Vijaya Pictures- Tradition of Excellence
Growing up in 70’s India, in the days where terms like Internet, Mobile Phone, Cable TV were totally unknown, our regular pastime during holidays, and after school hours, was playing outside and books. I grew up reading comics like Amar Chitra Katha, Tinkle, Phantom, Indrajal, Archie, Tintin as well as story books meant for kids. One of the best memories i have as a kid is the Chandamama magazine, lazy afternoons on weekends and holidays were spent with the latest or old issues of Chandamama. For close to an hour, I would just slip into a world of swashbuckling heroes, beautiful princesses, wicked wizards, cunning ministers, kings, queens, demons, monsters and fairies. The Vikram-Vetal series was especially my favorite, as i loved the Q &A session at end of every story.
B. Nagi Reddy
A. Chakrapani
The man behind Chandamama was none other B. Nagi Reddy, who in association with Chakrapani, founded the Vijaya Pictures Banner, which gave Telugu cinema, some of its greatest classics- Maya Bazaar, Missamma, Appu Chesi Pappu Koodu, Gundamma Katha to name a few. Comming from 2 different backgrounds, these two however ensured that in the history of Telugu cinema, their names would be forever enshrined.
Chakrapani’s real name was Alur Venkata Subba Rao, and he was born near Tenali, a place nicknamed as the Andhra Paris, due to the fact that a large number of actors, writers, theater artistes, philosophers hailed from there, and in fact it was a center of theatrical activity during the 50’s. He was a self educated person, and he learnt Hindi, Bengali on his own. He also started a monthly magazine called Yuva. Chakrapani was fluent in Bengali, and he translated most of Sarat Chandra Chaterjee’s novels into Telugu, and he also published novels of famous Telugu authors like Chalam, Gopichand, Padmaraju etc. Chakrapani later moved to Madras, where he established himself as a script writer for movies like Dharmapatni and Swargaseema. During this time he came into contact with Nagi Reddy, and thus began one of the most remarkable partnerships in movie history.
Chandamama was founded in 1947, when Chakrapani wanted to come up with a book only for children, and even now to date, it still has a succesful appeal in many languages. The same year saw B. Nagi Reddy take over Vauhini Studios, and initially it was called as Vijaya-Vauhini Studios, and later changed name to Vijaya Studios. And in 1950, the first movie on their banner Vijaya Shavukaru( The Landlord) was released starring NTR and Janaki, who after this movie came to be known as Shavukaru Janaki.
NTR and SVR in Patala Bhairavi
Patala Bhairavi( Goodess of the Nether World) released in 1951, was the movie that made Vijaya Pictures a household name down South. The movie was based on a popular story serialized in Chandamama itself and directed by the legendary K.V.Reddy. The movie is a socio fantasy, about a young swashbuckling hero Thota Raamudu( NTR) the son of the gardner, who falls in love with the princess of Ujjain, Indumathi( Malathi). However her father , the King of Ujjain( CSR), refuses saying that he would marry his daughter only to a person as wealthy as he is. This is when a wizard Nepali Mantrikudu( SVR) enters the scene, and he promises Raamu, that he would help him achieve his desire, if he collaborates with him. In reality however, Nepali, is a wicked wizard, who wants to sacrifice Ramu, to Paatala Bhairavi, so that he could gain unlimited power. The movie is about how Ramudu finally escapes from Nepali’s wicked plans, and gains the princess in the end.
While NTR aptly suited the swashbuckling hero role, the scene stealer was SVR as the wicked wizard. The scenes where he slowly traps Rammudu, his expressions are brilliant. The catch phrase “Saahasam Cheya Ra Dimbaka, Raakumari Dakkunu”, ( Be brave young Man, you shall have the Princess) to date remains one of the most popular dialogues and would take its place in the Top Movie Quotes of Telugu cinema. The movie was a major success all over Andhra Pradesh, and to date it is hailed as a classic. The songs like “Kalavara Maaye Madilo”, ” Entha Ghatu Premayo”, “Premakosame” are popular to date.
Veeyana(S.V.Ranga Rao) and also a zamindar, whose fortunes are in decline. Veeyana gives his blessings for Raja and Savitri to get married, and also arranges a groom ,Ramana(NTR), for Ammadu.
