Pournami (film)

Pournami is a 2006 Telugu language action musical dance film directed by Prabhu Deva and produced by M. S. Raju. The film stars Prabhas, Trisha, Charmy, Sindhu Tolani, and Rahul Dev. The music was composed by Devi Sri Prasad with editing by Krishna Reddy and cinematography by Venu. The film was released on 21 April 2006. The film has been dubbed into Tamil and Malayalam under the same name and into Hindi as Tridev: Pyar Ki Jung (2008). The film was partly inspired by the 2001 Brazilian film Behind the Sun starring Rodrigo Santoro, which itself was adapted from novel Broken April by Albanian author Ismail Kadare. Shooting locations included Virupaksha Temple, elephant stables, and Stepwell in Hampi.

In 1953 in a remote village in Andhra Pradesh, Subhramanyam (Chandra Mohan) is teaching dance to his daughter Pournami. He tells her a story of how in 1507, the village was suffering from a long drought. A woman (Veda Sastry) from a traditional family came forward to dance in the temple and ask Shiva to bless their village with rain. She danced continuously for seven days and nights until she died of exhaustion. Then it rained, and the drought ended. Since then, there has been a tradition in the village that a girl from that dancer's family, like Pournami's mother in 1951, should dance in Shiva's temple every twelve years on that auspicious day. Ten years later, in 1963, the villagers are expecting Pournami (Trisha) to dance. Unfortunately, eight months before the festival, she goes missing, and everybody thinks she eloped with someone. Then, everyone's attention turns to Pournami's younger sister, Chandrakala (Charmy), who they believe should dance, but Subhramanyam disagrees. Meanwhile, Chandrakala's stepmother (Manju Bhargavi) rents out their penthouse and courtyard, where Pournami used to dance, to Siva Kesava (Prabhas), a western style dance instructor. Pournami has not eloped, but her father sent her away to protect her from their zamindar, Veerabhadra (Rahul Dev), who wants to make Pournami his concubine. Fearing that the same fate might befall Chandrakala, he declines to teach her how to dance. Kesava shows a necklace to Subhramanyam, which shocks him, and then promises to protect her from the zamindar. At this, she begins her studies. Chandrakala falls in love with Kesava after he beats up a catcaller (Ajay), and Veerabhadra. When he does not reciprocate her feelings, Kesava reveals his past. In a flashback, he reveals that he and Pournami married and that she had sacrificed herself to save his life. Pournami told him her dying wish: her sister should dance in the temple to keep the tradition alive. He promised her that he would make it happen. After learning of her sister's fate, Chandrakala agrees to learn the dance with her father's blessing. Kesava promises them that he will protect her from Veerabhadra and saves her when Veerabhadra tries to abduct her. She tries hard and becomes a skilled dancer in a very short time. Finally, she performs ardently in the temple, and again, their village is blessed with rain. After some drama involving Veerabhadra's and Kesava's fiancée Mallika (Sindhu Tolani), Chandrakala and Kesava are engaged. After a few years, Kesava and Chandrakala marry and have a daughter named Pournami, who does not want to learn the dance. The film ends with Kesava narrating the tradition to the daughter in the temple.

The music and background score was composed by Devi Sri Prasad, and the lyrics were written by Sirivennela Sitaramasastri. The track 'Bharata Vedamuga' was set in raag Chandrakauns.

Ashok won the 2006 Nandi Award for Best Art Director for his work on Pournami.