Aaravalli (1957)
Article 6092 by Dave Sindelar
Director unknown
Featuring Varalakshmi V.
Country: India
What it is: Fantasy drama

A patriarchy struggles with a matriarchy for rule of the land.

I may be wrong, but I suspect no such matriarchy existed and this story is pure fantasy, though the scene where a snake brings a dead man back to life is the only instantly identifiable piece of fantastica in the film. The copy I found had no English subtitles, but there’s a useful plot summary on IMDB that isn’t quite complete, but you should be able to figure out the main plot element in the final part of the film. It’s okay but no better than that; it doesn’t feel remarkably different from the other historical Indian films I’ve seen. My biggest question is whether the poison food is indeed what it looked like to me – a doughnut.

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