RAGHUPATHI VENKAIAH AWARDS

RAGHUPATHI VENKAIAH

DADA SAHEB PHALKE 1913 lo "raja harischandra"cinema teesi bharateeya cinema pitha mahuduga charitraku yekkaru.kani 1910 lone madraslo deralu katti mooki cinemalu pradarsinchi charitra marachi poyina varu "raghupathi venkaiah".pramukha sangha samskarta "raghupathi venkataratnam naidu sodarude ee venkaiah.1869 october 15 na banderlo janminchi 18 va yetane madras cheri kala rangamlo adugu pettaru.1911 lo madras mount roadlo "geity" talkies ane peruto modati cinema theatre nirmincharu.1913 lo "star of east films"ane peruto chitra nirmana samsthanu prarambhincharu.kumarudu raghupathi prakash ki videsalalo sikshana yippinchi 50 mandi natee natulato 2500/- khartuto 1921lo "bhishma pratigna" ane toli mooki cinema teesaru.
ee vidhanga telugu cinemaku aadyudina "raghupathi venkaiah" peruto anhra rashtra prabhutvamu 1980 lo oka awardnu nelakolpi yippatidaka 23 mandiki bahukarinchi ayananu smarinchu kontunnadi.ENGLISH VERSION
There is a general perception that Dada Saheb Falke is the father of Indian Cinema as he produced the first film in India, 'Raja Harischandra' in 1910. But it was Sri Raghupathi Venkaiah Naidu who laid foundation stone for Indian Cinema by producing a film on 1909.

Venkaiah's father worked as a subedar in Indian Army, Machilipatnam. Venkaiah is the second son. He used to excel in the fields of drawing and sculpturing. He was a great devotee of Lord Venkateswara.

At the age of 18, Venkaiah reached Madras (Chennai) and rented a small house to set up an art center. He started off with drawing and carving sculptures. Slowly he learnt photography and started experimenting. He happened to come accross a news article on 'Chrono Megaphone'. When we project a flim using Chrono Mega phone, it produces relevant sounds. Venkaiah ordered for that equipment from John Dickinson and Company.

Chronomegaphone costed him around Rs 30,000/-. Heeding to the advice by his wife, he mortgaged his photo studio to lend money. His gave his first show with that equipment at Victoria Hall. He exhibited 12 short films of 400 feet length each. Under the Panama, Sound Recorded Double Disk, Swing Song-18" disk, Sea Serpent - 18" disk, Fireman Song - 18" disk, Micado - 18" disk are few of them. Venkiah did not get encouraging collections during his first exhibition. That dis not dampen Venkaiah's spirits. He distributed palmplet to create the awareness in public.

In 1910 Venkaiah established a tent house called Esplanade in Madras to exhibit his films. Later he toured extensively in Bangalore and Vijayawada to exhibit his films using the tent house concept. Though he did not gain financially in those tours, he could just break-even. He used to get lot of artistic satisfaction and sense of achievement as people started thronging to his tent house and apreciate his work. He went to Srilanka and exhibited his films in Burma, Rangoon and Peg.

In 1912, he constructed 'Gaiety Talkies' in Mount Road. This was the first cinema hall of Chennai. He exhibited films like 'Million Dollar Mystery', 'Mysteries of Meera' and 'Clutching Hand'. He went on for a cinema hall construction spree. He constructed Crown Theater in Mint Street and Globe Theater in Parasuwakkam. He exhibited prestigious films like 'Broken Coin' and 'Great Bard'.

In 1919, he started a production company called 'Star of East Films'. He started a film studio called 'Glass Studio'. He used have shortage of electric supply in his studio and generators were not available at that time. Hence he used shoot films using broad day light.

In 1921, Venkaiah's son Prakash produced films like 'Gajendra Moksham', 'Mathsyavatharam', 'Nandanaar', and 'Bhishma Pratigna'. During that time Indian women did not show willingness to act in films. Venkaiah used to cast Anglo-Indian women in his films. Though 'Bhisma Pratigna' is supposed to be the first Telugu feature film, history says that Venkaiah produced a film called 'kannagi' which did not see the day of light due to some technical problems. Venkaiah is the pioneer of Trick Shots, Studio and Labs in south India.

