# Sharapanjara (ಶರಪಂಜರ)
**Sharapanjara** (ಶರಪಂಜರ, "Cage of Arrows") is a 1971 Indian Kannada-language drama film directed by S. R. [Puttanna Kanagal](https://www.edgepedia.org/puttanna-kanagal), based on the Kannada writer Triveni's novel of the same name, and starring Kalpana as Kaveri and Gangadhar as her husband Satish.[1](https://indiancine.ma/ORW/info) • [2](https://www.ranker.com/list/movies-and-films-directed-by-puttanna-kanagal/reference) The film follows a happily married woman who develops a postpartum psychiatric illness, recovers in hospital, and is then shunned by her family and society until she relapses and returns to the hospital for the rest of her life.[3](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/24443273_Chitrachanchala_Pictures_of_unstable_mind_Mental_health_themes_in_Kannada_cinema) It won the [National Film Award for Best Feature Film](https://www.edgepedia.org/national-film-award-for-best-feature-film) in Kannada at the 20th [National Film Awards](https://www.edgepedia.org/national-film-awards) and is regarded as one of the landmark films of Kannada cinema.[2](https://www.ranker.com/list/movies-and-films-directed-by-puttanna-kanagal/reference)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | 1971; Kannada-language drama, about 3 hours long[1](https://indiancine.ma/ORW/info) |
| Source | Triveni's novel *Sharapanjara* (1965), adapted with the author credited for story and dialogue[4](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0021989419878487) • [5](https://kannadamoviesinfo.wordpress.com/2013/01/29/sharapanjara-1971/) |
| Lead cast | Kalpana as Kaveri, Gangadhar as Satish; supporting roles by Leelavathi, K. S. Ashwath, Shivaram, and Chindodi Leela[1](https://indiancine.ma/ORW/info) |
| Key crew | Music Vijaya Bhaskar; cinematography D. V. Rajaram; editing V. P. Krishna; producer C. S. Raja for Vardhini Art Pictures[5](https://kannadamoviesinfo.wordpress.com/2013/01/29/sharapanjara-1971/) |
| National honor | Best Feature Film in Kannada, 20th National Film Awards (1972)[2](https://www.ranker.com/list/movies-and-films-directed-by-puttanna-kanagal/reference) |
| State honors | Karnataka State Film Awards 1970-71: First Best Film, Best Actress (Kalpana), Best Screenplay (Puttanna Kanagal)[6](https://kannadamoviesinfo.wordpress.com/karnataka-state-film-awards-1970-71/) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
Kaveri, an educated and sophisticated young woman from a respectable family, meets Satish at a marriage ceremony; they fall in love and marry with their families' blessing.[8](https://chiloka.com/movie/sharapanjara-1971) The marriage is happy, and the couple has two sons.[9](https://www.kannadastore.com/sharapanjara-1971-dvd-pri-6269.html?reviews_id=235)
After the birth of her second child, Kaveri develops a psychiatric illness. In a hysterical episode she recalls having gone on a picnic to Nanjangud with an unnamed man, and she returns to the picnic spot searching for something she believes she lost there.[1](https://indiancine.ma/ORW/info) A psychiatric account of the film describes her condition as postpartum psychosis, with the underlying trauma traced to sexual exploitation she suffered during her college days.[3](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/24443273_Chitrachanchala_Pictures_of_unstable_mind_Mental_health_themes_in_Kannada_cinema) • [10](https://srujani.in/images/Volume_04/Issue-5_Part_B/03-SIJIRD-B0405202503.pdf) Satish has her admitted to a mental hospital, where she recovers completely and is given a warm send-off by the staff.[11](https://nfaindia.org/images/pdf/20th%20National%20Film%20Award%20Catalogue.pdf)
Back home, the recovery counts for nothing. Her husband, who during her treatment begins an affair with an office colleague, the household, the neighbors, and friends all treat her with suspicion, as if everything she says or does is not sane.[1](https://indiancine.ma/ORW/info) • [11](https://nfaindia.org/images/pdf/20th%20National%20Film%20Award%20Catalogue.pdf) Despite her complete recovery she is not allowed to care for her children, her husband feels socially ostracized, and her sister's marriage is canceled because of the stigma attached to mental illness.[3](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/24443273_Chitrachanchala_Pictures_of_unstable_mind_Mental_health_themes_in_Kannada_cinema) When Kaveri discovers the extramarital affair, she relapses and eventually returns to the hospital for the rest of her life.[3](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/24443273_Chitrachanchala_Pictures_of_unstable_mind_Mental_health_themes_in_Kannada_cinema) • [1](https://indiancine.ma/ORW/info)
## Production and source
The film was produced by C. S. Raja under the banner Vardhini Art Pictures, with K. C. N. Movies as presenter. Puttanna Kanagal wrote the screenplay and shared dialogue credit with Triveni, who wrote the source novel.[5](https://kannadamoviesinfo.wordpress.com/2013/01/29/sharapanjara-1971/) Triveni's novel had appeared in 1965, the same year as [U. R. Ananthamurthy](https://www.edgepedia.org/u-r-ananthamurthy)'s *Samskara*; while *Samskara* entered the Indian modernist canon, Triveni's work remained in the realm of popular literature for women, and scholars such as Gayathri Prabhu, a literary scholar at [Manipal Academy of Higher Education](https://www.edgepedia.org/manipal-academy-of-higher-education), have argued for reading it as a feminine middlebrow text that depicts the unspooling of a woman's mental health within domestic space.[4](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0021989419878487)
The music was composed by Vijaya Bhaskar, with lyrics by the Jnanpith-winning poet Da. Ra. Bendre, Kanagal Prabhakara Shastry, and Vijayanarasimha; the song "Utthara Dhruvadim Dakshina Dhruvaku" sets Bendre's poem of that name.[5](https://kannadamoviesinfo.wordpress.com/2013/01/29/sharapanjara-1971/) • [7](https://news13.in/archives/109161) The film was shot in Eastman Color, passed by the censor board with a U certificate dated 2 March 1971, and ran to 19 reels.[5](https://kannadamoviesinfo.wordpress.com/2013/01/29/sharapanjara-1971/)
## Themes and style
The film addresses women's mental health and the unequal moral standards applied to men and women, and it was among the earliest Kannada films to treat women's psychological problems openly and empathetically.[10](https://srujani.in/images/Volume_04/Issue-5_Part_B/03-SIJIRD-B0405202503.pdf) A review in the *Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema* describes Kalpana's performance as spectacular and notes the film's "blatant but unacknowledged psychoanalytic dimension," with the conflict between virtue and unconscious desire given a mythological dimension in the song "Hadi nalaku varusha," which compares Kaveri to Seeta returning from exile in the Ramayana.[1](https://indiancine.ma/ORW/info) Kanagal's neo-expressionist style is most visible in the scenes of Kaveri's hysterical episode, where the mysterious boyfriend's presence is confined to the soundtrack.[1](https://indiancine.ma/ORW/info)
A 2009 review of mental health themes in [Kannada cinema](https://www.edgepedia.org/kannada-cinema) by psychiatrists at the [National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences](https://www.edgepedia.org/national-institute-of-mental-health-and-neurosciences), Bangalore, treats *Sharapanjara* as a landmark depiction of psychosis: it shows the stigma faced by the patient and her family, the husband's growing hostility (high expressed emotion) preceding the relapse, and the myth that mental illness is hereditary or contagious.[3](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/24443273_Chitrachanchala_Pictures_of_unstable_mind_Mental_health_themes_in_Kannada_cinema) Contemporary viewers still read the film this way; one [Letterboxd](https://www.edgepedia.org/letterboxd) review notes that its observations about mental health and societal judgment remain relevant.[12](https://letterboxd.com/film/sharapanjara/)
## Reception and awards
The film won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Kannada at the 20th National Film Awards, announced in 1972.[2](https://www.ranker.com/list/movies-and-films-directed-by-puttanna-kanagal/reference) • [13](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/kannada/movie-details/sharapanjara/movieshow/65208926.cms) At the [Karnataka State Film Awards](https://www.edgepedia.org/karnataka-state-film-awards) for 1970-71 it took First Best Film, with Kalpana named Best Actress and Puttanna Kanagal Best Screenplay.[6](https://kannadamoviesinfo.wordpress.com/karnataka-state-film-awards-1970-71/) The Times of India lists a Filmfare Award South for Best Kannada Film as well.[13](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/kannada/movie-details/sharapanjara/movieshow/65208926.cms)
