The story of Bhishma, whom some consider the best character in the epic The Mahabharatha , was made into a film around 10 times since the Silent Era. The first silent version was produced and directed in 1921 by the now forgotten Indian film pioneer R. Prakash (then known as R. Suryaprakash or R.S. Prakash). In 1922, two silent versions were made, and a few of the versions had the title Bhishma Pratigna (Bhishma’s Vow). Interestingly, the first talking picture version was made in Tamil in 1936 by Parshwanath Yeshwant Altekar. A sound engineer-turned-noted filmmaker of his era, he directed quite a few Tamil films, and this was one of them. This film too had two titles — Bhishma and Bhishma Pratignai . The songbook, however, carries the title Bhishma .
In 1937, the first Hindi version was made. A Bengali version was made in 1942. In Telugu, it was first made in 1944 by Chithrapu Narayanamurthi and produced by Raja Saheb of Mirzapuram with noted stage and screen actor Gowrinatha Sastri and Krishnaveni. It was made again in 1962. This version was directed by B.A. Subba Rao, with N.T. Rama Rao and Anjali Devi in the lead. Yet another Hindi version was made in 1950 as Bhishma Pratigna . It is clear that the story of ‘the Grand Old Man of Mahabharatham’, as an Indian filmmaker described him, has been extremely popular.
A few years ago, Bhishma became an icon and cult figure of the Indian mass media, thanks to the mega television serial
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