Prithvi Vallabh (1943)

Big-budget costume drama based on K.M. Munshi's 1920 novel of the same name. Prithvi Vallabh is the good Munja, king of Avantipur (Modi), whom the evil Tailap (Prasad), rival king of Tailangan, had failed to defeat in repeated battles. Tailap finally succeeds through the machinations of his hard-headed sister Mrinalvati (Khote). The film's major highlights are the confrontations between Munja and the haughty Mrinalvati who tries to humiliate him publicly but then falls in love with him. When Munja has a chance to escape from his prison, he holds back so that Mrinalvati may accompany him but she, apprehensive of losing him, betrays Munja, who is then condemned to be trampled to death by an elephant. Unlike Modi's earlier ventures into big-budget territory (Pukar, 1939; Sikandar, 1941), this was not a major success.