Meera (1945 film)
1945 Tamil film directed by Ellis R. Dungan
Meera is a 1945 Indian Tamil-language historical musical film directed by Ellis R. Dungan, produced by T. Sadasivam and written by Kalki Krishnamurthy. Based on the life of the 16th century mystic and poet Mirabai, the film stars M. S. Subbulakshmi as the eponymous character, a zealous devotee of Krishna, who considers him to be her husband. Despite marrying Rana (Chittoor Nagayya), she follows her own way of living, which is unacceptable to her husband and his family.
Sadasivam wanted to produce a film that would make his singer wife Subbulakshmi's music available to the average person, so he started looking for a good story; Subbulakshmi chose the story of Meera. The film began production at Newtone Studio in Madras, but was filmed predominantly on location in North India in places like Jaipur, Vrindavan, Udaipur, Chittor and Dwarka to maintain credibility and historical accuracy.
Meera was released on 3 November 1945, Diwali day, and became a major critical and commercial success. This led to the production of a Hindi-dubbed version, which had a few scenes reshot, that was released two years later on 21 November and also achieved success. Despite the Hindi version making Subbulakshmi a national celebrity, it would be her last film as an actress, after which she decided to focus solely on her musical career.
Plot
During the reign of the Mughal emperor Akbar, young Meera, influenced by the story of Andal and Krishna, is so deeply in love with Krishna that she considers him to be her husband after she garlands him on an auspicious day as advised by her mother. As Meera matures into a young woman, her devotion to Krishna grows.
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Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q12987787. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1945.
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