SATI SAVITRI 1933

Banner:East India Film Company

Direction: Cithajallu Pullaiah

Cast :
Ramatilakam,
Vemuri gaggaih,
niddumukkula subba rao,
surabhi kamalabhai

Story of the film:Mahabharata legend in which princess savitri marries satyavan despite a curse that foretells his death within a year. She manages to get Yama (gaggiah), the god of death, to restore her husband to life.

On the film:with this film the Calcutta based studio tried to compete with the entry of Bombay studios into the nascent Telugu cinema, inaugurated by HM Reddy's Bhaktha Prahalada (1931) using actors from the surabhi theatres troupe. Pullaiah version introduces the star Gaggiah.

About sri vemuri gaggiah: Vemuri gaggiah born on 15th august 1895 at vemuru in guntur dist. His father was a village karunam. But he died very young. So sri gaggiah was brought up by his brother, who was a govt. employee. He was married to ramalaxmi in 1913. he joined with sri dhenuvakonda chennia for learning the music. He joined with the surabhi drama company and even gave a performances in Rangoon. He is one of the first person to perform in Rangoon. He was awarded with golden crown in Rangoon.

After coming from Rangoon he joined with tenali drama company which was run by sri malladi gopnatha sastry which was number one at that time. Then he joined with mylavaram drama company. This company was established in 1913 and they constructed a theatre at 1917 in vijayawada. Around 1924 the company was closed. But gaggaih was very famous and got lot of name. When talkies started c.pulliah invited sri gaggiah to the film savitri. People use to tremble hearing sri gaggiah?s voice. They use to publish giggaiah?s name on posters to get maximum patrons.

He acted in
1933 savitri
1935 srikrishna leelau
1936 sati tulasi, drupathi vastrapaharam
1937 mohini rukmangada, jarasandha
1938 bhakta markandeya
1940 miravana, chandika
1941 daksha yagnam
1942 bhakta prahalada
1943 garuda garvabhangam
1944 sitarama jananam
1948 bhakta siriyala

Over all he acted only 14 movies but all the films brought him a lot of name. Even though he got lot of name he didn't left vemuru, he stayed at vemuru and used to go to madras for the roles. He didn't got addicted to the name and fame, also to the bad habits and lived a simple life in the village. He still played the roles in drama until his death. He died peacefully on 30-12-1955. May his soul rest in peace.