| Published on 08-11-2006 In Entertainment | | Viewed 4134 times | | L. V. Prasad: he left an indelible stamp on Indian cinema |
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| Written by
Malladi Narasimham | 
 (Prasads Group founded by a visionary L.V. Prasad is celebrating its golden jubilee this year. A tribute to the legendary film personality)
In 1930 at the dawn of the New Year a lanky young man of 22, from a remote Andhra Village, alighted from a third class compartment at Victoria Terminus. What brought him this great distance was his burning desire- to make it big in films. He neither knew the language nor anybody in the Mecca of Indian cinema. Hoping to find a job at the famous Kohinoor Film Company Studios, Dadar, he stood at the entrance peeping through the closed zinc doors for days together.
Cut to 1956 and the scene shifts to Madras. Aspiring youngsters wait at the entrance hoping to catch his attention as he enters his own studio complex. In a nutshell it is the success story of Akkineni Lakshmi Varaprasada Rao better known as L.V. Prasad. But then it wasn't a cakewalk for the thespian as he himself once said that, 'all the turmoil and turbulent period I underwent was in Bombay.'
Like many of the aspiring actors, he too nurtured a wish to become a movie star and boarded a train to Bombay with just hundred rupees in his pocket. He sneaked out of his house leaving behind his wife Soundarya Manoharamma and a toddler daughter. For 21 months they did not know his whereabouts. Nor was he aware that he had lost his daughter. When nothing happened at the Kohinoor studio gates and when he was robbed of most of his money, he took shelter at a tailor's shop opposite the Studios.
The tailor got him a job in Venus Pictures but the company neither made any film nor paid him. He worked during the evenings in a carnival on a princely salary of one rupee fifty paise per day, acted in bit roles in silent films, did odd jobs of carrying reflectors, camera stands etc., as the junior actors are supposed to do such jobs too those days as otherwise they would be sacked.
He then joined Ardeshir Irani's Imperial Film Company and acted in four to five bit scenes in Alam Ara (1931), India's first talkie. H.M. Reddy was an assistant director with Irani then. The same year Irani produced the first Telugu talkie, Bhaktha Prahlada and the first Tamil talkie, Kalidas both directed by H.M. Reddy. As a company employee, Prasad had acted in both the talkies, as Chandaamarkulu and a temple priest respectively. Thus he had the rare distinction of acting in the first talkie films of three languages.
Veteran film historian 'Film News' Anandan narrates an interesting anecdote. "Though Kalidas is called the first Tamil talkie, the hero spoke in Telugu, the heroine in Tamil and L.V. Prasad in Hindi. The film was made in hurry and runs to about 6,000 ft. A review of the film appeared in a local daily a day prior to its release and shows that press shows were in vogue even at that time."
It was at the Imperial Film Company, a lazy clerk in charge of the junior actors' roll call shortened his name as L.V. Prasad, a name that struck to him the rest of his life. When Imperial Film Company retrenched its staff, Prasad found himself working as a doorkeeper at Krishna Cinema. Interestingly, at the same theatre in 1970, Prasad celebrated the silver jubilee run of his home production, Khilona.
Prasad donned many roles in Bombay as an actor, gatekeeper, film representative, production manager, assistant cameraman and an assistant director.
At the turn of the next decade in 1940, Prasad boarded a third class compartment, this time towards Madras.
H.M. Reddy invited him to join as an assistant director for his pictures, Satyame Jayam and Tenali Ramakrishna. Prasad acted in both the films besides working as an assistant director. After that he had to return to Bombay at the request of Tandra Subrahmanya Sastry to direct the film Kashta Jeevi. It was Anjali
Devi's first film as a heroine. But unfortunately the film never got completed.
Prasad stayed back in Bombay and worked as an assistant director for a few films, wrote the script for "Devar" and acted in plays by Prithvi Theatres founded by Prithviraj Kapoor. The never-say-die attitude and the positive frame of mind had always helped Prasad to face any dramatic dip in life's fortunes.
In 1945, Prasad came back again to Madras at the invitation of K. S. Prakasa Rao to direct and act in Gruhapravesam, which turned out to be a big hit. Then successful films followed one after the other - Palnati Yudham, Drohi, Manadesam that introduced N.T. Ramarao in a cameo as a police sub-Inspector, Vijaya's big hits, Shavukaru that introduced Sowcar Janaki to films. Kalyanam Panni Paar , Missiamma, Kadanvangi Kalyanam and Samsaram (Telugu) with N.T. Ramarao and
A. Nageswara Rao, their first film together and the landmark film in Sivaji Ganesan's career, Manohara in three languages – Tamil, Telugu and Hindi (Manohar).
"While Manohara was half way through the making, its Tamil version's dialogue writer and the present Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Kalaignar Karunanidhi was jailed due to some political reasons. Acharya Athreya was writing the Telugu version's dialogue. At the insistence of L.V. Prasad, Athreya used to go to the jail and discuss with Karunanidhi the dialogues for the remaining portions in the Tamil version. The film was a huge hit in all the three languages," recalls 'Film News" Anandan.
In 1955, Prasad took possession of an unfinished studio in Madras and named it Prasad Studios. The same year he made, Ilavelpu. In 1956 he started Prasad Productions (P) Ltd., and produced his first Hindi film, Sharada. That was followed by a long string that included Chote Behan, Jeene Ki Raah, Miss Mary, Raja Aur Rank, Milan, Sasural, Humraahi, Swati and Ek Duje Ke Liye. Besides, he produced and directed films in Tamil, Telugu and Kannada.
And this year, Prasad Productions celebrates its golden jubilee. If Prasad first appeared on screen in 1931, fifty years later he made his last screen appearance in a major role in Raja Parvai (Amavasya Chandrudu in Telugu).
He was a recipient of the prestigeous Dada Saheb Phalke Award (1982) and the Andhra Pradesh Government's Raghupathi Venkayya award (1980). The Andhra University conferred on him the 'Kalaprapoorna' (1985) and the Tamil Nadu Government the Raja Sandow Award (1981).
A humble and simple man, Prasad had given liberal donations to found the L.V. Prasad Eye Institute at Hyderabad, now a premier eye hospital in the country.
A visionary, he made Prasad Studios, a cinema house of excellence having state-of-the-art laboratories, recording theatres and other modern technical gadgetry. His son Ramesh Prasad has carried on the legacy by turning as the best in India.
Hyderabad 2006. Ministry of Communications has honoured Prasad issuing a special stamp in his colourful memory. Legends are not born. History turns achievers into legends. And every aspiring actor/producer/director/technician must gain inspiration from the lives of legends. L. V. Prasad is one such legend. |
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