Welcoming the Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s assurance on allocation of land to the movie industry in Visakhapatnam, film personalities on Wednesday said that the move would revive the long-pending dream of making the ‘City of Destiny’ a film hub of the state.
“Blessed with scenic locations such as forests, hill stations, waterfalls and the pristine Bay of Bengal, Visakhapatnam region stands out as the best choice for being the film hub of the State. The cosmopolitan nature of the city is another advantage as you can get people from across the country if ethnic diversity has to be portrayed in a film,” director P. Sunil Kumar Reddy told The Hindu .
Mr. Reddy said he has shot nearly half of his films in the city, mostly with local artistes.
According to theatre artiste S.L. Misro, the film industry should have come to the city long ago. “There is no dearth of artistes here. It is time that Andhra Pradesh also got its share in the tax and revenue from the film industry, post-bifurcation,” said Mr. Misro, who has worked as a character artiste in 50 movies.
Nandi awards
He said the Rama Naidu Studio and scenic locations in the city is a big advantage. “Continuation of the Nandi awards function every year is a must to motivate artistes. It is unfortunate that the successive governments have to be reminded of it,” he said.
“The assuarance on single widow clearance for provision of land to the film industry has revived the hopes of making Vizag as a film hub. Vizag MP M.V.V. Satyanarayana, who have produced four films, and his counterpart from Rajamahendravaram M. Bharat, are my students. They must pursue the matter with the Chief Minister till its logical end,” said film trainer L. Satyanand, who trained stars such as Pawan Kalyan and Mahesh Babu.
Long history
“The Andhra University is the first in India to introduce a course in theatre arts at the university-level during 1960s. It has contributed several artistes to the industry. Outdoor shootings have been being done in Vizag for the past several decades, which continues even after bifurcation,” said P. Bobby Vardhan, Journalism and Mass Communication HoD of AU.
The first cinema theatre in Visakhapatnam is the Poorna Theatre. Started jointly by C. Pullayya and G.K. Manga Raju, it began as Sri Krishna Touring Talkies in 1927 and became a permanent facility three years later, and was re-christened Poorna Talkies.
The first film to be shot in the city is Kulagothralu starring Akkineni Nageswara Rao and Krishna Kumari, which was released in 1962. Araku became popular as a film shooting location following the making of NTR’s Driver Ramudu during 1980s.
K. Balachander’s magnum opus Maro Charitra was shot mostly in Visakhapatnam and Bheemuniptnam.
