…who is, soon after, found by a charioteer and his wife, who fish him out of the river and take him home.

Kunti is pure, but since no-one will believe that, she has had to let go of her baby. When a friend, hearing a baby’s cries from the fast-disappearing box, comes rushing up and asks questions, Kunti gives a tearful reply: this baby was bestowed on her as a result of a long period of devotion to Surya, the Sun God. Kunti weeps as she pushes the box away into the current and sees it carried away. The film begins with a young Kunti (KV Saroja) going down to the Ganga and placing her newborn son in an elaborate box, which also contains jewellery and a rich brocade sari. So here it is: what Karnan is about, and my thoughts on it. Kayyessee reminded me, too, that it had been a long time since I’d reviewed a regional language film.

The 1964 Tamil film, Karnan, with Sivaji Ganesan in the lead role. And, when I mentioned in that review that I found the reduced-to-almost-nothing character of Karna very disappointing (since I think of Karna as one of the most intriguing characters of the epic), another blog reader-kayyessee-recommended a film that might be of interest, since it focused on Karna.

When I posted my list of jewellery songs, blog reader Afsal posted a song from the 1965 Mahabharat-so I went and watched Mahabharat, and reviewed it. One post often leads to another on this blog.

Sivaji ganesan karnan songs