Bhooloka Rambhai (1958)
aka Bhuloka Rambhai
Article 5451 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 5-13-2017
Directed by Yoganand
Featuring Gemini Ganesan, Anjali Devi, Rajasolochana
Country: India
What it is: Fantasy

An evil usurper of the throne desires a woman who is in love with another man.

This one had just fallen onto my “ones that got away” list when someone pointed me in the direction of a copy on YouTube. Of course, it was in Tamil without English subtitles, so I had to rely on the visuals to follow whatever plot I could; the vagueness of my plot description is a result of the fact that that was the main plot thread I could decipher. There are other plot elements. There appears to be a supernatural creature who can turn himself into a snake who has a secret underwater hideout. There also appears to be a secondary romance with two comic relief characters and a woman. A goddess appears on occasion to advance the plot and then laugh. It might all hang together if I was familiar with the story, but no such luck. On a side note, it’s a good 27 minutes into the movie before we reach a musical number, which is rather odd; for a while I was wondering if this would possibly be an Indian movie without musical numbers, but I should have known better. Ultimately, I can’t make any evaluation of this one, but I’m glad to have had the opportunity to see it.