Happy Telugu Cinema Day

Another event to celebrate on September 15. Apart from Engineers day, now Telugu cinema also shares the same day to celebrate its glory. The 80-year-old Telugu film industry, which emerged as the third most popular after Hindi and Tamil, would commemorate September 15, the day Bhakta Prahlada was released, as the Telugu Film Industry day every year.

Born on June 12, 1892, Hanumappa Muniappa Reddy produced the first South talkie movie, Bhakta Prahlada. Before making his own productions, he worked as assistant to Ardeshir Irani, creator of the first Indian talkie, titled Alam Ara. He produced several Telugu movies such as Tenali Ramakrishna , Kalidas and Gruha Lakshmi . At a press conference here on Saturday Movie Artistes Association president M. Murali Mohan said a slew of programmes were being contemplated for the day, starting with the industry observing a holiday. This being the first year though and time being short, he said a small function would be held at 8 a.m. in the office of the Andhra Pradesh Film Chamber of Commerce, when a specially designed flag of the Telugu film industry would be hoisted. Telugu Film Producers Council president Burugupalli Shivaram Krishna, honorary secretary T. Prasanna Kumar and producers Ashok Kumar, C. Kalyan and Vijayender Reddy were present.

The Telugu film industry originated with silent film in 1912, with the production of Bhisma Pratighna. The film was directed by Raghupathi Venkaiah Naidu and his son R. S. Prakash. The two 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.