Reviews & Ratings for
శంకరాభరణం (1979)

Shankarabharam is the splendid brainchild of Telugu visionary director K. Vishwanath. As a typical style of the director, the film revolves around the arts. The well respected carnatic singer and widower, Shastri, happens to meet a prostitute's daughter, Tulasi, who is very inclined to the arts. Shastri, thrilled by her dedication and talent, gives her a good guidance. Things, however, go haywire, when Tulasi's mother wants her daughter to join her trade and gets a good price from a client for her. The deed is done, but the man discovers a photo of Shastri she kept in her room as a tribute to her Guru and talks foully about him. Unable to bear the insult, Tulasi kills the man and then has to undergo proceedings for the killing, while the lawyer is provided for by Shastri. Though she wins the case, the society carelessly associates Shastri and her immorally, due to which she leaves the place. Needless to say, with the advent of pop culture in India, the maestro's value depreciated, along with the value of traditional music.

Years later, her son joins the Shastri household and becomes the master's protegee. He learns the best of the craft from him. Meanwhile, Shastri's daughter's marriage is fixed and he decides to conduct a concert in honour of the occasion. The respect for the elderly master brings massive crowds to the concert, but Shastri suffers a heart attack in the middle of his singing. The song is quickly taken over by Tulasi's son and Tulasi watches with reverence. Shastri realizes instantly that the boy is none other than Tulasi's son and dies peacefully after symbolically accepting him as his heir to his music. Tulasi then runs and falls at her master's feet and dies too.

This story is beautiful tribute to the bond between teachers and students, where there are no ill intentions and complete surrender. The songs are very meaningful and have a lot of philosophical depth in them. Dedication is what shines trough this film. There is no comment to be made at the wonderful direction of the legend, Vishwanath and acting by the talented and expressive cast.
This movie is an iconic one and will always remain a gem in Indian cinema.