Jeevana Chaitra

<p>Rama Rao is a of Simhadri and its surrounding villages living with his wife Seetha and son Vishwanath. Once, the trio visits a function in the village, where they see Meenakshi. Vishwanath expresses his interest in Meenakshi as his life partner and presents the case before his parents. Vishwanath’s father accepts the marriage proposal. Meenakshi and Vishwanath get married. Vishwanath takes over the mantle of jodidar of Simhaadri and eight villages from his father. He fights illiteracy, the illicit liquor racket, and other social evils, in order to help villagers. He and Meenakshi have three children. There is a parallel comedy storyline of the movie, centering on Putta Joisa, who joins as the priest of the family-entrusted main temple. Their eldest son, a doctor, falls for his classmate, the daughter of a liquor baron, Toogudeepa, who creates a rift between father and son and insults Vishwanath when he approaches to discuss the marriage proposal. Toogudeepa threatens Gurudutt that he can choose either his father’s village or his love. Gurudutt fights with his father and leaves home. This comes as the first blow to Vishwanatha Raya. Abhijit, the second son, gets married, but his wife is not very happy staying in the village and serving her in-laws. Vishwanath and Meenakshi plan to have Meenakshi’s niece marry their youngest son Narahari. Narahari, who has a secret love affair, marries her and brings her home, once he learns of his parents’ plan. Meenakshi and Vishwanath are shocked. The burden is too much for Meenakshi and she dies, while welcoming her new daughter-in-law. Vishwanath feels lonely and goes on a theertha yaatre, has an accident, and loses his memory. He wanders around and is shown visiting , , and . When he finds the beauty of , he is spellbound by nature and sings his heart out. Putta Joisa finds his old employer, clothed in rags and singing on a ghaat. He helps Vishwanath regain memory. Meanwhile, Toogudeepa convinces Vishwanath’s three sons to hand over their ancestral property and takes it over. Vishwanath returns, only to find his home turned from a temple to a tavern. He single-handedly beats drunkards gathered there and questions his sons about his mother. Learning that she is lonely in the passing days in the hut, he visits his mother. Pandari Bai is filled with joy to find her son alive. Vishwanath once again starts the task of fighting liquor racket, gambling, and other evils. He ends up on a winning note, as the gambler’s den is made into a primary school and the liquor factory is closed. His children too learn their lesson and join hands with him. A happy man, Vishwanath creates a will dividing his assets among his sons and leaves to a higher calling. The last scene shows Vishwanath ascending a hill, far from Simhaadri. The of the film and the soundtrack were composed by , with lyrics penned by and Mugur Mallappa. The soundtrack album consists of five tracks. As of 2023, the song was reported to have ranked high on ’s Kannada songs list. Though credited to Upendra Kumar, the song was composed by . That song was set in raga. Jeevana Chaitra was very popular when it was released, and the movie tickets became a prized commodity. There was no release by in the previous years. The movie completed 100 days and had to be removed from theatres. Rajkumar’s cut-out of the suit-clad hero had the usual ritual of getting soaked in milk at many places. The film ran for 375 days and, owing to the audience reception, Rajkumar had to announce that he would act in another movie, . The movie received rave reviews, owing to the storyline and message about combating liquor barons.</p>