31 Mar 1972 ● Kannada ● 2 hrs 54 mins
Cast: Bharathi Vishnuvardhan, Singanalluru Puttaswamayya Muthuraju
Crew: S Siddalingaiah (Director), DV Rajaram (Director of Photography), GK Venkatesh (Music Director)
Rating: U (India)
Release Dates: 31 Mar 1972 (India)
Kannada Name: ಬಂಗಾರದ ಮನುಷ್ಯ
Bangaarada Manushya is an Evergreen Masterpiece, and easily the best movie I ever saw and my all-time favorite. Dr. Rajkumar has combined the techniques of Classical acting and method acting to bring life to the character of Rajeeva and gave his career-best performance. T. N. Balakrishna has managed to do the same while bringing life into the character of Rachutappa. All other actors were outstanding in their given roles.
The narration technique used by Siddalingaiah is top-notch, and the screenplay which was written by Siddalingaiah is pretty impressive. The songs were outstanding and all of them are on my favorites list, especially the song Nagunagutha Nali, which was written by Honsur Krishnamurthy is my all-time favorite song. The song Aagadhu Yendu was written by R. N. Jayagopal, Aaha Mysooru Mallige song was written by Chi Udayashankar, and Hani Hanigoodidre song was written by Vijaya Narasimha, and Baala Bangaara Neenu song was written by Honsur Krishnamurthy again. The dialogues written by Honsur Krishnamurthy were fabulous. Background music from G. K. Venkatesh was excellent as usual. The cinematography from D. V. Rajaram was also fabulous. Comedy scenes involving T. N. Balakrishna and Dwarakish as the father-son duo were outstanding and there are a couple of fight scenes involving Dr. Rajkumar and M. P. Shankar which is pretty great. Fights and Stunts were composed by Y. Shivayya who has done an excellent job.
Bangaarada Manushya is a modern-day Bhagavad Gita as there are philosophical solutions to problems that man faces for instance in one dialogue Dr. Rajkumar says to Bharathi about the importance of duty over desire. The song Nagunagutha Nali teaches about being happy always. Both Philosophically and scientifically staying happy creates positive vibrations around you! The song Aagadhu Yendu teaches the importance of never giving up. We should work hard and find satisfaction in it is also the message conveyed to the audience.
Bangaarada Manushya also has economical solutions to problems people face today. Work-Life Balance in India is just 60% which is a low number. Less work-life balance will eventually lead to higher stress among people. Such people can go back to villages and start farming like the character Rajeeva did in the film 'Bangaarada Manushya' so Bangaarada Manushya does not apply just to farmers, it is a Universal Content. In Bangaarada Manushya, Rajeeva buys a huge piece of land with a Cooperative Farming scheme where he brought new land at a lesser cost with the help of taking a loan from Rachutappa effectively using economies of scale to earn a higher income. These are the reasons why Bangaarada Manushya is my favorite movie of All-Time! I have lost count of the number of times I have seen this epic cult film.