On April 8 Chandralekha will complete 77 years since its release in 1948. Starring T.R. Rajakumari M.K. Radha and Ranjan this iconic film was produced by Gemini Studios which eventually shut down in the 1970s. The film’s director S.S. Vasan passed away in 1969. Over time the cast and crew faded from public memory except in academic discussions on Indian cinema. However Chandralekha is still remembered today especially for its legendary drum dance sequence. More importantly it was the first South Indian film to achieve Pan-India success. Celebrating Chandralekha movies 77 years  The film took over five years to complete and had an enormous budget of Rs 30 lakh which was a huge amount at the time. It was a make-or-break moment for Gemini Studios and its owner Vasan. Despite the financial risks Vasan went big on promotions as he opted for a full-page advertisements in top newspapers and film magazines. The film’s publicity team also created an impressive word-of-mouth campaign. However when Chandralekha was first released in Tamil it didn’t get a great response. It was a success but not quite a blockbuster. How is Sooraj Barjatya related to Chandralekha? Then came Vasan’s game-changing move he thought of releasing Chandralekha in Hindi. He went ahead with the Hindi-dubbed version of the film on December 24 1948. This decision paid off as the Hindi movie became a massive box-office hit. With this South Indian cinema gained recognition across India encouraging more South Indian filmmakers to promote their Hindi films in the North. Chandralekhas Hindi version had a few differences from the original Tamil film like the vocals were replaced by Uma Devi aka Tu Tun and comedians N.S. Krishnan and T.A. Mathuram were also not included. Vasan encouraged his dear friend Tarachand Barjatya the grandfather of Sooraj Barjatya to found Rajshri Pictures in 1947 and assigned him the distribution of Chandralekha in the North the first project distributed by Rajshri and one of the biggest successes of its time thus spurring off the growth stories of one of the biggest distributors and producers of Indian cinema today. Chandralekha released soon after the 1947 partion India was still recovering from the horrors of Partition and audiences in the North were looking for an escape from the sadness. Chandralekha provided a grand entertaining fantasy film. The story itself was not new: two royal brothers one good one evil both in love with the same woman leading to multiple twists and turns before good finally triumphs over evil in a dramatic climax. With its extravagant sets engaging plot and mesmerising music the film captivated audiences. The formula that Chandralekha used has been taken many times in the Indian cinema. If you look closely even Baahubali follows a similar storyline. But Chandralekha remains special not just for its impact on South Indian cinema but for how it brought the entire country together right after the partition. A look at the breakdown of Chandralekhas earnings Chandralekha ran in theaters for four years and earned Rs 4 crore. Out of this Rs 1.5 crore went toward entertainment tax. From the remaining amount Rs 1.25 crore was taken by theaters and distributors. Advertising costs were around Rs 25 lakh and another Rs 25 lakh went into various taxes. That left Rs 75 lakh but a big portion of this went toward repaying loans and interest. In the end Vasan who was both the director and producer was left with only a few lakhs. Despite all this Chandralekha remains one of the most successful films in Indian cinema history. Historians believe its impact is still unmatched. More importantly it opened the doors for Tamil and South Indian films to be accepted in North India as a strong and profitable market. Decades later we can see a similar trend with the massive success of South Indian blockbusters like Baahubali RRR Ponniyin Selvan and Pushpa which were promoted with grand marketing campaigns across India.