Nagamandala

Nagamandala (lit. 'Nāga Mandala'; transl. Serpent Ritual) is a 1997 Indian Kannada-language drama film, directed by T. S. Nagabharana and written by Girish Karnad. Produced by Srihari L. Khoday with music by C. Aswath, It is an adaptation of a 1988 play by Karnad with the same name which is based on a local folk tale and ritual. It stars Prakash Raj and Vijayalakshmi in the lead roles. The film depicts a romantic plot between a woman and a snake in the disguise of her uncaring husband.

The film, upon release, went on to win many prestigious awards for its content and screen adaptation. The soundtrack, consisting of 15 tracks, tuned by C. Ashwath became very popular for the folksy touch. Vijayalakshmi won Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Kannada for her performance in this film.

Karnad's play has been compared with Vijaydan Detha's 1970s Rajasthani folkloric short story Duvidha which has a similar plotline and has also been cited as a source for this film. Detha's story was adapted into a 1973 film with the same name, which was later remade into the 2005 film Paheli (reportedly also inspired by this film).

It was selected for the Indian Panorama section at the 28th International Film Festival of India in 1997.