Tollywood

Raghupathi Venkaiah Naidu, the Father of Telugu Cinema

Raghupathi Venkaiah Naidu (15 October 1887 – 15 March 1941) Telugu Cinema was an Indian artist and a pioneer in the production of silent Indian movies and talkies. Starting from 1909, he was involved in many aspects of Indian cinemas history, like travelling to different regions in Asia, to promote film work. He was the first to build and own cinema hall's in Madras. The Raghupathi Venkaiah Award is an annual award incorporated into Nandi Awards to recognize people for their contributions to the Telugu film industry





Venkaiah Naidu was the second son of an Indian Army official Subedar Appayya Naidu in Machilipatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India. His brother Raghupathi Venkataratnam Nayudu was a famous educationalist and social reformer. His forefathers worked as Commanders in the Army of East Indian Company and Madras Army in Telaga Regiments. At the age of 18, he moved to Madras and started drawing pictures and carving sculptures and selling them. He then learned photography and started a photo studio.
Photographer

In 1909, he ordered a Chrono Mega phone, equipment that relates sounds with pictures, from John Dickinson and Company. To pay for the Chrono Mega phone he bought for Rs 30,000, he rented out his photo studio. He shot 12 short films and exhibited them in Victoria Public Hall. He also traveled to Bangalore, Vijayawada, Srilanka, Rangoon and Pegu to exhibit his films.
Theatre owner

In 1910, he established Esplanade Ten House to exhibit his films. In 1912, he constructed Gaiety Talkies on Mount Road, the first Indian-owned cinema theatre in Chennai. He later constructed Crown Theatre on Mint Street and Globe Theatre in Parasuwakka, Chennai. He also exhibited American and British films. Some of the first movies shown in his theatres were Million Dollar Mystery, Mysteries of Meera, Clutching Hand, Broken Coin, Raja's casket, Peral fish, and 'Great Bard'.
Film producer

In 1919, he started a production company called Star of East Films and a film studio called Glass Studio. He sent his son, Raghupathi Surya Prakash Naidu to study cinematography in London. Raghupathi Venkaiah Naidu and his son Prakash made their first movie "Meenakshi Kalyanam" around actual locations of the Madurai Meenakshi temple. Later, they produced films like Gajendra Moksham, Mathsyavatharam, Nandanaar, and Bhishma Pratigna, the first Telugu mookie (with no playback voices) movie.
Later career

In 1929, he was forced to sell his properties to pay off his debts. The Andhra Pradesh state government established the Raghupathi Venkaiah Naidu Award, later changed to Raghupathi Venkaiah Award for lifetime contributors to the Telugu movie industry.

Moola Narayana Swamy and B. N. Reddy founded Vijaya Vauhini Studios in 1948 at Chennai,L. V. Prasad who started his film career with Bhakta Prahlada has founded Prasad Studios in 1956 based in Chennai,However, through the efforts of D. V. S. Raju, the Telugu film industry has completely shifted its base from Chennai to Hyderabad in the early 1990s, during N. T. Rama Rao's political realm.

Veteran actor Akkineni Nageswara Rao was the first person to come to Hyderabad and build Annapurna Studios. The Telugu film industry is one of the three largest film producers in India. About 245 Telugu films were produced in 2006, the highest in India for that year. Film producing studios in Andhra Pradesh, developed by D. Ramanaidu and Ramoji Rao are involved in prolific film production and employment.

The industry accounts for 1% of the gross domestic product of Andhra Pradesh.There is a fair amount of dispersion among the Indian film industries. Many successful Telugu films have been remade by the Hindi and Tamil film industries. The industry also remakes a few Hindi, Tamil, and Malayalam movies. Many Tamil films are dubbed into Telugu on release.The Prasads IMAX theatre in Hyderabad is one of the biggest IMAX 3D screens in the world

" The Telugu film industry originated with silent films in 1912, with the production and release of Bhisma Pratighna in 1921,directed by Raghupathi Venkaiah Naidu and his son R. S. Prakash The two, along with Yaragudipati Varada Rao, would go on to produce and direct dozens of films throughout the decade, casting theater actors in major roles.They established a long-lasting precedent of focusing exclusively on religious themes Nandanar,Gajendra Moksham, and Matsyavatar, three of their most famous productions, centered on religious figures, parables and morals "

The Cinema of Andhra Pradesh (also known as Tollywood) is a South Indian film industry based in Hyderabad,The Telugu Cine industry is the second largest film industry in India,terms of market capitalization and infrastructure, holds a memorandum of understanding with Motion Picture Association of America to combat video piracy.As per the CBFC report of 2010, the industry stood third in India, in terms of films produced yearly.The industry holds the Guinness World Record for the largest film production facility in the world