The film is widely regarded as one of the finest works of Kannada cinema and the culmination of Kalpana's long association with Kanagal, which had produced *Belli Moda* (1967) and *Gejje Pooje* (1970).[1](https://indiancine.ma/ORW/info) • [14](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t85pPAOEjp4) After the film's success Kalpana became one of the busiest actresses in Kannada cinema, while Gangadhar's market value declined because of the negative tone of his role.[15](https://aghanashini.blogspot.com/2010/06/blog-post_29.html?m=0) • [16](https://anivaasi.com/2016/03/04/cinema/)
## Legacy
Along with *Gejje Pooje*, *Naagarahaavu* (1972), *Edakallu Guddada Mele* (1973), *Shubhamangala* (1975), and *Ranganayaki* (1981), it is counted among the milestones of Puttanna Kanagal's career, a director the Bangalore International Film Festival catalog describes as one of the most prominent Kannada filmmakers of the 1960s and 1970s.[17](https://15th.biffes.org/filmdetails/164) A 1995 survey in the government journal *Yojana* listed *Sharapanjara* among the important Kannada films of the 1970s, a decade in which commercial and offbeat filmmaking flourished side by side in the state.[18](https://www.publicationsdivision.nic.in/journals/Journalarchives/Yojana/Yojana-English/1995/August/Yojana_1995_August_1611045932.pdf)
## References
1. [Sharapanjara (S.R. Puttanna Kanagal) 1971, Indiancine.ma](https://indiancine.ma/ORW/info)
2. [The Best Movies Directed by Puttanna Kanagal, Ranker](https://www.ranker.com/list/movies-and-films-directed-by-puttanna-kanagal/reference)
3. [Chillal Guru Prasad, Girish N. Babu, Prabha S. Chandra, and Santosh K. Chaturvedi (2009). Chitrachanchala (Pictures of unstable mind): Mental health themes in Kannada cinema. International Review of Psychiatry 21(3).](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/24443273_Chitrachanchala_Pictures_of_unstable_mind_Mental_health_themes_in_Kannada_cinema)
4. [Gayathri Prabhu (2022). Desire, sanity and the middlebrow aesthetic: The case of Triveni's Sharapanjara. The Journal of Commonwealth Literature.](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0021989419878487)
5. [Sharapanjara – ಶರಪಂಜರ (1971), Kannada Movies Info](https://kannadamoviesinfo.wordpress.com/2013/01/29/sharapanjara-1971/)
6. [Karnataka State Film Awards 1970-71, Kannada Movies Info](https://kannadamoviesinfo.wordpress.com/karnataka-state-film-awards-1970-71/)
7. [ನಾವು ನೋಡಲೇಬೇಕಾದ ಚಿತ್ರ: ಶರಪಂಜರ, News13](https://news13.in/archives/109161)
8. [Sharapanjara (1971) Kannada movie: Cast & Crew, Chiloka](https://chiloka.com/movie/sharapanjara-1971)
9. [Sharapanjara - 1971 DD 5.1 DVD review, Kannada Store](https://www.kannadastore.com/sharapanjara-1971-dvd-pri-6269.html?reviews_id=235)
10. [Sharapanjara (1971), SRUJANI: Indian Journal of Innovative Research and Development](https://srujani.in/images/Volume_04/Issue-5_Part_B/03-SIJIRD-B0405202503.pdf)
11. [SHARAPANJARA, 20th National Film Award Catalogue, NFAI](https://nfaindia.org/images/pdf/20th%20National%20Film%20Award%20Catalogue.pdf)
12. [Sharapanjara (1971), Letterboxd](https://letterboxd.com/film/sharapanjara/)
13. [Sharapanjara Movie, eTimes, The Times of India](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/kannada/movie-details/sharapanjara/movieshow/65208926.cms)
14. [Sharapanjara (1971) Kannada Full Movie, A2 Movies, YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t85pPAOEjp4)
15. [ಹೆಣ್ಣಿನ ಮಾನಸಿಕ ತುಮುಲದ ಅನಾವರಣ ಶರಪಂಜರ, Aghanashini blog](https://aghanashini.blogspot.com/2010/06/blog-post_29.html?m=0)
16. [ಇಷ್ಟಪಟ್ಟ ಕನ್ನಡ ಸಿನೆಮಾಗಳು, Anivaasi](https://anivaasi.com/2016/03/04/cinema/)
17. [Film details: Puttanna Kanagal, 15th Bengaluru International Film Festival](https://15th.biffes.org/filmdetails/164)
18. [Yojana, Vol. 39, August 1995, Publications Division](https://www.publicationsdivision.nic.in/journals/Journalarchives/Yojana/Yojana-English/1995/August/Yojana_1995_August_1611045932.pdf)
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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*
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