<ul><li>Director: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premankur_Atorthy" class="extiw" title="w:Premankur Atorthy">Premankur Atorthy</a>;</li>
<li>Country: India; Year: 1941;</li>
<li>Language: Bengali;</li>
<li>Runtime: 113 min;</li>
<li>Color: Black and White;</li>
<li>Sound: Mono</li>
<li>Studio: Shri Bharatlaxmi Pictures</li>
<li>Producer: Baijanath Ladia;</li>
<li>Co-Director: Mani Sharma;</li>
<li>Writer: Jaladhar Chattopadhyay;</li>
<li>Cinematographer: Charles Creed, Bibhuti Das, V.V. Dante;</li>
<li>Editor: Sukumar Mukherjee, Sudhindra Pal;</li>
<li>Composer: Himangshu Dutta; Lyricist: Shailen Roy</li>
<li>Cast: Devidas Bannerjee, Durgadas Bannerjee, Ahindra Choudhury, Aruna Das, Prafulla Das, Chitra Devi, Jyotsna Gupta, Nabadwip Halder, Kamala Jharia, Kanaklata, Tulsi Lahiri, Nitish Mukherjee, Satya Mukherjee, Prabhadevi, Panna Rani, Bhumen Roy, Renuka Roy, Utpal Sen, Shobha Debi, Santosh Singha</li>
<li>Genre: Mythological, Comedy, Fantasy</li>
<li>Rating/Certificate: U;</li>
<li>Number of Reels: 13;</li>
<li>Format: 35 mm</li>
<li>IMDb ID: 0154182;</li></ul><ul><li>Plot: "Many on this earth are granted the favor of goddess Lakshmi, but how many among them can transform that favor into a boon to the collective humanity? Those who do not possess the discipline and strength of character to be able to carry the favor of gods forward find divine boon to be a curse in their life.</li></ul><p>King of Kalpa Nagar, Indranath, once lost his kingdom to the evil conspiracies of his uncle. While Indranath, along with his wife Kalyani, son Gopal and daughter Karuna, lived in dire poverty in a ramshackle hut, his faith in God remained steadfast. But this also was shaken when his only son became critically ill, while he had no money to afford treatment. At this moment of despondence, Indranath listened to the suggestions of his only well-wisher and spiritual master Omkarananda and started to pray for the favours of goddess Lakshmi.
</p><p>The sincere prayers of Indranath broke the peace of goddess Lakshmi's mind, and made her want to alleviate the sufferings of Indranath. Narayana asked her not to, since such suffering is essential to the development of true humanity. Narada, forever fond of strife, stoked the fire of difference of opinion between the divine couple further. Lakshmi did not listen to Narayana. She reinstated Indranath, now renamed as King Vastavesh, to his throne. To further help him, she enlisted the help of engineer god Viswakarma to her cause, and took human form as Rupasi, who was found and brought up as a daughter by Omkarananda.
</p><p>In the meanwhile, Narayana consulted with Narada, and decided to take human form as well to teach a lesson to goddess Lakshmi. Vishwakarma also secretly agreed to help them. Narayana also had a desire in his heart: to teach the modern men and women on earth a thing or two about romance!
</p><p>Soon, Lakshmi's boon started to change Indranath's life. Kalyani found her empty ceremonial box of Lakshmi suddenly brimming with gold guineas. Before they could fully take in the implications of this sudden reversal in fortune, the people of Kalpa Nagar came in with the prime minister of the state to anoint Indranath as the new king. Th moment Indranath became the king, his son Gopal passed away, which came as a severe blow to the couple. Then, on one hand came extraordinary riches, and on the other, terrible sadness. The son died,--soon the daughter passed away too. Kalayni went mad in grief. Following Lakshmi's plan, Vishwakarma came to Indranath in the alien form of the Master of Machines (Jantraraj) to modernize the state according to the standards of western technology. Vastavesh took him for a true friend and counselor. By the machinations of Jantraraj, Kalpanagar soon became the center of liberal education and industrial progress.
</p><p>In the meanwhile, Narada took the form of Virodhananda Thakur on earth, and Narayana became his son, Trivangatham. They started to live at the place of the pious widow Vilasi. On one hand--according to their plans--the son and the father began the game of libertarian romance with the modern college-going kids of Kalpanagar, whose perversion could have put the free love of Vrindavan to shame. On the other, the machines of Jantraraj began to oppress the populace of the state to dire servitude. Good fortunes blinded Vastavesh of his true calling. The entire state began to rebel against the oppression of Jantraraj. Royal priest Omkarananda was insulted by Vastavesh, after which, he began to mobilize the people against Jantraraj. He was soon branded a traitor to the state, and was arrested. This compelled Rupasi to appear before the king to ask for mercy for her adoptive father, Omkarananda. Mesmerized by the beauty of Rupasi, Vastavesh lost all sense of propriety in his attempts to have her for himself. When Omkarananda reminded him of the taboo nature of getting attracted to the daughter of one's master, Vastavesh ignored him, and ordered Omkarananda to hand her over to him within three days. To save Rupasi from the lust of vastavesh, Omkarananda besought Virodhananda to give shelter to Rupasi; the idea was that Trivanga will be married to her. When Omkarananda returned to the king after three days, the king was beside himself at not finding Rupasi by the side of him. Omkarananda was thrown into the dungeon, and his house was burned down by Vastavesh's soldiers.
</p><p>While queen Kalyani's insanity was getting worse day by day, Vastavesh was trying to drown his losses in liquor and in the seduction of court dancers. One day, the blind beggar Niranjan came to the royal palace to sing his songs with his daughter Shanti. Kalyani mistook Shanti to be her long lost daughter Karuna, and asked her attendants to bring her in. When one of her attendants, Nipunika, managed to bring Shanti in, Kalyani took her to be Karuna, and kept her captive to the palace. At the disappearance of Shanti, people of the state took it to be the result of the evil intentions of the Jantraraj, who was rumoured to have regularly sacrified children at a dam site. People invaded the royal palace to confront the king.
</p><p>At this critical moment, Viswakarma kept his promise to Narayana and Narada, and disappeared, which left Vastavesh despondent. At this juncture, Lakshmi in the form of Rupasi voluntarily came and gave herself up to Vastavesh, escorted by Narayana-cum-Trivanga himself in the guise of a brahmin. This infuriated Omkarananda, who tried to choke her to death. After rewarding Trivanga handsomely, Vastavesh tried to make love to Rupasi. She reminded Vastavesh of social norms as well as her duties as a king and a disciple, all of which fell into deaf ears. Cornered, she gave a dire warning to Vastavesh to not touch her, since she is Goddess Lakshmi in human form, and cannot be touched by a mere human. When Vastavesh ignored this warning and touched her, she disappeared into thin air, leaving the king blind.
</p>
How the love and devotion of queen Kalyani and the instructions of Omkarananda brought vision, prosperity, and divine favour back to Vastavesh is to be seen to be believed."
Premankur Atorthy
1941
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