# Gejje Pooje (ಗೆಜ್ಜೆಪೂಜೆ)
**Gejje Pooje** (ಗೆಜ್ಜೆಪೂಜೆ) is a 1969 Indian Kannada-language drama film directed by [Puttanna Kanagal](https://www.edgepedia.org/puttanna-kanagal) and based on the novel of the same name by the Kannada writer M. K. Indira. The film examines the devadasi system, in which women were dedicated to temple service and, in practice, often entered sexual servitude, through the story of Chandra, the daughter of a devadasi who tries to educate her way out of the tradition[1](https://kannada.filmibeat.com/movies/gejje-pooje.html). It won the [National Film Award for Best Feature Film](https://www.edgepedia.org/national-film-award-for-best-feature-film) in Kannada and the Best Screenplay award at the 17th [National Film Awards](https://www.edgepedia.org/national-film-awards)[2](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/movie-awards/national-awards-winners/1969/108), and it is regarded as a landmark of Kannada cinema[3](https://www.valeorine.com/reference/puttanna-kanagal).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director | S. R. Puttanna Kanagal, who also wrote the screenplay and dialogues[4](https://chiloka.com/movie/gejje-pooje-1970) |
| Source | Novel *Gejje Pooje* by M. K. Indira[5](https://srujani.in/images/Volume_04/Issue-5_Part_B/03-SIJIRD-B0405202503.pdf) |
| Lead cast | Kalpana as Chandra, Gangadhar as Somu, Leelavathi as Aparna, Aarathi as Lalita[6](https://letterboxd.com/film/gejje-pooje/) |
| National awards | Best Feature Film in Kannada and Best Screenplay, 17th National Film Awards[2](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/movie-awards/national-awards-winners/1969/108) |
| Telugu remake | *Kalyana Mandapam* (1971)[7](https://d1f72a6kha0tf8.cloudfront.net/gejje-pooje) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
Chandra is the daughter of Aparna, a woman in the flesh trade. Aparna hopes her daughter will have a better life, and Chandra, a bright student, wants to continue her education, marry, and live as an ordinary member of society[1](https://kannada.filmibeat.com/movies/gejje-pooje.html) • [9](https://www.piffindia.com/gejje-pooje.php). She grows up alongside her neighbor Somu, and the two fall in love[4](https://chiloka.com/movie/gejje-pooje-1970).
The relationship collapses when Somu suspects Chandra because of her mother's background and marries another woman[1](https://kannada.filmibeat.com/movies/gejje-pooje.html). Left with no alternative, Chandra dies by suicide rather than undergo the gejje pooje and become a devadasi[1](https://kannada.filmibeat.com/movies/gejje-pooje.html) • [17](https://kannada.filmibeat.com/movies/gejje-pooje/story.html). A fuller synopsis in the Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema adds that Aparna, an orphan raised by a brothel madam, deliberately brought up Chandra in a different city among respectable neighbors to keep her out of prostitution, and that the resurfacing of Chandra's father, whom she cannot explain to her fiancé's family, causes the broken engagement and her return to prostitution[7](https://d1f72a6kha0tf8.cloudfront.net/gejje-pooje).
## Title meaning
In the story, Chandra dies by suicide rather than undergo this ceremony and thereby become a devadasi[1](https://kannada.filmibeat.com/movies/gejje-pooje.html) • [17](https://kannada.filmibeat.com/movies/gejje-pooje/story.html). A separate academic usage records the term as a regional name for a pre-puberty custom in the Mysore region of [Karnataka](https://www.edgepedia.org/karnataka)[8](https://rjpn.org/ijcspub/papers/IJCSP22D1010.pdf).
## Production
The film was produced by the Rashi Brothers under the banner Chitra Jyoti[5](https://srujani.in/images/Volume_04/Issue-5_Part_B/03-SIJIRD-B0405202503.pdf). S. V. Srikanth handled cinematography, V. P. Krishnan edited the film, and Sundar Krishna Urs served as assistant director[4](https://chiloka.com/movie/gejje-pooje-1970). Aarathi, who played Lalita, Somu's sister and Chandra's friend, made her screen debut in this film[7](https://d1f72a6kha0tf8.cloudfront.net/gejje-pooje).
Release dates and runtime differ across databases. Moviebuff, [Letterboxd](https://www.edgepedia.org/letterboxd), and Plex list a theatrical release on 1 January 1969[7](https://d1f72a6kha0tf8.cloudfront.net/gejje-pooje) • [6](https://letterboxd.com/film/gejje-pooje/); The Times of India gives 10 April 1969[10](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/kannada/movie-details/gejje-pooje/movieshow/67346088.cms); and Chiloka gives 27 December 1969[4](https://chiloka.com/movie/gejje-pooje-1970). Runtimes are reported as 2 hours 42 minutes (162 minutes)[10](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/kannada/movie-details/gejje-pooje/movieshow/67346088.cms) • [9](https://www.piffindia.com/gejje-pooje.php), 2 hours 24 minutes[7](https://d1f72a6kha0tf8.cloudfront.net/gejje-pooje), and 148 minutes[4](https://chiloka.com/movie/gejje-pooje-1970) by different sources. The film was shot in black and white at an aspect ratio of 2.35:1[7](https://d1f72a6kha0tf8.cloudfront.net/gejje-pooje).
