Telugu Historyతెలుగు చరిత్ర

Y. V. Rao

Y. V. Rao (born 1903 at Nellore) was a film director and producer who worked in silent films at Bombay and Madras, made Kannada and Tamil talkies, and in 1939 started his own company, Jagadish Films, whose Malli Pelli was one of the first Telugu social films.

Y. V. Rao was a film director and producer from Nellore, who worked in the cinema from the silent days.1 For many years he made films in other languages, and only in 1939 did he make a Telugu film of his own.2 That film, Malli Pelli, was one of the first Telugu social films.2

Silent films and early talkies

The film almanac of 1953 says Rao was born at Nellore on 30 May 1903 and studied at the Madras University.1 He began in silent films with the Laxmi Pictures of Bombay, and worked with the Royal Art Studios there.1 Then he joined the General Pictures Corporation at Madras as an art director.1

When sound came, the almanac says, he directed some of the first Kannada talkies, at the studios of the Maharashtra Movietone in Kolhapur.1 At Calcutta in 1936 he made the Tamil film Chintamani, which ran for 72 weeks in South India.1 In 1940 he made the Tamil Savitri at the New Theatres studio in Calcutta, with Shanta Apte and M. S. Subbulakshmi, and acted in it himself.1 K. N. T. Sastry names him among the pioneers working to launch talkies at Madras in the early 1930s.3

Jagadish Films

In 1939 Rao set up his own company, Jagadish Films, and released the Telugu social film Malli Pelli, Kodavatiganti Kutumbarao writes.2 Kutumbarao notes that Rao was a Telugu man who had not made Telugu films for many years before this.2 Malli Pelli dealt with the remarriage of widows.4 The souvenir of 1956 also lists it among the films of 1939.5

The almanac says Rao made four Telugu and Tamil films after starting his own productions.1 In 1940 he cast Chittoor V. Nagaiah in a light part, as an odd film-maker, in his Viswa Mohini.6

Around 1941, Kutumbarao says, the star system began. Rao, B. N. Reddi and Gudavalli Ramabrahmam all took part in the race for stars.7 Yet all three, he adds, made films with a purpose, and did not say openly that they wanted only money.7

In the industry

During the Second World War the government set up a committee to advise it on giving out raw film. Y. V. Rao sat on it for the South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce, Madras.8 In October 1953 Kutumbarao named Rao among the producers who had brought Telugu films fame a dozen years before. Rao, he said, was still making films.9

In 1953 the almanac said Rao was producing Manjari, in Tamil and Telugu, for his own company.1

Where the sources disagree

The name of his company in 1953. The almanac says Rao was making Manjari for his firm Sri Varuna Films.1 The souvenir’s list of 1953 films gives the maker of Manjari as Sri Varma Films.10

Footnotes

  1. I. K. Menon and S. G. Chandavarkar (compilers), Indian Motion Picture Almanac and Who’s Who, 1953 (Bombay: Film Federation of India, 1953), p. 370, Who’s Who, “Rao, Y. V.” (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10

  2. Kutumbarao, “Telugu chitralu: simhavalokanam”, Andhra Prabha, 1 October 1953, in Cinema Vyasalu, Vol. 1, p. 172 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  3. K. N. T. Sastry, Chittoor V. Nagaiah: A Monograph (New Delhi: Publications Division, 2000), p. 18 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩

  4. Kodavatiganti Kutumbarao, “Telugu cinema vishishta charitralo konni mailurallu” (1952), in Cinema Vyasalu, Vol. 1 (Viplava Rachayitala Sangham, 2000), p. 160 (in Telugu) (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩

  5. Indian Talkie, 1931–56: Silver Jubilee Souvenir (Bombay: Film Federation of India, 1956), p. XXII, list of Telugu talkies, 1936–1952 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  6. Sastry, Chittoor V. Nagaiah (2000), p. 21 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩

  7. Kutumbarao, “Gudavalli Ramabrahmam”, Kinema, 15 February 1972, in Cinema Vyasalu, Vol. 1, p. 286 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩2

  8. Film Enquiry Committee, Report of the Film Enquiry Committee, 1951 (New Delhi: Government of India Press, 1951), p. 12 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  9. Kutumbarao, “Toli mali darsakulu”, Telugu Swatantra, 23 October 1953, in Cinema Vyasalu, Vol. 2 (Viplava Rachayitala Sangham, 2000), p. 248 (in Telugu) (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩

  10. Silver Jubilee Souvenir (1956), p. XXIII, list of Telugu talkies, 1952–1956 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

References

Sources (6)
  1. I. K. Menon and S. G. Chandavarkar (compilers), Indian Motion Picture Almanac and Who's Who, 1953 (opens in a new tab), Film Federation of India, Bombay, 1953, pp. 370. [Public domain in India (directory and unsigned matter); signed articles cite only]
  2. Kodavatiganti Kutumbarao; Krishnabai and Prasad (eds.), Cinema Vyasalu, Vol. 1 (Vyasa Prapancham 4) (in Telugu) (opens in a new tab), Viplava Rachayitala Sangham, Andhra Pradesh, 2000, pp. 160, 172, 286. Cite-only; paraphrased. [Cite only]
  3. Kodavatiganti Kutumbarao; Krishnabai and Prasad (eds.), Cinema Vyasalu, Vol. 2 (Vyasa Prapancham 4) (in Telugu) (opens in a new tab), Viplava Rachayitala Sangham, Andhra Pradesh, 2000, pp. 248. Cite-only; paraphrased. [Cite only]
  4. K. N. T. Sastry, Chittoor V. Nagaiah: A Monograph (opens in a new tab), Publications Division, Government of India, New Delhi (for the National Film Archive of India), 2000, pp. 18, 21. Cite-only; paraphrased. [Cite only]
  5. Film Enquiry Committee (S. K. Patil, chairman), Report of the Film Enquiry Committee, 1951 (opens in a new tab), Government of India Press, New Delhi, 1951, pp. 12. [Public domain in India]
  6. Film Federation of India, Indian Talkie, 1931-56: Silver Jubilee Souvenir (opens in a new tab), Film Federation of India, Bombay, 1956, XXII–XXIII. [Public domain in India (photographs and unsigned matter); signed articles cite only]

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