Priya - Films, Humour and Random Observations

Mukkamala & Anjali Devi as the lead pair in Nirdoshi - 1951 in Telugu and titled as Niraparadhi in Tamil .   H. M. Reddi, the ‘Grand Old Man Of South Indian Cinema’, produced and directed Niraparadhi in Tamil and Telugu. Lawyer-turned-actor Krishnamurthi who was active in Telugu cinema for a while and also tried his hand at direction without much success, played the hero, a barrister. is a long and complicated story, moving from the city to the countryside, in which Anjali Devi plays a double role — that of the heroine and a stage actress of questionable morals. The villain (Prabhakar Rao) is a rural Shylock who cheats folks to make money. There is also a vamp (G. Varalakshmi) to complicate matters. The resemblance of the good-natured heroine to the stage actress creates considerable misunderstanding between the educated hero and the docile heroine. Expectedly, the villain exploits the situation. However, all is well that ends well and true love triumphs. Anja

First make up still of ANR taken in 1948 to check wether he would look good even in social pictures. By then he was a hit leading man in Folk stories and this still made him act for the first time in Samsaram - 1950 

Genius Cinematographer K RAMNOTH in 1954 in the 1st pic [ just 2 years before his tragic and untimely death at the age of 42 years  ] and in 1951 in the 2nd pic  - He was born in 1912 at Pujapura, Trivandrum . After passing his Bachelor degree, he arrived in Madras in search of a career. He started as a trainee in development and printing department in  Kodak  in 1932. While he was working there, he wrote articles on the subject of photography for various publications. He sent one such article to a publication called Sound and Shadow . This publication was owned jointly by Muthuswami Iyer and A. K. Sekhar (Muthuswami Iyer later directed films under his pen name Murugadasa and A. K. Sekhar became an art director.) This article led Ramnoth to join these two after he quit working in Kodak. The reason being that motion pictures and film making always fascinated him. He anyway was toying with an idea of joining film makers enthusiastic about making talkies in Madras.A breakthrough came

An original photo of South India's first Drem Girl T R Rajakumari in Gemini's S S Vasan film Chandraleka - 1948. See her in the dance in the link below .....One of the best post song melodies of all times....Hail composer S Rajeswara Rao.... https://youtu.be/XeFFvFt1VCg?t=142

Helen looking so great  in the telugu film Santosham - 1956. Watch her in the song given below ....Awesome music & choreography too... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cr574p62T34&fbclid=IwAR2w-Hfn7l0-Go2A8iOhqn3tmRP5brtu7imV9mfpOhs8IL0vT4C_CurCZgQ

Actor NAGESH with his son at home in Madras - Here is a small write up about him that I made from an interview given in a telugu magazine & from the information given on the net when he passed away... In 1943, in the town of Dharapuram in Tamilnadu, a master was conducting a class of young boys on the open veranda of his house . The class was unruly and in particular the boy of 10 years being more unruly than the rest. The master then posed a puzzle to that boy so as to get th e attention of the rest of the class...He asked him " If on a weighing scale I were to put a tonne of cotton on one side and a tonne of Iron on the other side which one would weigh more...? " . The impish boy got up and told that Iron would weigh more....How asked the teacher to which the boy replied " If u sat down on the floor and not higher up & I were to put a tonne of cotton on your head and then on it if I put a tonne of iron on it....." . The class erupted into an applause a

Actress VANI - She is a Bharatnatyam dancer from Tenali who could fluently speak english , all South Languages and hindi too.She also acted as Kunti Kumari in Manchi Roju- 1977.  She also acted as river Ganga in Bapu's Seeta Kalyanam. See both videos in the given link . Seeing her in Seeta Kalyanam film , N T Rama Rao gave her a chance in Daan Veera Soora Karna      .https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dr6iKIucRFM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnr0eifog84

N T Rama Rao  & Bhanumati in Malliswari - 1951 in the song " Manasuna Mallela Maalaloogene" sung by Bhanumati , written by Devulapalli Krishna Sastri & composed by S Rajeswara Rao. Director B N Reddy had this to say about this classic film of his -  " When I went to Hampi to shoot my first film 'Vandemataram' in 1939, I was deeply attracted to Sri Krishna Devarayalu. I wanted to make a film on Sri Krishna Devaraya. Years passed by. But I could not get the right story. Fortunately, 'Malliswari' happened. I think it is the best movie I have directed ". See the song in the link given below this photo... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaRK5er6tEY

Reel & Real Life couple , hindi film artists Bina Rai & Premnath with their son Prem. Hear she recollects few of her memories   https://cineplot.com/bina-rai-interview/ .

Telugu Actress G Varalakshmi petting her dog at her Madras Residence in 36, Eldams Road , Teynampet , Madras - 18

Actress Rajasulochana in a photo shoot  ...on the eve of the release of her hit film Iddaru Mitrulu - 1961. See her song   Ee musi musi navvula virisina puvvulu ....gusa gusa ladinavu yemito in the link given ....opposite ANR in this film. Music is by S Rajeswara Rao....Adore this song picturised so well in outdoor locales by dorector Adurti Subba Rao.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iARha1uezDw

Vanisree getting her hair done as her loyal make up man Madhvayya is looking on in the first pic. 2nd pic shows standing from L - R - Cameraman Janaki Ram , Producer A. Pundarikakshaiah, N T Rama Rao , Director B V Prasad & Jaggayya on the sets of the film Aradhana - 1976. 3rd pic shows Vanisree signing autographs for fans & 4th pic shows her with NTR , Jaggayya , Gummadi & director Prasad during a shooting break of the same film...

Telugu actress Girija Taking the blessings of Actress Savitri , Anjali devi & her composer / producer husband Adi Narayana Rao with Relangi looking on during her house warming ceremony in 1958. Girija bough the very house that she was renting till then. It was an open secret that she and Relangi were together in real life too 

N T Rama Rao directing the film Chanakya Chandragupta - 1977 . He acted in the title role of Chandragupta with ANR as Chanakya. The pic shows him supervising the dance sequence of Jayamalini dancing in front of the Nandas. They say that the discipline in the sets with him at the helm was a sight to behold. When he would yell " Order" everyone would become alert and there would be a pin drop silence. His 2 sons Harikrishna & Balakrishna also assisted him in this film though only Harikrshna was credited. Along with cameraman Kannappa , NTR is seen having a look at the shot before okaying it. Rajababu as one of the Nanda Prince is cracking him up with a joke but when the scene starts even he would become like a mouse in front of a lion .NTR is also seen clapping for the song maintaining a tempo as the dance director Vempati is making Jayamailini dance. Right from how to polish the furniture [ he would himself take a brush and show his workmen how to do it ] to make up of a

Telugu actress Kanchanamala 

TANGUTURI SURYAKUMARI  She sang " Maa Telugu Thalliki ", the official song of the United  State of Andhra Pradesh .  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqivXUY9teo