Tene Manasulu (1965)

Interesting facts

Thene Manasulu is a 1965 Indian Telugu-language romance film directed by Adurthi Subba Rao and produced by C. Sundaram under the Babu Movies banner. The film stars Krishna, Ram Mohan, Sukanya, and Sandhya Rani in lead roles. Notably, it was the first Telugu social film to be shot entirely in colour. The story was based on the novel Vakrinchina Saralarekhalu by K. R. K. Mohan.

Production

In the mid-1960s, director Adurthi Subba Rao wanted to make a film with newcomers as the stars. It was decided to adapt K. R. K. Mohan's novel Vakrinchina Sarala Rekhalu with the title Thene Manasulu. The film was produced by C. Sundaram under Babu Movies, Mullapudi Venkata Ramana was hired as the screenwriter and K. Viswanath as associate director. Viswanath also worked as the dialogue writer alongside Aatreya. Cinematography was handled by P.

Babu Movies released an advertisement saying the film required newcomers in the lead, and thousands of aspiring actors auditioned. Hema Malini and J. Jayalalithaa, not yet the stars of Hindi and Tamil cinema they would later become, were among those who auditioned, but both were rejected. Krishnam Raju too was an unsuccessful contender.

Krishna and Rammohan were selected from thousands of applicants to play the two male leads. Sukanya and Sandhyarani, hailing from Rajahmundry and Vijayawada respectively, were cast as the female leads. This was Krishna's first film in a major role, after he appeared as an extra in the 1962 releases Padandi Munduku and Kula Gotralu. Krishna's remuneration for the film was ₹2,000.

Adurthi Subba Rao, known for directing films with established stars, took on the challenge of working with newcomers. The actors were rigorously trained in dialogue delivery by K. Viswanath, while Hiralal coached them in dance sequences. Voice training sessions were held on the beach to help the cast project their voices more effectively.

Principal photography began at Sarathi Studios, Hyderabad. The film was initially planned to be in black-and-white, but after seven to eight reels were shot, Adurthi decided to reshoot the entire film in Eastmancolor. Thene Manasulu thus became the first Telugu social film to be shot completely in colour.

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