Adurthi Subba Rao

Adurthi Subba Rao was an Indian film director, cinematographer, screenwriter, editor and producer known for his works predominantly in Telugu cinema. Rao is widely regarded as the intellectual fountain head of Indian drama films. He has garnered seven National Film Awards, Nandi Awards, Filmfare Awards South and other accolades for his films. He made his foray into cinema as an associate to Uday Shankar in the 1948 dance film Kalpana, which was showcased in the "Treasures from National Film Archive of India" at the 39th International Film Festival of India. He made his directorial debut with Amara Sandesam (1953), which was inspired by Kamal Amrohi's Baiju Bawra (1952). He collaborated with Akkineni Nageswara Rao in 17 films, starting with Thodi Kodallu (1957), which was based on a Bengali novel Nishkriti. He adapted several popular novels into films, such as Doctor Chakravarthy (1964), based on Koduri Kousalya Devi's Chakrabhramanam, and Mooga Manasulu (1964), based on the concept of reincarnation. He also experimented with courtroom drama and detective fiction in his film Sudigundalu (1968), which received special mention at the Tashkent and Moscow Film Festivals. He also directed films in Hindi, Tamil and Kannada languages, such as Milan (1967), a remake of Mooga Manasulu, and Sharapanjara (1971), a Kannada film starring Kalpana. He died of a heart attack on 1 October 1975 in Madras, Tamil Nadu, India. He left behind a legacy of films that are considered classics of Telugu cinema.