Bellary Raghava

Bellary Raghava was the best-known actor of the Telugu stage in its first age.¹² His real name was Tadipatri Raghavacharyulu.¹ He worked at Bellary, the town where the modern Telugu drama began, and made his name in its plays.²³

The theatre historian M. Nagabhushana Sarma gives his dates. Raghava was born on 2 August 1880 at Tadipatri, his family’s village in Anantapur district.⁴ He went on acting almost to the end. He last played on stage on 23 March 1946, and died on 16 April 1946.⁵

Uncle and rival

Raghava was the nephew of Dharmavaram Ramakrishnamacharyulu, the “grandfather of Telugu drama”.³ Yet he did not act in his uncle’s plays as long as Dharmavaram lived. Y. Sitarama Sarma, writing in 1964, thought his uncle must have forbidden it.³

Instead Raghava joined the rival company of Bellary, the Sumanorama Sabha of Kolachalam Srinivasa Rao. N. Gangappa calls him its finest and chief actor.² In Kolachalam’s plays he took the main parts.³

His great roles

Sitarama Sarma lists the roles that made him famous:³

• Dasaratha in Paduka Pattabhishekam
• Kichaka in Kichaka Vadha and Hiranyakasipu in Prahlada
• Rukmangada and Harischandra in the plays named after them
• Duryodhana in Draupadi Manasamrakshana
• the Pathan in Kolachalam’s play on the fall of Vijayanagara⁶³

The Pathan of the Vijayanagara play won special praise, Sitarama Sarma says.⁶ In his view, Raghava and Kolachalam made each other famous. The plays brought Kolachalam his name as a playwright, and won Raghava the title Natyakala Prapoorna for his acting.³

Shakespeare and fame abroad

Raghava also acted in English. P. Raghunadha Rao writes that he played Othello and Shylock in English plays staged at Madras and Bangalore.¹ Gangappa says he became famous, in India and beyond, as an actor of Shakespeare. He adds that Dr. Arundale compared Raghava with “Sir Beerbohm Tree”.² According to Raghunadha Rao, his fame spread even to England.¹

His acting won the praise of Rabindranath Tagore.¹³ Raghunadha Rao says that through his skill Raghava gave the Telugu stage new strength.¹

By the time Sitarama Sarma wrote in 1964, Raghava had died; he calls him “the late Bellary Raghava”.³ For the stage of his time, see Telugu theatre and early cinema.

Where the sources disagree

What Tagore said. Raghunadha Rao says Tagore called Raghava the finest actor of the Indian stage.¹ Sitarama Sarma reports Tagore’s words as “one of the finest actors in the world”.³

Footnotes

1. P. Raghunadha Rao, Adhunika Andhrapradesh Charitra (New Delhi: Sterling, 1997), p. 332 (in Telugu) (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

2. N. Gangappa, “Andhra Nataka Rangasthalamupai Paschatyulayu, Parsilayu Prabhavamu”, Bharati, Vol. 45, No. 3 (March 1968), p. 41 (in Telugu) (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

3. Sitarama Sarma, Bharati (October 1964), p. 60 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰

4. M. Nagabhushana Sarma, “Bellary Raghava: The Man who Made the Modern Telugu Theatre”, Sangeet Natak, No. 57 (1980), p. 5 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩

5. Nagabhushana Sarma, Sangeet Natak, No. 57 (1980), p. 12 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩

6. Y. Sitarama Sarma, “Ki. Se. Kolachalam Srinivasa Rao”, Bharati, Vol. 41, No. 10 (October 1964), p. 58 (in Telugu) (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩²