K. V. Reddy's 'Maya Bazaar' has been voted as the 'Greatest Indian Film' in an online poll conducted by a television news channel. The poll was conducted to find out India's greatest film till date, on the occasion of 100 Years of Indian Cinema and people chose 'Maya Bazaar' over other Indian classics. The film is considered one of the enduring classics of Indian cinema and was christened as a landmark achievement in Indian film's cinematography, art direction and VFX with the available technology during that time. The following is a review on the film when it celebrated the Golden Jubilee in 2007..
The Maya Bazar ForeverFifty years ago, director K.V. Reddy or for that matter, producers Nagireddy and
Chakrapani, would not have
imagined what they were unleashing
when they decided to make Maya
Bazaar- a bilingual in Telugu and
Tamil.
The finished product hit the
screen in 1957 to become a
landmark movie in the Telugu film
industry. It became a hit not only
for the sterling performances of
the star-ensemble that it had right
from S.V. Ranga Rao, Savitri, NTR,
ANR, and Gummadi, but also
because K.V. Reddy was in full
control over every frame of it.
There is little else one
could expect when all time greats like Marcus Bartley (cinematography), Ghantasala (music),
M.L.Vasantha Kumari, Leela, Suseela and Madhavapeddi (playback), Gokhale (art),
Pasumarthy(choreography) and Pitambaram(make-up) got together to weave magic around
an episode from Mahabharatha, Sasirekha Parinayam.
However, the greatness of Maya Bazaar, about which much is said and written, is
not just because of these facets alone