Geetanjali

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Geethanjali is a 1989 Telugu romantic drama co-written and directed by Mani Ratnam, his only Telugu film, produced under Bhagyalakshmi Enterprises. Nagarjuna and Girija play two young people with terminal illnesses who fall in love, and Ilaiyaraaja composed the music. Released on 12 May 1989, it ran for over 100 days and won the National Film Award for Best Popular Film and six Nandi Awards, including Best Feature Film. It turned Nagarjuna into a romantic heartthrob and made Mani Ratnam a well-known name in Andhra Pradesh.

What the story is about

Prakash, a carefree new graduate, learns after a minor accident that he has terminal leukaemia and only months to live. Unable to bear his mother’s grief, he retreats to the family’s holiday home in misty Ooty. There he runs into Geethanjali, a mischievous young woman who stages ghostly pranks to scare the locals, and the two begin with a battle of practical jokes. Prakash then discovers that Geethanjali has a serious heart condition of her own, yet lives every day with joy. What her outlook means to him, and what happens when she learns his secret, is the story the film tells.

Cast

• Nagarjuna as Prakash
• Girija as Geethanjali (voice dubbed by Rohini)
• Vijayakumar as Geethanjali’s father, a cardiologist
• Vijayachander and Sumithra as Prakash’s parents
• Chandra Mohan and Sowcar Janaki in special appearances; Silk Smitha in the song “Jagada Jagada”

How it was made

Nagarjuna, an admirer of Mani Ratnam’s Mouna Ragam (1986), waited outside the director’s house for his morning walks for a month before persuading him to make a Telugu film. Ratnam named the film and its heroine after an 11-year-old Delhi girl with cancer whose diary entries had moved him. He spotted Girija at his own wedding and had her train for two months. Rajasri, who had written the Telugu dubs of Ratnam’s Tamil films, wrote the dialogue. According to Telugucinema.com, the film cost about ₹1.2 crore. Shooting began on 12 October 1988 and took sixty working days, mostly in Ooty between dawn and late morning, with an ice machine brought from Madras to thicken the mist. P. C. Sreeram’s soft, poetic cinematography was widely praised; “O Priyaa, Priyaa” was shot in Jaisalmer with around 100 camels.

Music

Ilaiyaraaja’s soundtrack, with lyrics by Veturi, was a hit even before the film opened. Ratnam had the lyrics translated into English and was so impressed that Veturi became his lyricist for his later Telugu work. “O Priya Priya”, “Aamani Paadave” and “O Papa Laali” remain popular, and the Tamil “O Papa Laali” turns up decades later in Thiruchitrambalam (2022).

Release and box office

Because distributors were sceptical, producer Praveen Kumar Reddy released the film himself in some areas. It opened on 12 May 1989 and ran for over 100 days. A Tamil-dubbed version, Idhayathai Thirudathe, released on 5 July 1989 and also succeeded, and the film was dubbed into Malayalam and unofficially remade in Hindi as Yaad Rakhegi Duniya (1992). No box-office total is given in the cited sources.

Legacy

Geethanjali, followed five months later by Shiva, marked a turning point for Nagarjuna, winning him a large female following and appeal with both class and mass audiences. Girija’s costumes and Nagarjuna’s hairstyle became trends. A line added to the climax at the suggestion of the president of Nagarjuna’s fan association, “No one knows how many days they will live, but they will live those remaining days happily”, became one of the film’s best-remembered moments.

Where to watch Geethanjali

We do not have a confirmed streaming platform for the 1989 Geethanjali on file. The OTT details on this page will be updated when a platform’s own listing confirms it.

Sources: the Wikipedia article on Geethanjali (1989) and the retrospectives it cites, linked above; Wikidata; our own cast and crew records.