Scene from Pelli Chesi Choodu
Pelli Chesi Choodu
in 1952, directed by L.V. Prasad was a social satire, against the custom of dowry . Using an ensemble comedy narration, the movie looks at the life of 3 couples whose love is thwarted by their money minded parents. Chitti is the daughter of a well to do lawyer Govindaiah, and her father wants her to marry Raja. Chitti however loves another person, a wrestler, who is also her childhood sweetheart. Raja also does not like Govindaiah’s deal to get his sister Ammadu married at the same time. Raja later falls in love with Savitri, the daughter of panchayat president ,
However things do go awry, when Govindaiah, incites Ramana’s father, a greedy miserly priest Venkatapathy to demand for the dowry. The rest of the movie is about how Raja, Savitri, Ramana and Ammadu, get together to teach a lesson to Govindaiah and Venkatapathy. A biting satire against dowry, out moded traditions, false prestige, the movie was a success and to date one of the best ensemble comedies ever made. And a cast of NTR, Savitri, S.V.Ranga Rao only added to the value. The satiric hard hitting dialogues were written by Chakrapani himself. The movie was later remaded by L.V.Prasad in Hindi as Shaadi Ke Baad, with Jeetendra and Rakhee in the lead roles. Vijaya Productions next movie in 1954 Chandraharam, a fantasy flick, was however a major disappointment at the box office, and in fact not one of their best movies either.
Missamma in 1955, is however an eternal classic. It is a movie that still remains popular to date, with its subtle humour and situations. Directed by L.V.Prasad again, this comedy was adapted from a Bengali comedy Manmoyee Girls School. A village zamindar( S.V. Ranga Rao), establishes a school in memory of his long lost daughter, and advertises for a married couple who can run it. Two unemployed persons Rao( NTR) and Mary( Savitri), agree to pose as wife and husband. Though Mary has no love lost for Rao, she needs the job to pay off the debts of her family as well as get rid of David( Ramana Reddy), who keeps harassing her for debts and also wants to marry her. Rao on the other hand is without a job, and also needs one.
In the Zamindar’s household, they also run into Lakshmi( Jamuna), their spoilt daughter, and Raju( ANR), the zamindar’s would be son in law, and an amateur detective, who keeps looking for their long lost daughter. Vijaya has given some of the most memorable comedies in Telugu movie history, and Missamma is one of them. What i loved about this movie is the way the characters are etched, NTR’s cool demeanour contrasts wonderfully with Savitri’s blow hot manner. ANR’s antics as a detective, along with his sidekicks make you chuckle. The humour is witty, intelligent and makes you really laugh, unlike the asinine humour we get nowadays. Due credit to the writing team of Chakrapani and Pingali, who weave their magic with words. And yes the performances, NTR, Savitri, ANR, SVR, Relangi, Ramana Reddy, are just perfect. The movie was also remade in Tamil as Missiamma and Hindi as Miss Mary. While Gemini Ganesan played the lead in both Tamil & Hindi, Savitri’s role was done by Meena Kumar in Hindi version, while ANR’s role was done by Thangavelu in Tamil and Kishore Kumar in Hindi. Like most of other Vijaya’s movies, this too had a memorable music score “Aadavari Maatalaku Arthalu Veru le”, ” Raavoyi Chandamama”, ” Brundavanam Adhi Andharidi”, to date continue to enthrall Telugu music lovers.
K.V.Reddy , the movie deals with the romance between Arjun’s son Abhimanyu( ANR) and Balaram’s daughter Sasirekha( Savitri). When Balaram on the egging of his greedy wife Revathi( Chaya Devi), and also his partiality towards Duryodhan, agrees to marry his daughter to Duryodhan’s dim witted son Laxmana( Relangi), his sister and Abhimanyu’s mother Subhadra, is upset at what she sees as a betrayal, and leaves the palace. However Krishna( NTR), cleverly sabotages the wily plans of Duryodhan and Sakuni(CSR Anjaneyulu), using Bheem’s son Ghatotkacha( SVR), which is what the movie is about. Mayabazaar is a movie which i would call as a perfect entertainer. It has everything romance, comedy, intrigue, emotions, trickery, action all neatly rolled into a package. This is an all and out entertainer, yet at no stage does it insult your intelligence.
