraya.

The Deccan sultanates of Berar, Ahmednagar, Bidar, Bijapur, and Golconda—decide to wage a war on the Vijayanagara empire with united military forces.

The spy bribes the astrologer to influence Krishnadevaraya to postpone the war on Bijapur so they have time to make proper preparations.

Timmarusu and Ramakrishna learn that the Sultans are planning to take advantage of the King's inaccessibility and will soon launch a combined attack on Hampi.

Ramakrishna wishes to leave for Delhi to convince Emperor Babur not to send his elephantry to support the Sultanate in the war.

After the success of his first production venture Maa Gopi (1954), B. S. Ranga wished to produce and direct a historical film based on the life of the 16th century Telugu poet and scholar Tenali Ramakrishna, one of the Ashtadiggajas (a collective title given to the eight Telugu poets in the court of Krishnadevaraya, which literally translates as "eight great elephants").

Fearing it would fail to translate on-screen effectively, Samudrala and Kannadasan decided to incorporate political elements during the rule of Krishnadevaraya.

[3] While Samudrala focused on the administrative aspects of Krishnadevaraya, Kannadasan opted to "humanise" the king by writing scenes related to his personal life and preferences.

[1] Ranga cast Akkineni Nageswara Rao to play Ramakrishna in Telugu, with Sivaji Ganesan replacing him in the Tamil version.[2]N.

Initially uninterested, Bhanumathi accepted the offer because of Ranga's association as a cinematographer for the films produced by her production company Bharani Pictures.

[3][4] Vangara Venkata Subbaiah, Sandhya, R. Balasaraswathi Devi, Jamuna, Lakshmikantha, Venkumamba and Master Venkateshwar were cast in key supporting roles.

[1] The song "Chandana Charchita", an ashtapadi adapted from Gita Govinda written by the Sanskrit poet Jayadeva, was composed using the Mohanam raga.

A review dated 27 January 1956 in Swatantra said: "The songs help the film greatly, with all the singers performing very well, though the ones sung by Bhanumathi could have been much better [sic]".

[6] Zameen Raithu, in its review dated 10 February 1956, praised Samudrala for adapting Jayadeva's ashtapadi and other complicated poems and not "compromising" for the common audience to understand.

[4] Track listing All lyrics are written by Samudrala Sr.Tenali Ramakrishna was released on 12 January 1956,[8] with an approximate total length of 18,292 feet (5,575 m) in 20 reels, with a running time of 169 minutes.

[a][8] Due to technical issues, the film had a delayed theatrical release on 13 and 14 January 1956 in 13 centres across Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

[7] In its review dated 10 February 1956, Zamin Ryot wrote that Ranga has a great vision which cannot be ignored, and an eye for subtle and innuendo-free comedy, calling Samudrala's writing and screenplay praiseworthy.

[6] Zamin Ryot was very critical of the portrayal of Ramakrishna as a staunch Sri Vaishnavite, while he was a Telugu Shaivite Brahmin with the alternate name Ramalinga.

Unlike the original, the remake was a commercial failure[4] with critics specifying that the audience did not accept Ramakrishna dominating Krishnadevaraya throughout the film.