Chenchu Lakshmi (1958 film)

Plot

The film is based on a Hindu story from the Srimad Bhagavatam. It begins with the weddings of Vishnu and Lakshmi. Durvasa, furious at being uninvited, curses Mahalakshmi's parents, Samudra and his wife, to be born as tribals. Vishnu kills Hiranyaksha in his Varaha avatar. Hiranyakashipu, Hiranyaksha's brother, performs a vast penance. Indra kidnaps Hiranyakashipu's pregnant wife Kayadhu to destroy his heir, but Narada safeguards her and sculpts Prahlada in her womb as a devotee of Vishnu. Hiranyakashipu obtains a boon from Brahma that he cannot die by any weapon, human, animal, demon, or divinity. He trounces the universe and seeks Vishnu, who absconds with Lakshmi. Vishnu transforms Lakshmi's glow into a fruit and plants it on a tree. Samudra and his wife, now childless tribals, receive the fruit from Narada and are blessed with a baby girl, Chenchita. Prahlada's devotion to Vishnu angers Hiranyakashipu, who tries to stop him. Hiranyakashipu challenges Prahlada to show his god, and Vishnu appears from a pillar as Narasimha, half man and half lion, slaying Hiranyakashipu. Narasimha remains furious, and no one, including Lakshmi, can calm him because she lacks her glow. Chenchita, fearless, subsides his anger, and Narasimha turns into the handsome Narahari; they marry. Lakshmi grieves, and the two wives quarrel. Narada reveals that Chenchita is Lakshmi's glow, and when they conjoin, Samudra and his wife are freed from the curse. The film ends with Vishnu and Lakshmi reunited at Vaikuntha.