ANR and SVR in Maya Bazaar
Mayabazaar
in 1957, is a movie that to date is a classic in Telugu cinema. We had this casette at home, and even the DVD, and God knows how many times i have seen it. Based on a short story in the Mahabharat and directed by
The movie of course deserves a totally separate post, maybe would come up with it later. This was the movie that made NTR famous as Lord Krishna, and he is fabulous. ANR as Abhimanyu and Savitri as Sasirekha make a charming couple, but the scene stealer is S.V. Ranga Rao as Ghatotkacha, he just sizzles the screen with his presence, his diction, his expressions. To me SVR always has been one of the greatest actors in Indian cinema. Another brilliant performance is from CSR Anjaneyulu, as the wily Sakuni, with his own peculiar diction. Also the photography by Marcus Bartley is brilliant, much ahead of its times. Especially the trick photography in some of the scenes is world class. Ghantasala also comes up with a brilliant BGM score, beautifully fitting into the mood of the movie. As for the songs, every song here is a masterpiece “Lahiri Lahiri Lo”, “Bhale Bhale Deva”, “ Choopulu Kalasina Subhavela”, “ Aha Na Pellanta”, “ Nee Kosame”, ” Vivaha Bhojanambu”. Even now whenever this movie is re released in theaters, it has house full crowds. Considering that we are subject to mindless crap nowadays in the name of entertainment, maybe some of the Telugu movie makers, could consider taking a look at this movie, to see what an entertainer actually is.
NTR, Savitri, Jaggaiah in Appu Chesi Pappu Koodu
Appu Chesi Pappu Koodu, is again another biting social satire by L.V.Prasag this time against the tendency of people to borrow recklessly. Ramdasu( CSR Anjaneyulu) is a Zamindar, who keeps up a show of splendor and glory, by recklessly borrowing money, while his wily manager Bhajagovindam( Relangi), keeps the creditors at bay. Ramdasu, wants to marry off his England returned son, Raghu( Jaggaiah) to Manjari( Savitri), the daughter of Diwan Bahadur Mukunda Rao( SVR), a rich and well to do aristocrat. His game plan is to secure the wealth, so that he could pay off all his creditors. Raghu’s real wife Leela( Jamuna), however lives in poverty, thanks to Ramadasu’s machinations, while her nationalist brother Raja( NTR) is just released from prison.
Raja and Manjari are in love with each other, and unlike her gullible father, she is able to see through Ramadasu’s machinations. Rest of the movie is about how Raghu, Raja and Manjiri team up to teach a lesson to Ramadasu. Relangi’s character of Bhajagovindam, a wily double crossing manager, who pretends to be on Ramdasu’s side, while helping out Raja, is brilliant. The tit for tat game played between Raja and Raghu to woo Manjiri is superb. And the scene where Raghu comes up with a demanding foreign wife, driving his Dad nuts, makes you roll over with laughter. At no stage does the movie get melodramatic and preachy, and the humour is just brilliant and intelligent. Performances by NTR, CSR, Savitri, Relangi, Jaggaiah and Ramana Reddy are top notch. The movie is also a satire against the tendency of the Zamindars false prestige tendencies, their obsession for titles and honors, contrasting it with the more modern and humanistic outlook of Raja and Raghu. Memorable score again by S.Rajeswara Rao, with evergreen hits like “Sundarangula ku”, “ Yechati Veecheno”, “ Kaasi ki poyanu Raama Hari”.
Gundamma Katha(1962) was another memorable movie from the banner. Gundamma( Suryakantham) is a rich widow living with her daughter Saroja( Jamuna), son Prabhakar( Harnath) and her step daughter Lakshmi( Savitri). She is a haughty, shrewish woman, who treats her step daughter Lakshmi like a servant, while pampering and indulging her other daughter Saroja. Ramabhadraiah( SVR), who happens to be an old friend of Gundamma’s husband, is seeking brides for his two sons, Ramu(NTR) and Raja( ANR) and is interested in her daughters. Gundamma however wants an alliance only for Saroja, while she just wants to marry off Lakshmi to some worthless fellow.
