BHAKTA MEERA FEATURE FILM
Meera is a 1945 Indian Tamil-language historical musical film directed by Ellis R. Dungan, produced by T. Sadasivam and written by Kalki Krishnamurthy. Based on the life of the 16th century mystic and poet Mirabai, the film stars M. S. Subbulakshmi as the eponymous character, a zealous devotee of Krishna, who considers him to be her husband. Despite marrying Rana (Chittoor Nagayya), she follows her own way of living, which is unacceptable to her husband and his family.
Meera was released on 3 November 1945, Diwali day, and became a major critical and commercial success. This led to the production of a Hindi-dubbed version, which had a few scenes reshot, that was released two years later on 21 November and also achieved success. Despite the Hindi version making Subbulakshmi a national celebrity, it would be her last film as an actress, after which she decided to focus solely on her musical career.
Meera, also known as Meera Bai or Mirabai (1498–1547) was a great poet and an ardent devotee of Lord Krishna. Meera was born into a Rajput royal family in Rajasthan, India. Most legends mention her devotion to Lord Krishna, and she was hated by her in-laws for her religious devotion. Though Meera bai has written lot of poems in praise of Lord Krishna, only few of her poems were preserved. These poems are commonly known as bhajans.
According to ancient records, it is known that Meera unwillingly married Bhoj Raj, the crown prince of Mewar, in 1516. Her husband was died in 1521. Due to the dislike of her bhakti with Lord Krishna, her in-laws tried to kill her several times by poisoning, but she was not harmed due to the grace of Lord Krishna. Mira Bai left the kingdom of Mewar, and went on pilgrimages. In her last years, Meera lived in Dwarka or Vrindavan, where legends state she miraculously disappeared by merging into an idol of Krishna in 1547.
“MEERA SRI KRISHNA MURARI”
COMPILED BY
R. HARISHANKAR