Bindiganavile Srinivas Ranga

B. S. Ranga was born in 1917 in Magadi, a village in the erstwhile Kingdom of Mysore. He had an art-enriched childhood and developed a passion for photography. He sent some of his work to be exhibited at the Royal Salon in London and was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society. He moved to Bombay (now Mumbai) and worked as a cameraman and laboratory technician for Krishna Gopal. He also helped his brother, J. D. Shah, who was a writer for mythological films. He made his directorial debut with Vimla in 1925 and then directed two more films for Laxmi Film Company. He joined Kohinoor Film Company in 1926 and directed several films starring Gohar, a singer-actress whom he later married. His most famous film at Kohinoor was Gunsundari (1927), which was a huge hit. He founded Ranjit Studios in 1929, which produced films between 1929 and mid-1970s. He made many successful and influential films in Indian cinema, such as Achhut (1940), which dealt with the issue of untouchability, Papi (1953), which starred Raj Kapoor and Nargis, and Zameen ke Taare (1960), which was based on the life of Mahatma Gandhi. He also devoted a lot of time to the organizational work of the Indian film industry. He was the first president of The Film Federation of India formed in 1951 and led an Indian delegation to Hollywood in 1952. He also organized the Silver Jubilee (1939) and the Golden Jubilee of the Indian film industry (1963)¹. His downfall started when Papi and Zameen ke Taare failed at the box office. He took to gambling and horse racing and lost his fortune. He died in 2010 in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. He was 93 years old. He is often considered one of the most influential filmmakers of Indian cinema and is regarded as a pioneer of the social drama genre. He has won several awards and honors, including the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian honor.