Having heard a lot about her, the brothers hatch a plan to teach Gundamma a lesson. Ramu enters her household as a servant Anji, and slowly wins over Lakshmi. While Raja begins to woo Saroja. There is also Gundamma’s wily clerk, Gantaiah( Ramana Reddy), who wants to get Saroja married off to his worthless son, so that he could grab all the property. The movie is an adaptation of The Taming of the Shrew with a difference. Here the shrew is not the heroine, but their haughty arrogant mother. The scenes where NTR poses as a servant, and his exchanges with Suryakantham and Ramana Reddy are brilliant. NTR acting as a servant, his use of dialect, his mannerisms are just superb. ANR proves to be an equally good foil to him, in all the scenes. Savitri and Jamuna offer good performances too. It is however Suryakantham, who akin to Lalita Pawar, made a career out of playing shrewish roles, who steals the scene with her effortless performance. In real life, one of the gentlest woman, Suryakantham, however earned the spectators ire in her hey days, usually playing the wicked step mother, the bad mother in law or a trouble maker. The songs as usual are brilliant “ Lechindi Nidra Lechindi”, “Kolo Koloyamma”, “ Entha Haayi E Reyi”, “Desamu Marchenu”, “Prema yaatralaku Brindavanamu”, ” Mounam ga ni Manasu paadina”. The movie was also remaded into Hindi as Swayamvar, with Sanjeev Kumar doing NTR’s role, and Shashi Kapoor doing ANR’s role, while Nadira played the central role of the shrew.
Vijaya later made movies like Sri Rajeshwari Vilas Coffee Club( Krishna & Jayapradha), Ganga Manga( the telugu version of Seeta aur Geeta) in Telugu, and Ram aur Shyam, Julie in Hindi. Later following Chakrapani’s death in 1975, Nagi Reddy retired slowly from movie making, and concentrated mostly on Vijaya Hospital in Chennai. An effort was made to revive the Vijaya Banner under the name Chandamama Vijaya Combines, and they had success with movies like Brundavanam, a social comedy and Bhairava Dweepam, a fantasy flick, both directed by Singeetham Srinivasa Rao. However their last movie Sri Krishnarjuna Vijayam, was a critical and commercial disaster, and after that no movies have come further. Both Nagi Reddy and Chakrapani were firm believers in entertainment . Chakrapani once quipped
I’d rather send a telegram if I need to give a message, than making a movie with huge expenses!
But implicitly most of their movies contained some messages or other. Many of them had a strong modernistic streak, and were against outmoded traditions and values. They made movies which were entertaining and family oriented. Yet one can still watch those movies without cringing, and actually enjoy every moment. They have proved that one can make movies, that entertain, yet do not offend one’s sensibilities or intelligence. Something that can be rarely said of the current crop of Telugu entertainers. While Chakrapani and Nagi Reddy are with us no more, their movies, their characters will live with us forever.
Tags: ANR, Chakrapani, Jamuna, K.V.Reddy, L.V.Prasad, Mayabazar, missamma, Nagi Reddy, ntr, Patala Bhairavi., Ramana Reddy, Relangi, Savitri, SVR, Telugu Movies, Vijaya Pictures
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Wonderful write up….for me Missamma is an all time classic….I have seen this movie countless times, and whenever I watch it again….I absolutely love it…I would say if the present lot of Telugu cinema has at least half of Vijaya’s sincerity in movie making, they will not produce this “Rod” movies….
Narendra, i really don’t want to compare the present lot of Telugu cinema with Vijaya, they r just not worth it. Most of them are money makers, who just make movies catering to the LCD factor thats its. Thats the reason we r flooded with this rubbish in the name of entertainment. Have not seen Arundhati yet, but yeah did hear it was OTT, but movie seems to have been a hit.
By the way, have you had a chance to watch Arundati by Syam Prasad Reddy….this movie goes pale in comparison with his other film Ammoru…..wish to read your thoughts comparing them….though Mr. Reddy is a passionate producer, he looses his way in the middle, first it was Anji and now it is Arundati, which is nothing but cacophonous to ears.
Reading chandamama, champak ,Tinkle and childrens’s world were the highlights of my childhood.
I also pestered my mom to read gokulam in tamil to me . We used to tear out a strip called “Bale baalu” “Bale Baluvum Bottle boodamum” (Balu and the genie)and “Sheelavai kanom – sheela is missing” from it and staple them to keep all the parts together.
Loved adventure stories of any kind. I hope kids these days still can subscribe to these magazines.
@ DnD
Yeah loved most of those mags, also Amar Chitra Katha. Right now i think Disney is distributing Chandamama, there has been some kind of tie up with them.
