Mahishasura Mardini (lit. 'Slayer of Mahishasura'; a name for Durga) is a 1959 Indian Kannada-language film, directed and produced by B. S. Ranga. The film stars Rajkumar, V. Nagayya, Udaykumar and Narasimharaju. It was dubbed in seven other languages and is retrospectively identified as amongst the first major Pan-India films.[1][2][3]
The film has musical score by G. K. Venkatesh.[4][5] It was dubbed in seven languages - including in Telugu under the same name [6] and in Hindi as Durga Maata (lit. 'Mother Durga', 1960).[7][8] This was the first movie shot in Vikram Studios, Madras.[9] Rajkumar sang a duet as a playback singer for the first time through the song Thumbithu Manava in this movie.