Did you know? The very first pan-Indian Kannada film is this 1959 classic starring Dr. Rajkumar

Of late,

Kannada

cinema has been following the norm of

dubbing

and releasing films in multiple languages. While the trend was mostly limited to south Indian languages, the big-ticket releases such as '

K.G.F

' and a slew of others have now paved a way into the Hindi film markets too. A number of Kannada films slated to release in the coming weeks are being dubbed into at least three languages with Hindi being the prominent member of the list.

However, this isn't a newborn trend by any means. Through the '50s and so on, many south Indian films were being made simultaneously in at least two languages owing to cultural similarities and convenience. In fact, the first-ever Kannada film to be dubbed and released in eight different languages dates back to the year 1959. The film we talk about here is B.S. Ranga's '

Mahishasura Mardini

' - a mythological epic film starring

Dr. Rajkumar

, Udaykumar, K.S. Ashwath, and many other legendary actors.

'Mahishasura Mardini' was a cultural phenomenon and was instrumental in putting Kannada cinema on the map. It was the first film to shot in Vikram Studios of Chennai (then Madras) and also featured Dr. Rajkumar's as a playback singer for the very first time.