Chittajallu Pullayya

C. Pullaiah, also known as Chittajallu Pullayya, was an Indian film director and screenwriter who worked predominantly in Telugu cinema. He is regarded as one of the earliest film personalities in Telugu cinema and the father of Telugu theatre movement. He started his film career in 1921 as a camera apprentice to Raghupati Venkaiah Naidu, the 'father of Telugu cinema', and later became a playwright for a Kakinada-based club. He bought a second-hand movie camera in 1924 and returned to his native place Kakinada with an intention to make films in Andhra. He made a silent three-reel short film Markandeya in Kakinada and exhibited it in various towns using a tent theatre named 'City Electric Cinema'. He thus pioneered a movie theatre movement in Andhra and later ran the permanent Minerva theatre. In 1933, he made his first feature film Sati Savitri in Calcutta, which was the first Telugu film produced by East India Film Company and received an honorary diploma at the 2nd Venice Film Festival. He then directed Lava Kusa (1934) and Sati Anasuya (1936), the first Telugu children's film made with sixty child actors. Lava Kusa was the first major commercial success in Telugu cinema and attracted unprecedented numbers of viewers to theatres. He continued to direct films like Vara Vikrayam (1939), Maalati Madhavam (1940), Pakka Inti Ammayi (1953) under the East India Film Company. He also directed Bala Nagamma (1942) and Apoorva Sahodarulu (1950) under Gemini Pictures after shifting base to Madras. He is well remembered for Lava Kusa (1963), the story of Lava and Kusa in Hindu epic Ramayana, which won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Telugu. Pullayya introduced Bhanumathi and Anjali Devi to the film industry through Vara Vikrayam (1939) and Gollabhama (1947) respectively. He also had a son, C. S. Rao, who became a noted filmmaker. Pullayya died of a heart attack on 6 October 1967 in Madras. He is considered as one of the most influential figures in the history of Telugu cinema and theatre.