Chittajallu Pullayya (01January1898 – 6 October 1967) was an Indian film director and screenwriter. He is one of the earliest film personalities in

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

being associated with the industry right from the

silent era A silent film is a film without 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, wh ...

. Pullayya started his film career in 1921 as a camera apprentice to the 'father of Telugu cinema' Raghupati Venkaiah Naidu’s Star of the East in

Madras Chennai, also known as Madras ( its official name until 1996), is the capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. According to the 2011 Indian ce ...

, and at Kohinoor in

Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...

. He was also the

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

for

Kakinada Kakinada (; formerly known as Cocanada) is a Port, port city and municipal corporation in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Situated along the Bay of Bengal, it serves as the headquarters of Kakinada district and is a prominent economic and c ...

-based Young Men’s Happy Club. After gaining experience in filmmaking, he purchased a second-hand

movie camera A movie camera (also known as a film camera and cine-camera) is a type of photographic camera that rapidly takes a sequence of photographs, either onto film stock or an image sensor, in order to produce a moving image to display on a screen. In c ...

in 1924 in Bombay and returned to his native place

with an intention to make films in Andhra. He made a silent three- reel

short film A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film o ...

''Markandeya'' (1926 or 1931) in Kakinada. To exhibit it he started a tent theatre named 'City Electric Cinema' and took the projector and chairs to various towns and exhibited the film, thus pioneering a

movie theatre A movie theater (American English) or cinema (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English), also known as a movie house, cinema hall, picture house, picture theater, the movies, the pictures, or simply theater, is a business ...

movement in Andhra. He later ran the permanent Minerva theatre. In 1933, he made his first

feature film A feature film or feature-length film (often abbreviated to feature), also called a theatrical film, is a film (Film, motion picture, "movie" or simply “picture”) with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole present ...

'' Sati Savitri'' in

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

''.'' It was the first Telugu film produced by East India Film Company and received an honorary diploma at the 2nd Venice Film Festival. He then directed ''Lava Kusa'' (1934) and ''Sati Anasuya'' (1936), the first Telugu

children's film A children's film, or family film, is a film genre that generally relates to children in the context of home and family. Children's films are made specifically for children and not necessarily for a general audience, while family films are made f ...

made with sixty child actors. ''Lava Kusa'' was the first major commercial success in Telugu cinema. The film attracted unprecedented numbers of viewers to theatres and thrust the young industry into mainstream culture. He continued to direct films like '' Vara Vikrayam'' (1939), ''Maalati Madhavam'' (1940), '' Pakka Inti Ammayi'' (1953) under the East India Film Company. He directed '' Bala Nagamma'' (1942) and ''Apoorva Sahodarulu'' (1950) under Gemini Pictures after shifting base to

. He is well remembered for '' Lava Kusa'' (1963), the story of

Lava Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a Natural satellite, moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a Fissure vent, fractu ...

and Kusa in Hindu epic ''

Ramayana The ''Ramayana'' (; ), also known as ''Valmiki Ramayana'', as traditionally attributed to Valmiki, is a smriti text (also described as a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic) from ancient India, one of the two important epics ...

'', which won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Telugu. Pullayya introduced Bhanumathi and Anjali Devi to the film industry through ''Vara Vikrayam'' (1939) and ''Gollabhama'' (1947) respectively.

Filmography

# ''Ramadasu'' (1933) # '' Sati Savitri'' (1933) # '' Lava Kusa'' (1934) # ''Anasuya'' (1936) # ''Dhruva'' ''Vijayam'' (1936); Event occurs at 6:08 # ''Chal Mohana Ranga'' (1937) # ''Dasavataramulu'' (1937) # ''Kasula Peru'' (1937) # ''Mohini Bhasmasura'' (1938) # ''Satyanarayana Vratam'' (1938) # '' Vara Vikrayam'' (1939) # '' Malathi Madhavam'' (1940) # '' Bala Nagamma'' (1942) # ''Narada Naradi'' (1946) # '' Gollabhama'' (1947) # '' Vindhyarani'' (1948) # ''Apoorva Sahodaralu'' (1950) # ''Sankranti'' (1952) # '' Pakka Inti Ammayi'' (1953) # '' Devanthakudu'' (1960) # '' Naan Kanda Sorgam'' (1960) # '' Lava Kusa'' (1963) # '' Paramanandayya Sishyula Katha'' (1966) # ''Bhuvana Sundari Katha'' (1967) # '' Bhama Vijayam'' (1967)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pullaiah, C. Telugu film directors Indian male dramatists and playwrights Indian theatre directors Indian arts administrators 20th-century Indian dramatists and playwrights 1898 births 1967 deaths People from Kakinada Film people from East Godavari district Film directors from Andhra Pradesh Screenwriters from Andhra Pradesh Telugu screenwriters 20th-century Indian male writers 20th-century Indian screenwriters