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Exactly six months after India's first talkie Alam Ara released on March 14, 1931, Mr H M Reddy, who worked as an assistant director for that movie, came out with Bhakta Prahlada – the first ever talkie movie in Telugu.
The 80-year-old Telugu film industry, which emerged as the third most popular after Hindi and Tamil, would commemorate September 15, the day Bhakta Prahlada was released, as the Telugu Film Industry day every year.
It is going to have a specially designed flag that will be unfurled across all theatres and offices of film industry. It will be a holiday for all film workers and artistes and no shooting will be held that day.
“However, celebrations would be on a low key note this year for paucity of time. From next year, we are going to celebrate this on a grand scale,” Mr M Muralimohan, actor-producer, said.
Addressing a press conference here on Saturday, he said all branches and associations of the film industry would be involved in the celebrations.
Though the talkie was made in 1931, efforts began quite early to produce films without sound. Mr Raghupati Venkaiah, regarded as the father of Telugu film industry, laid the foundation stone for the industry in the South by setting up Glass Studio and bringing one of the first cameras into the country. This studio helped produce silent films as early as 1919. He went on to make six more movies.
After his debut with Bhakta Prahlada , Mr Reddy made six more films. He was followed by Mr C Pullaiah, who made 19 movies. He held the credit to make the first ever children's movie in Telugu titled Anasuya .
The other great names that enriched Telugu films include Mr P Pullaiah, Mr Gudavalli Ramabrahmam, Mr B.N. Reddy, Mr K.V. Reddy, Mr L.V. Prasad and Mr Chitturu Nagaiah. Mirzapur Raja, who owned Sobhanachala Studios, introduced scores of technicians and artistes to the industry.
“It was Mr K Ramnoth who prepared a scientific method to prepare a screenplay. This was followed by many,” Mr K.S. Rao, who has been tracking the Telugu film industry for over four decades, said.
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