Aluru Venkata Subbarao (5 August 1908 – 24 September 1975), popularly known by his

pen name A pen name or nom-de-plume is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen name may be used to make the author's na ...

Chakrapani, was an Indian screenwriter, film producer, studio owner, and director 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 ...

. He received two

Filmfare Awards The Filmfare Awards are annual awards that honour artistic and technical excellence in the Indian cinema.Al The Filmfare ceremony is one of the most famous film events in India. The awards were introduced by Filmfare magazine of The Times G ...

and was notable for his association with

Vijaya Vauhini Studios Vijaya Vauhini Studios is a film production company based in Chennai, India. It is the combination of Vijaya Productions and Vauhini Studios. B. Nagi Reddy (Bommireddy Nagi Reddy) was the founder of Vijaya Productions and Moola Narayana Sw ...

, one of Asia's largest studios at the time. Chakrapani was also a partner at Vijaya Productions alongside B. Nagi Reddi and co-founded Chandamama, the children's magazine.

Early life

Chakrapani was born in Ithanagar village near

Tenali Tenali is a city in Guntur district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is a municipality, and the headquarters of Tenali mandal and Tenali revenue division. The city is renowned for art, culture, drama, and hence, it is called "Andhra ...

Guntur Guntur (), natively spelt as Gunturu, is a city in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Andhra Pradesh and the administrative headquarters of Guntur district. The city is part of the Andhra Pradesh Capital Region and is lo ...

in present-day

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (ISO 15919, ISO: , , AP) is a States and union territories of India, state on the East Coast of India, east coast of southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, seventh-largest state and th ...

, into a middle-class agricultural family. He initially studied

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

under the tutelage of the well-known author Vraj Nandan Sharma and later taught himself Tamil, Sanskrit, and English, mastering all three languages.

Literary career

Chandamama - Good Old Stories in English

In 1932, Chakrapani contracted

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

and was admitted to the Madanapalle sanatorium for treatment. During his stay, he reportedly learned to read and write Bengali in just three months from a fellow patient. This skill led him to translate many Bengali literary works into Telugu, including Sarat Chandra Chatterji's '' Devdas'', which he translated as ''Devadasu'' in 1933. His translations of Bengali novels became immensely popular among Telugu readers.

Film career

Chakrapani's film career took off when he became a close friend of B. Nagi Reddi while working as a writer for Vauhini Productions' '' Swarga Seema'' (1945). Well-versed in both Hindi and Bengali, Chakrapani brought a unique literary perspective to Telugu cinema. After joining forces with Nagi Reddi, Chakrapani took on editorial roles for '' Andhra Jyothi'', ''Yuva'', and '' Chandamama'' under BNK Press. When Vijaya Productions was launched, their first film, '' Shavukaru'' (1950), was based on a story written by Chakrapani. From then on, all Vijaya Productions films credited Nagi Reddi and Chakrapani as producers, a practice that continued until Chakrapani's demise. Within this partnership, Chakrapani handled story, dialogue, and direction-related matters, while Nagi Reddi focused on production and logistics. Together, they made successful films like '' Patala Bhairavi'', '' Maya Bazar'', '' Gundamma Katha'', '' Missamma'', '' Shavukaru'', and ''

Appu Chesi Pappu Koodu ''Appu Chesi Pappu Koodu'' () is a 1959 Indian Telugu-language comedy drama film directed and co-written by L. V. Prasad. The film was produced by Nagi Reddi and Chakrapani of Vijaya Productions; the latter co-wrote its script with Prasad ...

'' that are still popular with Telugu speaking people. Both made 35 films in Telugu,

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

Kannada Kannada () is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, and is additionally a ...

, Odia and

languages.

Awards

* National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Kannada – ''Maduve Madinodu'' (1965) *

Filmfare Best Film Award (Telugu) The Filmfare Award for Best Film is given by the '' Filmfare'' magazine as part of its annual Filmfare Awards for Hindi films. The award was first given in 1954. Here is a list of the award winners and the nominees of the respective years. E ...

- Maya Bazaar (1957) * Filmfare Best Film Award (Telugu) - Gundamma Katha (1962)

Selected filmography

* Dharmapatni (Telugu, 1941) (dialogue) (debut) * Dharmapatni (Tamil, 1941) (dialogue) *

Swargaseema ''Swargaseema'' is a 1945 Telugu language, Telugu-language drama film produced and directed by B.N. Reddi, B. N. Reddi and starring V. Nagayya, B. Jayamma and Bhanumathi Ramakrishna, Bhanumathi. The film marked the debut of Ghantasala (musician), ...

(1945) (dialogue) (story) * Shavukaru (1950) (writer) * Pelli Chesi Choodu (1952) (writer) * Chandraharam (1954) (writer) * Guna Sundari (1955) (Producer) * Missamma (1955) (writer) * Missiamma (1955) (writer) *

(1958) (adaptation) * Rechukka Pagatichukka (1959) (screen adaptation) * Gundamma Katha (1962) (story) * Manithan Maravillai (1962) (screen adaptation) * Julie (1975) (screen adaptation) * Sri Rajeswari Vilas Coffee Club (1976) (writer) * Swayamvar (1980) (story)

Producer

* Sri Rajeswari Vilas Coffee Club (1976) * Julie (1975) (Nagi Reddi-Chakrapani) * Ganga Manga (1973) * Ram Aur Shyam (1967) * Maduve Madi Nodu (Kannada) (1965)(Nagi Reddi-Chakrapani) * Gundamma Katha (1962) * Manithan Maravillai (1962) *

(1958) * Maya Bazaar (1957) * Missamma (1955) * Chandraharam (1954) * Pelli Chesi Choodu (1952) * Patala Bhairavi (1951) * Shavukaru (1950)

Director

* Sri Rajeswari Vilas Coffee Club (1976) * Manithan Maravillai (1962)

Chandamama

Both Nagireddy and Aluri came up with the idea of a story book for kids and children, and thus '' Chandamama'' was born. The first edition of Chandamama was released in July, 1947. They made Chandamama popular not only in

Telugu language Telugu (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language native to the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, where it is also the official language. Spoken by about 96 million people (2022), Telugu is the most widely spoken member of ...

but in ten other Indian languages. He started in 1934 the monthly publication of Yuva magazine from

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

which was later shifted to

Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

. Well-known writer Kodavatiganti Kutumba Rao was a partner in this venture. Kodavatiganti Kutumba Rao, a very close friend of aluri and a literary colossus in Telugu Literature, edited it for 28 years, till his death in August 1980.

Notes

External links

* http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-metroplus/the-story-in-a-road-name/article404360.ece {{DEFAULTSORT:Chakrapani, Aluri People from Tenali Film people from Guntur district 1908 births 1975 deaths Telugu film producers Tamil film producers Tamil film directors Telugu screenwriters 20th-century Indian screenwriters