Pathala Bhairavi (transl. The Goddess of the Netherworld) is a 1951 Indian fantasy film directed by K. V. Reddy who co-wrote the film with Pingali and Kamalakara Kameswara Rao. Shot simultaneously in Telugu and Tamil languages, the film was produced by Nagi Reddi and Chakrapani under the banner Vijaya Productions. It stars N. T. Rama Rao, S. V. Ranga Rao and K. Malathi. The film focuses on a gardener's son who has to amass wealth equal to that of the king of Ujjain to marry his daughter and a sorcerer who has to sacrifice an intelligent and brave young man to Goddess Pathala Bhairavi to gain access to a statuette which can grant any wish.
Pathala Bhairavi is based on Kasi Majilee Kathalu, written by Madhira Subbanna Deekshitulu, though it was also partially inspired by the story of Aladdin. As the film is shot as a bilingual, production lasted for a whole year starting from 5 February 1950 until 8 February 1951. Ghantasala composed the film's music and Marcus Bartley served as the cinematographer. The film was edited by the duo C. P. Jambulingam and M. S. Money, while Madhavapeddi Gokhale and Kaladhar were the film's art directors.
The Telugu version of Pathala Bhairavi was released on 15 March 1951, and the Tamil version on 17 May 1951. Both versions were commercially successful, with the Telugu version becoming the first in its language to have a direct run of 200 days. The Hindi dubbed version which featured two songs reshot in colour was also commercially successful. The film was also remade in Hindi as Pataal Bhairavi (1985).
Pathala Bhairavi is considered to be a breakthrough film for both Rama Rao and Ranga Rao, and was also the only South Indian film to be screened at the first International Film Festival of India held at Mumbai on 24 January 1952. On the centenary of Indian cinema in April 2013, CNN-IBN included Pathala Bhairavi in its list of "100 greatest Indian films of all time".
Directed by : K. V. Reddy
Screenplay by : K. V. Reddy , Kamalakara Kameswara Rao
Story by : Pingali
Dialogue by : Pingali
Produced by : Nagi Reddi , Chakrapani
Starring : N. T. Rama Rao , S. V. Ranga Rao , K. Malathi
Cinematography : Marcus Bartley
Edited by : C. P. Jambulingam , M. S. Money
Music by : Ghantasala
Production company : Vijaya Productions
Release date : 15 March 1951
Running time : 195 minutes
Languages : Telugu