Ranganayaki is a 1981 Kannada movie by Puttanna Kanagal

Puttanna Kanagal

Puttanna Kanagal was one of the most prominent Kannada film directors of the 1960s and the 70s. Although the majority of his films were on offbeat or taboo subjects, he endeared himself to both the critics and ordinary film goers alike. He also directed a handful Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and...

 starring Ambarish, Aarathi

Aarathi

Aarathi is an Indian actress and producer of Kannada movies.She first became popular during the late 1970s and 1980s, and was recognised for her roles in movies such as Naagarahaavu, Edakallu Guddada Mele, Bili Hendthi, Dharmasere, Paduvaaralli Pandavaru, Ranganayaki, Hombisilu, Upaasane and...

, Ramakrishna

Ramakrishna (Kannada actor)

Ramakrishna is an Indian actor in the Kannada film industry, known for the drama roles. He has acted in movies such as Maanasa Sarovara and many others. He has acted in more than 100 Kannada films. A protege of the renowned Kannada film director Puttanna Kanagal, Ramakrishna featured in some of...

, Ashok

Ashok (Kannada actor)

Ashok is an Indian actor in the Kannada film industry, known for drama roles. He appeared in the movie Ranganayaki.-Early life:Ashok is the son of a police inspector and hails from Anekal, close to Bangalore. To become a film star was his childhood ambition. No sooner had he completed his degree,...

, Rajanand.

Plot details

The movie explores the nuance of Oedipus Complex. The heroine, a popular theatre artist, falls in love with a rich, young man. They eventually get married and beget a child. But the heroine is bored of married life and wants to dabble in acting. The husband refuses and leaves the town with his child. The heroine gets a lucky break in cinema and becomes a household name. Years later, as fate had it, a young man falls in love with the heroine and she reciprocates his love. She encounters her ex-husband and pleads him to show her son just for once. But as fate has it doesn’t happen, and she goes in deep depression and commits suicide, too late for the young lover who realizes that he had fallen in love with his own mother.