## Style and themes
The film continues Puttanna Kanagal's fascination with tragic heroines, a line of roles embodied by Kalpana until *Sharapanjara* (1971) and then by Aarathi[7](https://d1f72a6kha0tf8.cloudfront.net/gejje-pooje). Kalpana's tragic roles in *Gejje Pooje* and *Sharapanjara* helped define a [Kannada cinema](https://www.edgepedia.org/kannada-cinema) drawn from popular literature[11](https://indiancine.ma/documents/DSP/Encyclopedia%20of%20Indian%20Cinema.pdf).
Two visual registers structure the film. The world of middle-class orthodoxy is filmed in one style, while the worlds of Aparna and Chandra are rendered through tight close-ups, expressions of terror, and low-angle shots of exploitative men; the Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema describes the second aesthetic as making the first increasingly brittle in both image and sound. A musical leitmotiv associated with the violin that Aparna plays when she remembers her father extends into expressionist sound effects[7](https://d1f72a6kha0tf8.cloudfront.net/gejje-pooje).
Thematically, the film belongs to a group of Kannada films that explored women's sexuality and social plight, alongside *Sharapanjara* (1971) and *Edakallu Guddamele* (1973)[12](https://www.fipresci-india.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/26.-Rekha-Datta-Re-emergence-of-the-Popular-Kannada-Cinema.pdf). The Directorate of Film Festivals' catalog credits Puttanna Kanagal as the first Kannada film-maker to approach themes till then not handled, citing *Gejje Pooje* among the films evidencing his pioneering role[13](https://dff.nic.in/images/Documents/139_IPCatalogue1985.pdf).
## Director and reception
Puttanna Kanagal (1933-1985) directed mostly women-centric films on offbeat or taboo subjects and is described as making "bridge films" between art and commercial cinema; most of his films, including *Gejje Pooje*, were based on novels[3](https://www.valeorine.com/reference/puttanna-kanagal) • [14](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bengaluru/the-puttanna-effect/articleshow/4209860.cms). At the 17th National Film Awards the film won Best Feature Film in Kannada and Best Screenplay[2](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/movie-awards/national-awards-winners/1969/108), and the [Karnataka State Film Awards](https://www.edgepedia.org/karnataka-state-film-awards) for 1969-70 honored it as First Best Film with individual awards for Leelavathi, Kanagal, dialogue writer Navarathna Ram Rao, and cinematographer S. V. Srikanth.
The film has remained in circulation as a classic. It appears on the National Film Archive of India's list of restored films[15](https://nfai.nfdcindia.com/pdf/Digitized%20and%20Restored%20Films_16-12-2016.pdf), was screened at the Pune International Film Festival in January 2018[9](https://www.piffindia.com/gejje-pooje.php), and is described by the Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema as Kanagal's best-known film outside Karnataka[7](https://d1f72a6kha0tf8.cloudfront.net/gejje-pooje). As of mid-2026 it was not available on any streaming service in the United States[16](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/gejje-pooje).
## References
1. [Gejje Pooje (1969) Movie, Filmibeat Kannada](https://kannada.filmibeat.com/movies/gejje-pooje.html)
2. [National Awards Winners 1969, The Times of India](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/movie-awards/national-awards-winners/1969/108)
3. [Puttanna Kanagal (1933-1985), VALÉORINE reference](https://www.valeorine.com/reference/puttanna-kanagal)
4. [Gejje Pooje (1970) Cast & Crew, Chiloka](https://chiloka.com/movie/gejje-pooje-1970)
5. [Gejjepooje (1969), SRUJANI: Indian Journal of Innovative Research and Development](https://srujani.in/images/Volume_04/Issue-5_Part_B/03-SIJIRD-B0405202503.pdf)
6. [Gejje Pooje (1969), Letterboxd](https://letterboxd.com/film/gejje-pooje/)
7. [Gejje Pooje (1969), Moviebuff](https://d1f72a6kha0tf8.cloudfront.net/gejje-pooje)
8. [IJCSPUB Volume 12, Issue 4, October 2022](https://rjpn.org/ijcspub/papers/IJCSP22D1010.pdf)
9. [Gejje Pooje, Pune International Film Festival](https://www.piffindia.com/gejje-pooje.php)
10. [Gejje Pooje Movie Details, eTimes, The Times of India](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/kannada/movie-details/gejje-pooje/movieshow/67346088.cms)
11. [Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema, Indiancine.ma](https://indiancine.ma/documents/DSP/Encyclopedia%20of%20Indian%20Cinema.pdf)
12. [Rekha Datta, Re-emergence of the Popular Kannada Cinema in the 21st Century, E-CineIndia](https://www.fipresci-india.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/26.-Rekha-Datta-Re-emergence-of-the-Popular-Kannada-Cinema.pdf)
13. [Directorate of Film Festivals, IP Catalogue 1985](https://dff.nic.in/images/Documents/139_IPCatalogue1985.pdf)
14. [The Puttanna Effect, The Times of India, Bengaluru](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bengaluru/the-puttanna-effect/articleshow/4209860.cms)
15. [List of Restored Films, National Film Archive of India](https://nfai.nfdcindia.com/pdf/Digitized%20and%20Restored%20Films_16-12-2016.pdf)
16. [Gejje Pooje streaming, JustWatch](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/gejje-pooje)
17. [ಗೆಜ್ಜೆ ಪೂಜೆ ಕಥೆ, Gejje Pooje Sandalwood Movie Story, Preview in Kannada - Filmibeat Kannada](https://kannada.filmibeat.com/movies/gejje-pooje/story.html)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Indian films (individual works) › Kannada films before 2010*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license