Possibly the best movie I ever saw, Narthanasala (Virata Parvam or the Book of Virata from the Mahabharatha) tells the story of the Pandavas final year of exile.
Having lost the game of dice against their Kaurava cousins, the five Pandava brothers and their wife Draupadi must spend 13 years in exile - 12 in vanvas (life in the forest) and the thirteenth in agnatvas (open but incognito living.) They enter the court of King Virata under various disguises - the two prominent are Arjuna as Bruhannala, the eunuch dance teacher, and Draupadi as Sairandhri serving Queen Sudeshnadevi.
The story follows the predictable triumph of the Pandavas over the amorous Keechaka who seeks Draupadi's hand, and over the Kauravas as they attempt to out them to force a new cycle of exile. The storytelling is very operatic with several songs, and the characters breaking into recitative to emphasize emotion.
The cast is a who's who ensemble of the Telugu industry of the time. SV Ranga Rao (as Keechaka) is absolutely brilliant. NT Rama Rao (as Arjuna and Bruhannala) is awesome. L Vijayalakshmi's (Uttara) dances are absolutely stunning, easily the reason for my repeat viewing. Other prominent actors include Savithri (Draupadi), Relangi (Uttarakumara), Kantarao (Sri Krishna), and Sobhanbabu (Abhimanyu - the one jarring note.)
Go rent/buy the DVD and watch it now.
