VEL Pictures First Studio of Telugu Films

The first studio for Telugu talkies was
Vel Pictures, constructed in 1934 by P.V. Das, located at Madras. The
first film made here was Sita Kalyanam. The first film made by a
Telugu person, R.S. Prakash, was Bhishma Pratigna (The Pledge of
Bhishma, 1922). Another important Telugu personality of this era was
Y.V. Rao (1903-1973), an actor and director, whose silent film
(directing) credits include Pandava Nirvana (1930), Pandava
Agnathavaas (1930) and Hari Maya (1932). The first big movies in
Telugu were made by the Surabhi Theatres troupes.They produced
the first Telugu talkie, Bhakta Prahlada, directed by Hanumappa
Munioappa Reddy in 1931. In the first few years of Telugu talkies,
films were all mythological stories, taken from the stage. In 1936,
Krittiventi Nageswara Rao made the first Telugu film not based on
mythology, Premavijayam. The film influenced other Telugu film-makers
into making such films. Some popular themes of these films (often
called 'social' films) were the feudal zamindari system (Raitu Bidda,
1939), untouchability (Maala pilla, 1938), and widow remarriage.
Since then, there have been both social contemporary and
mythological or folk stories in Telugu cinema.

C.PULLAIH,Photographer turned Producer

C. Pullaiah purchased a second hand movie camera in 1924 in Bombay
Kakinada with an intention to make films in Andhra soil. He
shot a thousand feet silent film, Markandeya, with himself cast as
Yama and made the film with so many indigenous methods and projected
the film on a white washed wall in his house to the amazement of his
friends through the very same camera with which he shot the film. He
used to call cinema as Goda Meedi Bomma. It was C. Pullaiah who gave
Telugu cinema's first super duper hit, Lavakusa (1934) starring
Parupalli Subbarao and Sriranjani (Sr.). It was his second feature
film (Savithri his first talkie film was made a year before with
Ramathilakam and Gaggaiah was a hit too. Interestingly there were two
Savithris and two Ramadasus in 1933). People flocked to the theatres
from near by villages in bullock carts to see Lavakusa. History
repeated when C. Pullaiah and his son C. S. Rao remade the film in
1963 with N. T. Rama Rao and Anjali Devi. At a time when the market
was flooded with mythological films, Indian Art Cine tone attempted a
social, Prema Vijayam (1936) directed by Krithiventi Nageswara Rao.
However, the success of reformist filmmaker Gudavalli Ramabrahmam's
Malapilla (1938) starring Dr. Govindarajula Subbarao and Kanchanamala
and Rythubidda (1939) with Ballari Raghava and Suryakumari gave an
impetus to Y.V. Rao, B.N. Reddy and others to produce films on social
themes.

Bakta Prahlada Four Anna Ticket sold for 4 Rs

September 15, 1931 saw the release of the first Telugu talkie Bhakta
Prahalada in Crown in Kakinada, Maruthi in Vijayawada, Gaiety in
Madras and Minerva in Machlipatnam. Just a few months earlier, on
March 14, 1931, the first Indian talkie film, Alam Ara was released at
Majestic Cinema, Bombay and in other parts of the country including
Maruthi Talkies, Vijayawada. People thronged the cinema halls where it
was exhibited. With its box office success the country's first black
marketeering in cinema tickets began with a four anna (a quarter of a
rupee) ticket getting sold for Rs. 4 or 5!
Actors:Venkata Subbaiah Munipalle, Surabhi Kamalabai,
under Bharat Movietone,Music by H R Padmanabha Sastry
Producer,Direction:H. M. Reddy
Editor R. Vittal Art by KA Sekhar
Mythological story of devotee NAARASIMHA Vishnu Prahlada,
Bhakta Prahlada - first telugu talkie movie made in 1931 under the krishna movies banner by H. M. Reddy, the father of telugu talkie movies.
Bhatka Prahlada - telugu movie made in 1942 under the Sobhanachal banner by Chitarapu Narayan Murthy.
Bhakta Prahlada - telugu movie made in 1967 under AVM productions again by Chirapu Narayan Murthy, starring S. V. Ranga Rao, Anjali and Roja Ramani.

Alamara paved way for telugu cinema

Success of Alam Ara made Irani to diversify into regional language
productions in Telugu and Tamil the same year. It was Ardeshir Irani's
associate Hanumantha Muniappa Reddy who directed Bhakta Prahalada and
was released six weeks ahead of the first Tamil Talkie, Kalidas that
Reddy himself directed with a mixed cast of Telugu, Tamil and Hindi
actors. Bhakta Prahlada had an all-Telugu starcast featuring Munipalle
Subbiah as Hiranyakasipa and Surabhi Kamalabai as Leelavathy. Both the
films were made in Bombay. By 1936, the mass appeal of film allowed
directors to move away from religious and mythological themes.
That year, under the direction of Krithiventi Nageswara Rao, Prema
Vijayam, a film focusing on social issues, was released. Its success
prompted the production of dozens of other immensely successful
'social films', notably 1939's Vandemataram and Maala Pilla. Touching
on societal problems like the status of Untouchables and the practice
of giving dowry, Telugu films increasingly focused on contemporary
living: twenty-nine of the ninety-six films released between 1937 and
1947 had social themes.
Director of Alam Ara Ardeshir Irani,once again gave a important gift to film industry by producing first colored Hindi feature film,Kisan Kanya but the color concept became popular after 1955.

Telugu Films pioneer Dhundiraj Govind Phalke

The efforts of pioneers like Dhundiraj Govind Phalke better known as Dadasaheb
Phalke who made India's first silent film Raja Harischandra (1913) and
R. G. Torney or our own Raghupathi Venkaiah, his son R.S. Prakash and
C. Pulliah who made cinema popular during the silent era taking film
rolls and projectors exhibiting films in nook and corner of the South?
Raghupathi Venkaiah hailed as father of Telugu cinema is the first
exhibitor in the South. He bought crono-megaphone, the first projector
equipped to reproduce `sound' by disk system and exhibited short reels
way back in 1910. He travelled all over the South and in Burma and
Ceylon. Venkaiah established Star of East studios known as glass
studio to produce silent films.