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Actress Savitri's biopic Mahanati is a Telugu movie. The movie was also simultaneously shot in Tamil and was released as Nadigaiyar Thilagam. As far as I know, the two films have the same screenplay and obviously the cast is the same and the two films were released in their respective regions within 2 days.

Mahanati (Telugu word, same in Hindi) means "Hardworking". Nadigaiyar Thilagam (Tamil word) means "Actress Thilakam" (Used Google Translate, it doesn't make sense). Using extensive Google search, I found the meaning to be "The Pride of an Actress". That makes sense.

Why was the Telugu movie title so much different in meaning than the Tamil movie title, when both films are essentially same.

One title means "hardworking", the other means "pride of the actress". Both convey a different meaning as to how to interpret the movie. Why was this decision made?

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The titles for the biopic were named as per the titles given to Savitri when she was alive. Just to inform, this is not completely a biopic. There are some incidents which are added by the director. Telugu version of disclaimer of "All the characters and events depicted in the film are fictitious" is shown in the beginning of the film.

In Telugu, Savitri title was Mahanati which means great actress. In Tamil, it was Nadigaiyar Tilagam which roughly means the greatest of actresses, ornament among the actresses

Tilakam is originally Sanskrit word and also present in Telugu which changes to Thilagam in Tamil. This has many meanings.

  1. Ornament
  2. Which brings beauty
  3. Dots put on the forehead which bring beauty.
  4. Pride etc., based o context it's used.

Tilakam is a dot put on forehead or top of forehead which signifies that is top. It is used in poetry to show something which is the best among the class.

Greatest of actresses or ornament to the actresses or the one who brings beauty to the actresses is roughly the meaning of Nadigaiyar Thilagam which is similar to Mahanati.

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  • But Mahanati means Hardworking no? Are Hindi & Telugu meaning of the word mahanati different
    – KharoBangdo
    Jul 13, 2018 at 17:21
  • Maha means great and nati means an actress.@KharoBangdo
    – Nog Shine
    Jul 13, 2018 at 17:22
  • Oh I see. I took it as one word. Even in Marathi which I understand, maha-nati means great actress. Are you sure about the Tamil translation. I mentioned in OP what I found through Google translate
    – KharoBangdo
    Jul 13, 2018 at 17:26
  • @KharoBangdo Yes, I'm pretty sure about it. Tilakam is a Sanskrit word which has many meanings. 1. Ornament 2. Which brings beauty 3. Dots put on the forehead etc., Greatest of actresses or ornament to the actresses or the one who brings beauty to the actresses is the meaning of Nadigaiyar Thilagam.
    – Nog Shine
    Jul 13, 2018 at 17:41
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    Nadigaiyar thilagam roughly translates to "a gem among actresses" which is bestowed to her as she was a great performer and was one of the most hard-working actresses. And similarly "nadigar thilagam" refers to "a gem among actors" which was given to sivaji for his numerous class performances.
    – Nikhil Eshvar
    Jul 14, 2018 at 1:57

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