Raghupathi Venkaiah Naidu (15 October 1869 – 15 March 1941), was an Indian filmmaker, screenwriter, director, graphic artist, lyricist, author, educationist and entrepreneur considered as the father of

Telugu cinema Telugu cinema, also known as Tollywood, is the segment of Indian cinema dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Telugu language, widely spoken in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Telugu cinema is based in Film Nagar, ...

. Regarded as one of the pioneers of

Indian cinema The Cinema of India consists of motion pictures produced in India, which had a large effect on world cinema since the late 20th century. Major centers of film production across the country include Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, ...

, Venkaiah started his career as a commercial

photographer A photographer (the Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who makes photographs. Duties and types of photographers As in oth ...

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

; he was drawn into

independent film An independent film, independent movie, indie film, or indie movie is a feature film or short film that is produced outside the major film studio system, in addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies (or, i ...

making, and he traveled to different regions in South east Asia to promote and teach cinematic techniques,

filmmaking Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, cast ...

, and distribute foreign language

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, w ...

s. Venkaiah Naidu founded one of the first

cinematograph Cinematograph or kinematograph is an early term for several types of motion picture film mechanisms. The name was used for movie cameras as well as film projectors, or for complete systems that also provided means to print films (such as the Ci ...

company in South India called "The Glass Studio" equipped with

sound-on-disc Sound-on-disc is a class of sound film processes using a phonograph or other disc to record or play back sound in sync with a motion picture. Early sound-on-disc systems used a mechanical interlock with the movie projector, while more recent syste ...

display technology, allowing play back

sound In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by ...

in sync with a

motion picture A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

. In 1912, he founded The Gaiety

movie theater A movie theater (American English), cinema (British English), or cinema hall ( Indian English), also known as a movie house, picture house, the movies, the pictures, picture theater, the silver screen, the big screen, or simply theater is a ...

which was the first in Madras to screen films on a full-time basis. The Raghupati Venkaiah Award is an annual award incorporated into the state Nandi Awards honoring veteran artists who made significant contributions in Telugu cinema.

Biography

Early life

Venkaiah Naidu is born to the second son of an Indian Army official Subedar Appayya Naidu in Machilipatnam,

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...

, India. His brother Raghupathi Venkataratnam Naidu was a noted educationalist and social reformer. His forefathers worked as Commanders in the Army of East Indian Company and Madras Army in hyderabad Regiments. At the age of 18, he moved to

and started drawing pictures and carving sculptures at Mount Road and selling them. He then learned photography and founded a photographic studio.

Photographer

In 1909, he introduced '' Chrono Mega phone'', equipment that relates sounds with pictures, from John Dickinson and Company. To pay for the Chrono Mega phone he bought for Rs 30,000, he rented out his photo studio. He shot 12 short films and exhibited them in

Victoria Public Hall Victoria Public Hall, or the Town Hall, is a historical building in Chennai, named after Victoria, Empress of India. It is one of the finest examples of British architecture in Chennai and was built to commemorate the golden jubilee of Quee ...

. He also travelled to

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

Vijayawada Vijayawada, formerly known as Bezawada, is the second largest city in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh and is a part of the state's Capital Region. It is the administrative headquarters of the NTR district. Its metropolitan region comprises N ...

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

Rangoon Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government ...

and

Pegu Bago (formerly spelt Pegu; , ), formerly known as Hanthawaddy, is a city and the capital of the Bago Region in Myanmar. It is located north-east of Yangon. Etymology The Burmese name Bago (ပဲခူး) is likely derived from the Mon langua ...

to exhibit his films.

Theatre owner

In 1910, he established ''Esplanade Ten House'' to exhibit his films. In 1912, he constructed ''Gaiety Talkies'' on Mount Road, the first Indian-owned cinema theatre in Chennai. He later constructed ''Crown Theatre'' on Mint Street and ''Globe Theatre'' in Parasuwakka, Chennai. He also exhibited American and British films. Some of the first movies shown in his theatres were ''Million Dollar Mystery'', ''Mysteries of Meera'', ''Clutching Hand'', ''Broken Coin'', ''Raja's casket'', ''Peral fish'', and 'Great Bard'. He established a film library and provided training on cinematic techniques.

Film producer

In 1919, he started a production company called ''Star of East Films'' and a film studio called ''Glass Studio''. He sent his son, Raghupati Surya Prakash Naidu, to study

cinematography Cinematography (from ancient Greek κίνημα, ''kìnema'' "movement" and γράφειν, ''gràphein'' "to write") is the art of motion picture (and more recently, electronic video camera) photography. Cinematographers use a lens to focu ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. Father and son made their first movie "Meenakshi Kalyanam" around actual locations of the Madurai Meenakshi temple. Later, they produced films like ''Gajendra Moksham'', ''Mathsyavatharam'', ''Nandanaar'', and ''Bhishma Pratigna'', the first Telugu mookie (i.e., movie with no playback voices). He faced high competition with East India Film Company, and went bankrupt. Later, his son and Yaragudipati Varada Rao established a long-lasting precedent of focusing exclusively on religious themes; ''Nandanar'', ''Gajendra Moksham'', and ''Matsyavatar'', three of their most noted productions, centered on religious figures, parables, and morals. Venkaiah died on 15 March 1941 due to medical illness.

Filmography

*''Meenakshi Kalyanam'' *''Gajendra Moksham'' *''Mathsyavatharam'' *''Nandanaar'' *'' Bhishma Pratigya'' (1921)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Venkaiah, Raghupati 19th-century births 1941 deaths Telugu film directors Film directors from Andhra Pradesh Indian silent film directors People from Krishna district People from Machilipatnam Indian illustrators 20th-century Indian film directors Indian editors Writers who illustrated their own writing Indian industrialists Indian cinematographers Businesspeople from Andhra Pradesh Indian business executives Indian technology company founders