K.V. Reddy:
Deft handler of film scripts
His son Konda Reddy was my playmate in Madras during my teens. He must be in his early eighties now, and whatever little I know about this great director is through him alone.
K.V. Reddy was credited for extending the frontiers of Telugu cinema beyond the borders of the Andhra region. He brought national recognition to Telugu cinema with his movies Bhakta Pothana, about the saintly poet who wrote the Sri Madbhagavatam, and Yogi Vemana, about the philosopher who renounced the world, lived in a cave, and penned philosophical poems. His folklore movie “Pathala Bhairavi” was made simultaneously in Telugu and Tamil and was later dubbed into Hindi.
This movie catapulted S.V. Ranga Rao (the sorcerer from Nepal) to instant stardom; it gave a good standing to the upcoming hero N.T. Rama Rao also.
In this adventurous folklore film, the hero, a poor gardeners' son, Tota Ramudu (NTR), outwits the sorcerer Nepala Mantrika (SVR) and wins the hand of the princess Indumathi (K. Malathi). But her life ended tragically. She lived a lavish lifestyle and was financially undisciplined and had to play minor roles for some time. She was broken financially with the death of her husband, Veerachari. She was forced to live in abject poverty in a tin-roofed shed adjacent to a film theatre during her last days. She lived on the Prasadam (holy offering) from a nearby temple. On November 2, 1979, due to the strong winds and heavy downpour, the boundary wall of the theatre collapsed on the shed, and Malathy was injured grievously. She died before being shifted to a hospital. An old tin box in the collapsed shed gave out who she was.
“Gunasundari Katha,” a loose adaptation of Shakespeare’s “King Lear,” also attracted the audience.
The king Ugrasena (Govindarajula Subba Rao) has three daughters, of whom the first two daughters are selfish and the third one is devoted to her father. The king wants to test his daughters’ love for him. The eldest and elder daughters say that they love their father more than their husbands. But his youngest daughter Gunasundari (Malathi), who was still unmarried, says that although she loves her father sincerely, she loves her husband more than her father.
But after some twists in the story, the king realises the true love of his youngest daughter for him.
“Maya Bazar”, “Krishnarjuna Yuddham” and “Jagadeka Veerudu” were his successful films, the first of the trio being his magnum opus. The Telugu and Tamil film world talk about this movie even after seventy years of its production.
But the stories of “Mayabazar” and “Sri Krishnarjuna Yuddham" were purely fictitious and were not found in the original Mahabharata, written by sage Vyasa. Yet both the mythological films were great hits at the box office.
But his mythological film, “Uma, Chandi, Gauri Sankarula Katha", was a flop. His great directorial talents and the high prestige of the Vijaya banner could not draw the audience to the theatres.
His other mythological film, "Satyaharischandra", was also a failure at the box office. Maybe the audience, accustomed to crying their hearts out at the emotional crematorium scene where Harischandra prepares to behead Chandramati on royal orders, could not welcome this scene on par with SVR's performance in an earlier movie of the same title and in stage dramas. Moreover, the audience missed the famous poems of Balijepalli Lakshmikantham in this scene of the movie.
Among his fantasy movies, “Jagadeka Veeruni Katha” (1961), in which the hero of the film, Pratap (NTR), prince of Udayagiri, dreams of marrying four nymphs with the blessings of Goddess Parvati, was a blockbuster hit,
But "Bhgyachakram" (1968), another fantasy movie, was a flop. Vikram is the ruler of Udayagiri who falls in love with Papa/Vanaja, the princess of Narendrapuram. The prince, who was on a hunting expedition, mistakes the princess for being an ordinary woman. After some twists and turns in the story, the prince puts an end to the evil sorcery of Karkata/Swamiraju (Rajanala) on the ruler Dharmapala and his daughter Papa. The film has a happy ending with the prince winning the hand of the princess. This film was not a box office hit, as the era of fantasy movies was at the fag end by the time the film was produced.
His social movies, “Donga Ramudu", “Pellinati Pramanalu (wedding vows)", “Pedda Manushulu (hypocrites in the guise of gentlemen)", directed by him, were well received by his audience.
In the movie “Pellinati Pramanalu" (wedding vows), Krishna Rao (ANR) and Rukmini (Jamuna) love each other and marry with the blessings of their parents. As time rolls on, Rukmini gets busy with the children and domestic affairs, which upsets Krishna Rao. So, he is romantically attracted to Radha Rani (Rajasulochana), a typist in his office. After some twists in the comedy drama, Radha Rani teaches him a lesson. The hero decides to abide by the wedding vows, and the movie ends on a happy note. The Hollywood movie “The Seven Years Hitch” was the base for this Telugu film.
“Pedda Manushulu (hypocrates in the guise of gentlemen)” revolves round corrupt village heads who pretend to uphold public virtue. This movie was based on Henrik Isbon’s play “The Pillars of Society".
The movie “Donga Ramudu” was famous for its tight script, among other salient features of the film. K.V. Reddy and D.V. Narasa Raju wrote the script together, while D. Madhusudhana Rao conceived the storyline.
Ramu (Akkineni Nageswara Rao) is a juvenile criminal who steals medicines from a medical shop to save his mother, Hemalatha. When he is released from prison and grows into a young man, he finds his younger sister, Lakshmi (Jamuna), in an orphanage. He loves the vegetable vendor. Seetha (Savithri). Babulu (R. Nageswara Rao) is the antagonist of the story who murders Veerabhadriah for gain. But Ramu is falsely implicated in the murder case. After some interesting twists in the story, Ramu’s innocence is proved. The story ends on a happy note with the weddings of Ramu and Seetha and of Mohan (a doctor played by Jaggaiah) and Lakshmi.
This movie is often quoted for its tight script.
“Sri Krishna Satya” was his last picture. Considering K.V. Reddy’s advancing age, NTR requested him to act as a guest director for the movie, while NTR himself mostly directed it. In all he directed 14 feature films.
He breathed his last when he was 73 years old.
Film directors typically discard thousands of feet of footage during the editing process. However, film pundits note that K.V. Reddy was an exception to this practice.
The climax scene of “Donga Ramudu” showcases his crisp editing powers of a film.
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