Amrapali

CBZ

Amrapali 1966

Amrapali is a 1966 historical Hindi film, directed by Lekh Tandon, starring Vyjayanthimala and Sunil Dutt as leads.

It was based on the life of Amrapali (Ambapali), the nagarvadhu (royal courtesan) of Vaishali, the capital of the Licchavi republic in ancient India around 500 BC and Ajatashatru, the king of the Magadha empire, who falls in love with her. Though he destroys Vaishali to get her, she in the meantime has been transformed by her encounter with Gautama Buddha, of whom she becomes a disciple and an Arahant herself. Her story finds mention in old Pali texts and Buddhist traditions.

The film was selected as the Indian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 39th Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee. Though the film wasn’t a commercial success, in time it started being seen as classic and is remembered not just for its dramatic cinematography of war scenes by Dwarka Divecha, and Bhanu Athaiya’s costumes for which she travelled to the Ajanta Caves, to seek references in Buddhist frescoes of the era, to create period costumes that subsequently became a template for costumes of that era, but also for the strong Anti-war sentiment, the film reveals in the end.

Cast

  • Vyjayanthimala – Amrapali
  • Sunil Dutt – Magadh Samrat Ajatashatru
  • Prem Nath – Senpati Veer of Magadh
  • Bipin Gupta – Vaishali’s Samrat
  • Gajanan Jagirdar – Kulpati Mahanam
  • K.N. Singh – Balbadra SIngh
  • Madhavi – Raj Nartaki
  • Mridula Rani – Raj Mata (Ajaat Shatru’s Mother)
  • Ruby Mayer – Vaishali’s Empress
  • Narendra Nath – Lord Buddha

In popular culture
A scene clipping from the film, was used in the Dhoom tana song dance sequence in film Om Shanti Om (2007), wherein Deepika Padukone dances as Vyjayantimala, who was digitally removed from the frames, as Deepika was playing the role of an actor of the 1970s.