The factors that largely contribute to the success of a song are — the tune, the lyric, the efficiency of the singers and the quality of recording, besides the image and performance of the actors concerned. Not to forget the on-screen presentation of the song by technicians, such as the art director, the cameraman and the choreographer to name a few who are involved in the making of the movie. And the director who binds them together for an excellent team work. One such song that had a perfect combination of all these crafts was — Payanamaye priyathamaa nanu marachipokumaa — from Bharani Pictures, Laila Majnu (1949), produced and directed by P S Ramakrishna. The romantic saga of Laila and Khais alias Majnu was set in the 12th century and had originated from the Arabian Nights.
During his Bombay days, Ramakrishna Rao had seen actor- producer Nazir’s Hindi movie, Laila Majnu (1945) and was bowled over. After the runaway success of their first production, Rathnamala , Ramakrishna and his actress-wife Bhanumathi planned a screen adaptation of the popular romantic tale in Telugu and signed Samudrala Raghavacharya to write the script and lyrics and C R Subbaraman to compose its music.
C R Subbaraman
At that time Newtone Studios was also planning to produce a movie in Tamil on the subject and there was also a talk of releasing its dubbed version in Telugu. This made Ramakrishna hurry with his production. Vauhini Studios was still in its nascent stage of construction with just one floor and a recording theatre. Sets were erected steadfast. In between the studio floor and the recording theatre in the sprawling open space, art directors Goadgaonkar and K Nageswara Rao created an authentic looking desert set, laden with sand dunes, oasis, palm trees that looked exactly like the desert date trees and a pond. It was in this open set during the night that Ramakrishna and veteran choreographer Vedantam Raghavaiah filmed the song, O Priyathamaa.. payanamaye priyathamaa ... on the lead actors Akkineni Nageswara Rao and Bhanumathi.
The song
O Priyathamaa! / Payanamaye priyathamaa! / Nanu marachipokumaa / O priyathamaa.../ Karagunave thaarakaloo momu daache reraaju / Ragulune naa madilo / Yedo theerani baadhaa... priyathamaa / Payanamaye...
As Khais vents his angst, Laila travels in a palanquin accompanied by her maid Zora and a caravan of camels.
Wandering in the desert, Khais pours out his heart through the verse,
Vidhi baleeyamani telusoo / Telusu naaku nee manasoo / Tanuvulu verainaa /Tanuvulu verainaa mana manasokatene / O priyathamaa ...
Doora desamegedavo pendli koothuraa / Kanula neeru nimpakumaa / Sukhapadumaa neevaina / Priyathamaa...
As Khais renders these lines, tears roll down on a heartbroken Laila and the caravan moves on.
The scene
Laila (played by Bhanumathi), daughter of Amir Sarvaar ( Mukkamala), and Khais (ANR), son of Amir Umri (Arani Sathyanarayana), fall in love. Sarvaar who is against the alliance shifts his family to Mecca. Khais follows them to Mecca and roams in the streets uttering Laila’s name which makes people think he is as a lunatic. In order to save his son, Amir Umri pleads with his friend Sarvaar to perform his son’s marriage with Laila. Sarvaar agrees to the marriage after Khais proves himself as a sane person. It is then that the story takes a turn with the king of Iraq (C S R Anjaneyulu) expressing a wish to marry Laila. Sarvaar changes his mind and performs the marriage of Laila with the King. As she travels to her new home accompanied by her maid Zora (Surabhi Balasaraswathi), the forlorn lover Khais, also known as Majnu, wanders in the desert and renders the heart- wrenching song in the melancholic voice of Ghantasala.
Ghantasala
Apart from the haunting lyric and the tune that jelled with it, and the excellent set designing that created the right atmosphere for the given situation, credit also goes to the cinematographer who created the perfect mood for the viewer with his brilliant lighting and camera work. It was also the first independent venture for cinematographer B S Ranga. Earlier he was working as an assistant to famed cinematographer Jiten Bennerjee who had cranked the camera for Bharani’s first production, Rathnamala . Interestingly, K Viswanath too made his contribution to the film’s sound designing as an assistant to sound engineer V Srinivasa Raghavan.
At that time Akkineni Nageswara Rao was making a mark as a folklore hero. Some well wishers of Ramakrishna, including B N Reddi, cautioned him as he was signing a swashbuckling folk hero for a tragic role. ANR vindicated the faith Ramakrishna had in him with an exemplary performance, more so in the song, Payanamaye priyathamaa , thus marking the entry of a much talked about tragedy king of Telugu cinema.
