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, 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 other ...

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Tamil Nadu, the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and territories of India, Indian state. The largest city ...

; he was drawn into independent filmmaking, and he traveled to different regions in South east Asia to promote and teach cinematic techniques, filmmaking, and distribute foreign language silent films. Venkaiah Naidu founded one of the first cinematograph company in South India called "The Glass Studio" equipped with sound-on-disc 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. In 1912, he founded The Gaiety movie theater which was the first in Madras to screen films on a full-time basis. The

Raghupati Venkaiah Award The Raghupathi Venkaiah Naidu Award is an award issued by the Indian state government of Andhra Pradesh, to recognise lifetime achievements in Telugu cinema. The award was introduced in 1981 in honour of Raghupathi Venkaiah Naidu, a pioneer of t ...

is an annual award incorporated into the state

Nandi Awards The Nandi Awards are the awards that recognise the excellence in Telugu cinema, Telugu theatre and Telugu television, and Lifetime achievements in Indian cinema. Presented annually by the Government of Andhra Pradesh, the award is named af ...

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 t ...

, 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. 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,

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 and Pegu 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 Film, motion picture (and more recently, electronic video camera) photography. Cinematographers use a lens (o ...

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 ''Bhishma Pratigna'' is a 1921 Indian silent film. Produced and directed by Raghupati Surya Prakash, son of Raghupathi Venkaiah Naidu through Star of the East production house. The film stars Raghupati Suryaprakash as Bhishma. ''Bhishma Pra ...

'' (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