Venkaiah was there in business till 1929. As he had to pay for enormous amount of interest to the money lenders, he was forced to sell off his properties. Sri Raghupathi Venkaiah Naidu, who pioneered and introduced the technology of Cinema in South India, died on 15th March 1941 with abject poverty. AP State Government honored him by incorporating 'Raghupathi Venkaiah Award'.


1. 1908 lojanuary 17 na west godavari lo janminchi cinema rangampy aasaktito tana 22 va yeta bombai cherukonnaru "L.V.PRASAD."1931 march14 na vidudala ayina toli bharateeya talkie chitram "alam aara"lo oka patranu poshincharu.ante kakunda 1931 sept.lo toli telugu talkie bhakta prahlada lo 1931 oct.lo tamil talkie "kalidasu" lalo natincharu. ee vidhanga tolisariga nirminchina 3 bhashlalo natincharu.1945 varaku cinemalaku asst. panichesina prasad cine jeevitham "gruhapravesam"cinema darsakatvamto malupu tirigindi.1948 lo "palnati yuddham","drohi"vijayavantamynayi. drohi chitram dwarane pramukha sangeeta darsakudu "pendyala nageswara rao"cine ranganiki parichayam ayyaru.1949 lo "mana desam"chitram dwara viswa vikhyata "N.T.R" chitra ceemaku parichayam ayyaru.taruvata appatike natistunna "A.N.R" nu "samsaram" chitram dwara sanghika chitrala heronu chesaru. "vijayasamstha"nirminchina "shavukaru".pellichesi chudu","missamma","appu chesi pappu kudu" cinemalaku darsakatvam vahinchi vijaya bheri mogincharu. lo tolisariga "prasad lakshmi productions" banerpy akkineni,anjali,jamuna,krishnakumari pradhana patra dharuluga "yoganand" darsakatvam lo nirminchina "ila velpu" ghana vijayam sadhinchindi.1956 lo ee chitranne hindilo raj kapoor,meena kumari jantaga sweeya darsakatvamlo "sarada"ga nirminchi goppa hit sadhinchi hindi chitra semake parimitamy hindilochala cinemalu teesaru. "sivaji ganeshan" ni paradesi chitram dwara tamil seemaku,drohi chitra dwara gayanigi "p.sussela"nu,ek duje keliye chitram dwara kamal hasannu natudiga,balu ni gayakuduga hindi chitra seemaku parichayam chesaru.
l.v.prasad nirmata,darsakudugane kaka madras lo shootinglaku sakala sadupayalato prasad studio,culour lab,recording theatre nirminchi cine abivrudhiki dohadam chesaru.1980 lo raghupathi venkaiah award,1994 lo dadasaheb phalke award pondaru.

2.dakshina bharata cinema rangam aadyulalo okaryna "p,pullaiah" cine rangamlo andari cheta "dady" ga pilavabadi dadapuga 40 chitralaku darsakatvam vahincharu.1911 ,may 2 na ,nellorelo janminchina pullaiah 1934 lo madras presidency kalasalalo b.s.c hounorslo degree poorti chesi cinema rangampy makkuvato dadasaheb phalkeni kalisi1935 lo cine jeevitaniki sreekaram chuttaru.1937 lo "saranga dhara"cinema dwara prakhyata nateemani p.santha kumarini parichayam chesi taruvata amene vivaham chesukoni adarsanga jeevincharu.telugulone kakunda tamillo kuda agra darsakudanipinchukonnaru.telugulo dharmadevatha,tirugubatu,rechukka,kanyasulkam
bandaramudu
,jayabheri, devantakudu,sirisampadalu,muralikrishna, preminchichudu,pranamitrudu,vinthakapuram, koduku kodalu,modalyna chitralu ayana darsakatvaniki nidarsanalu.teluguto patu tamillo kuda enno vijaya vantamyna chitralaku darsakatvam vahincharu.1981 lo ragupathi venkaiah award ,tamilnadu
prabhutwam nundi kalimamani award pondaru.dakshina bharatha chita seemalo yendariko adrsa margadarsakudyna pullaiah garu 1987 may 29 na tanuvu chalincharu.