What is "malliswari"

Malliswari (The Princess) is a Telugu romantic comedy film produced by D.Suresh Babu on Suresh Productions banner, directed by K. Vijaya Bhaskar. Starring Venkatesh, Katrina Kaif in lead roles and music composed by Koti, written by Trivikram Srinivas The film was later dubbed into Malayalam as Malliswari, the Princess.

Malliswari or Malleswari may refer to:

• Malliswari (1951 film), 1951 Telugu film directed by B. N. Reddi
• Malliswari (2004 film), 2004 Telugu film directed by K. Vijaya Bhaskar
• Karnam Malleswari (born 1975), Indian weight lifter

Malliswari is a 1951 Indian Telugu-language historical romance film produced and directed by Bommireddy Narasimha Reddy under his banner Vauhini Studios. N. T. Rama Rao and Bhanumathi Ramakrishna star as a couple – Nagaraju and Malliswari – who are separated by Malliswari's greedy mother. Malliswari is sent to the king's palace according to the custom of "Rani Vasam", a tradition during the Vijayanagara Empire wherein young women were fetched to the palace with an offering gold and jewellery to their parents. The rest of the film focuses on the consequences faced by Nagaraju when he, against all rules, surreptitiously enters the palace to meet Malliswari.

Narasimha Reddy wanted to make a film based on Krishnadevaraya's character ever since his visit to Hampi for the filming of his debut Vandemataram (1939). He employed Devulapalli Krishnasastri to write the film's script and took inspiration from Buchibabu play "Rayalavari Karunakruthyamu" and Devan Sharar's short story "The Emperor and the Slave Girl". He also incorporated into the script a few incidents from his childhood for the pranks between Nagaraju and Malliswari. S. Rajeswara Rao composed the film's music, Adi M. Irani and B. N. Konda Reddy provided the cinematography, H. R. Narayana and Vasu edited the film, and A. K. Shekhar was the film's production designer.

The production phase of Malliswari lasted for two years and the film was released on 20 December 1951. It opened to a tepid response at the box office, but soon saw a growth in ticket sales due to favourable word of mouth. It grossed over 0.8 million and was commercially successful. Malliswari was later screened at the 9th International Film Festival of India and the 1952 Peking film festival, making it the first Telugu film to be screened in an international film festival. Narasimha Reddy planned to dub the film into English, but backed out due to budget considerations.

Malliswari achieved cult status in Telugu cinema and is considered one of the best works of Narasimha Reddy as a filmmaker. It became the first film script to be serialised in the Vijayachitra magazine, and a few universities in the United States wished to have the film's script as a part of their textual studies. On the centenary of Indian cinema in April 2013, CNN-IBN included Malliswari in its list, "The 100 greatest Indian films of all time".