@ Wb
“RK of Telugu cinema”, guess thats a bit too high compliment now. Well story of Vijaya from Vauhini and all is a separate chapter by itself, lemme see if i can get on it. Marcus Bartley was an excellent cinematographer, his effects in Mayabazaar were way ahead of times. As for Pingali’s dialogues, who can ever forget “Gilpam”, ” Tasmadeeyulu”, “Paravesa Dawaramu”?
ratnakar – the idea of doing a post on PFC about vijaya/vauhini has been there for a while gathering dust. until you spoke, that is. you’re slowly taking the shape of our rk of telugu cinema. thanks for this write up. the illustrious journey that this entity has had – from m.n.swamy and h.m.reddy to b.n.reddy, b.nagi reddy and k.v.reddy, from rohini to vauhini to vijaya – will make quite a story if you choose to tell it some time. and needless to say… mayabazaar deserves a separate post. i hope soon.
My dad used to read them for me when I was a kid…. I still remember “Bethala Kathalu” used to be a regular episode……….. ha ha ha ……
“good old days”…….I never watched all those movies but my dad used to tell me abt them I also heard about “Patala Bhairavi” a lot of times….from friends…………
Oh Ratnakar!…How much should I thank you for getting me back to think about my ONLY favorite actress* ‘Savitri’…WOW! Amazing…..Just eternal…I am sure noone would have as expressive eyes as hers….and ther acting prowess was great!! Oh Great!!
One should see her act in classics like ‘Missamma’, ‘Maya Bazar’ and ‘Gundamma Kadha’….Just look at her eyes and her expressions….Ultimate…Cannot beat her…
PS: Girls who really wanna act can get a CD of the above mentioned films and I am sure after watching Savitri act, you would surely know wats acting and how to act….(implementation is another concept altogether…;))
THANK YOU RATNAKAR!!
Sridhar Savitri laanti actress eppudu oka saari vastharu. She is a once in a lifetime actress, a true legend. Missamma, Maya Bazaar, Gundamma Katha, Devadas, Thodi Kodallu, Narthanasala endless list of classics. She is a legend.
Ahh..what an exhaustive and spledid article Ratnakar. Chandamama was super. I was made to read these at my Telugu Tuition classes. Superb!! Patala Bhairavi, remeber watching it on DD Sunday evening. Those were some classic days. Tinkle was/is my favourite comic loved all the characters be it Tantri the Mantri, Raja Hodja, Kalia the Crow, Suppandi, Rama dn Shyam, Shikari Shambhu..everyone. Thanks ratnakar
Besides Chakrapani, Nagi Reddy and K.V.Reddy – there are two other *mahaan hasti*s whose work was totally responsible for the successive successful hits from Vijaya… Marcus Bartley & Pingali Nagendra Rao. While Marcus made Mayabazaar his signature piece, Pingali’s creative penmanship made each Vijaya movie a master piece. May their souls rest in peace and their work live forever!
Thanks for such an informative article.Hope some on e comes up with similar articles about Tamil and Malayalam film industry
Ratnakar ee nati actressulu chusthe inka Savitri lanti actress puttaremo anipisthundi. Telugu films have degraded themselves in this decade, we can count good films on our fingers….Its a lost era….The actors, the actresses, the directors…all gone, forgotten…its a wild, vulgar, commercial, corporate, back-stabbing Industry out there…there is no chance of a actress like Savitri to be a part of it…even if she is out there….just my point…
yes…these points are often taken lightly…just as they say here…”light tessko ra bhai”…
Sridhar, ippudu Telugu cinema gurinchi matladuthunte, noti nunchi bhoothulu vasthayi. Forget about acting, most of the heroines cant speak even 1 single line of dialogue properly. Even if some one like Savitri was born, she wud have never been accepted into the industry in first place. The quality of Telugu movies started to degrade from 70’s, some what better in 80’s due to directors like Viswanath, Vamsi, Jandhyala, even in 90’s also it was good to an extent, but this decade it has just touched rock bottom. Entertainment ante arupulu, Sumo cars, bomb blasts, thoda kottadalu, item songs ippudu.
Avunu Ratnakar, telugu films really down completely…I am looking out for good Hindi Cinema nowadays…anna nee email emaina unda…naadi myr_sridhar@yahoo.com…add chesko, time undi we can discuss cinema…whenever possible…its another fact that I am a fan of your articles/filmi knowledge….eppudo oka sari chadivinattu ledu…PFC lo…avunu, adi nene rasa…
Sridhar, i have sent an add request to u on Orkut, u can scrap me there. Also on FB.
lovely article ratnakar.
childhood was incomplete without these magazines.