Venkata Narasimha Reddy, professionally known as V. N. Reddy (20 November 1914 – 29 December 1991), was an Indian cinematographer and director who predominantly worked in

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 ...

and

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of South India ** Telugu literature, is the body of works written in the Telugu language. * Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Tel ...

films for over thirty years starting from 1943. One of the pioneers of Indian cinematography, Reddy was born in

Kadapa Kadapa is a city in the southern part of Andhra Pradesh, India. It is located in the Rayalaseema region, and is the district headquarters of YSR Kadapa district. It is located south of the Penna River. The city is surrounded on three sides by ...

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 ...

and was brought up in

Anantapur Anantapur, officially Anantapuramu, is a city in Anantapur district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is the mandal headquarters of Anantapuru Tehsil, mandal and also the divisional headquarters of Anantapur revenue division. The city ...

Career

He developed a passion for

cinematography Cinematography () is the art of motion picture (and more recently, electronic video camera) photography. Cinematographers use a lens (optics), lens to focus reflected light from objects into a real image that is transferred to some image sen ...

at a very young age. ''Badalti Duniya'', his debut movie, was released in the year 1943. He first excelled in black-and-white photography and film making and then shifted to colour film making. His noted films are ''Aag'' (1948), ''Hulchul'' (1951), ''Baiju Bawra'' (1952), ''Meenar'' (1954), ''Chori Chori'' (1956), ''

Kashmir Ki Kali ''Kashmir Ki Kali'' () is a 1964 Indian Hindi-language romance film directed by Shakti Samanta. The film stars Shammi Kapoor, Sharmila Tagore in her Hindi movie debut role, Pran, Dhumal, Nazir Hussain and Anoop Kumar. The music was compose ...

'' (1964), ''

Do Badan Do Badan (English: Two Bodies) is a 1966 Hindi film directed by Raj Khosla, and starring Manoj Kumar, Asha Parekh, Simi Garewal and Pran. The music is by Ravi. The film idea was suggested by Manoj Kumar, who asked Khosla to accompany him for a ...

'' (1966), ''

Upkar ''Upkar'' () is a 1967 Indian Hindi film directed by Manoj Kumar. Set in the backdrop of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, ''Upkar'' celebrates village life and the contributions of farmers and soldiers to India. The film was inspired by Indian pr ...

'' (1967), ''

Purab Aur Paschim () is a 1970 Indian Hindi-language drama film. The movie was produced and directed by Manoj Kumar, and it stars Manoj Kumar, Saira Banu, Ashok Kumar, Pran and Prem Chopra in the lead roles. The music is by Kalyanji Anandji. The 2007 film '' ...

'' (1970) and ''

Do Chor ''Do Chor'' () is a 1972 Hindi romantic drama film produced by Raj Khosla and directed by Padmanabh. It stars Dharmendra, Tanuja, Shobhana Samarth, K.N. Singh, Trilok Kapoor and Jalal Agha. The music is by R.D. Burman and the lyrics by Ma ...

'' (1972). ''Aag'' (1948) was made by a group of people in their twenties, Reddy being the oldest. It is considered one of the most significant films of all time. Writing about Reddy's work for the song ''Dulhan Chali Pehan Chali'' from the film ''Purab Aur Paschim'' (1970), the Indian film review website, ''Passion for Cinema'' states Lakh Tandon and

V. Gopi Krishna Dasari Gopi Krishna, better known as V. Gopi Krishna, was a cinematographer and producer in the Indian film industry. He was born in Brahmana Koduru in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh. His parents are Dasari Venkateswarlu and Saraswathamma. Af ...

were Reddy's assistants. Reddy also tried his hand at directing movies like ''Ganga Gauri Samvadam'' (Telugu - 1958), ''Sengottai Singam'' (Tamil - 1958), ''Intika Deepam Illalu'' (Telugu - 1961), ''Ananda Jyoti'' (Tamil - 1963), and ''Zahreeli'' (1977) among others. Ravikant Reddy, one of Reddy's six children, who at an early age of 13 to 14 years was trained and apprenticed under his father, is a noted cinematographer himself.

Partial filmography

As cinematographer

As film director

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reddy, V. N. People from Kadapa Nandi Award winners Telugu film cinematographers 1914 births 1991 deaths Cinematographers from Andhra Pradesh Telugu film directors Tamil film directors 20th-century Indian photographers Film directors from Andhra Pradesh