K. V. Reddy | |
|---|---|
| Born | Kadiri Venkata Reddy 1 July 1912 |
| Died | 15 September 1972(1972-09-15) (aged 60) Chennai,Tamil Nadu, India |
| Occupation(s) | Director, Producer, Writer |
| Years active | 1940–1970 |
| Spouse | Seshamma (m.1932) |
Kadiri Venkata Reddy (1 July 1912 – 15 September 1972), commonly known asK. V. Reddy, was an Indian film director, screenwriter, and producer, primarily known for his work inTelugu cinema. Renowned as one of the most influential filmmakers inSouth Indian cinema, he directed 14feature films during his career. His contributions earned him several prestigious accolades, including threeNational Film Awards and aFilmfare Award South.[1]
His filmography includes films based onitihasa-puranas likeMayabazar (1957),Sri Krishnarjuna Yuddhamu (1962),Sri Krishna Satya (1972);fantasy films likeGunasundari Katha (1949),Pathala Bhairavi (1951),Jagadeka Veeruni Katha (1961);historicalbiopics likeBhakta Potana (1942),Yogi Vemana (1947), anddrama films likePedda Manushulu (1954),Donga Ramudu (1955),Pellinaati Pramanalu (1959).[2]
Pathala Bhairavi was the only South Indian film to be screened at the firstInternational Film Festival of India in 1952.Donga Ramudu was archived in the curriculum of theFilm and Television Institute of India.[3]Mayabazar is widely regarded as one of the greatest Indian films ever produced.[4][5] On the centenary of Indian cinema in April 2013,CNN-IBN includedPathala Bhairavi andMayabazar in its list of "100 greatest Indian films of all time".[6] In an online poll featuring the films in the list,Mayabazar was voted by the public as the "greatest Indian film of all time."[7]
Kadiri Venkata Reddy was born on 1 July 1912 in aTelugu family in Tellamitta Palle nearTadipatri inAnantapur district in present-dayAndhra Pradesh.[8][9][10] His parents were Konda Reddy and Venkata Rangamma. His mother was a devotee ofLord Venkateswara. His father died when K. V. Reddy was two years old.[11] Later, he started living along with his mother at his maternal uncle's home.[12][13]
He performed well in academics and actively took part in sports likefootball andhockey. He was good at mathematics and painting.[11]Moola Narayana Swamy was a close friend of him right from his school days.[14][13][15][16]
He completed hisB.Sc degree in Physics[17] inMadras Presidency College.[8] While living inMadras, he was fascinated with the cinema industry which was still in its nascent stage. He started regularly watching films and would watch three films on Sundays.[16]P. Pullayya was one year senior to him in college. P. Pullayya entered the film industry while K. V. Reddy was still in college. Both of them would frequently discuss about stories suitable to be made as films.[16]
K. V. Reddy graduated in 1935. He wanted to enter the film industry after the completion of his graduation. He started reading various books on filmmaking. He studied and analysed films and books byRussian andJapanese filmmakers.[15]
After graduation, K. V. Reddy started a business named "The Standard Scientific Instruments Company" with his friend A. V. V. Krishna Rao.[18] Started with an initial capital of₹250, the company manufactured scientific instruments that are used in schools and colleges.[16] He ran the business for one year during 1936–37 and it was successful.[18]
K. V. Reddy was invited by his childhood friendMoola Narayana Swamy to work in the production department of a film he was co-producing.[16] K. V. Reddy joined as a cashier for Rohini Pictures in 1937 for the filmGruhalakshmi.[18][15][13] The film released in 1938 and was commercially successful.[9]
Rohini Pictures was formed by the partnership ofH. M. Reddy along withB. N. Reddy and Moola Narayana Swamy. The latter two had differences with H. M. Reddy and split themselves from Rohini Pictures and establishedVauhini Pictures.[19][16] Narayana Swamy was the Chairman and B. N. Reddy was the Managing Director of the company.[20] K. V. Reddy joined Vauhini Pictures along with them.[15] He was also made a partner in the company.[11] He worked as aProduction Manager for Vauhini films likeVande Mataram (1939),Sumangali (1940),Devatha (1941).[13][10] While working as a cashier and a production manager, K. V. Reddy developed understanding of various aspects offilmmaking.[18][13] While working at Vauhini Pictures, he became acquainted withKamalakara Kameswara Rao, who was an assistant to B. N. Reddy. They made a pact that the first one to become a director among them would work as an assistant to the other.[21]
While working as a production manager at Vauhini, K. V. Reddy prepared the script for a film based on the life of 15th century Telugu poetPothana.[18] Though it was opposed by various people in the company for K. V. Reddy's lack of directorial experience, Narayana Swamy greenlit the project. The film was titledBhakta Pothana and featuredV. Nagayya in thetitle role.[9] Kamalakara Kameswara Rao assisted him as was previously agreed upon.[21] The production of the film was interrupted by thesecond world war. ButBhakta Pothana completed its production and was finally released on 7 January 1943. The film was successful all overSouth India includingMysore state andKerala.[22][15]
After the huge success ofBhakta Pothana, Narayana Swamy who had interests in other business ventures focused on film production. He made a proposal to the board to confine Vauhini Pictures tofilm distribution and start Vauhini Productions for film production. The proposal was approved, and Narayana Swamy invested₹2lakh out of the total capital of₹2.5 lakh. Rest of the₹50,000 was provided by the family of B. N. Reddy and K. V. Reddy.[19] Thus, K. V. Reddy became a partner in Vauhini Productions. It was decided that B. N. Reddy and K. V. Reddy would alternately direct films for the production house.[15] When Vauhini Productions madeSwargaseema (1945) as its first production under the direction of B. N. Reddy, K. V. Reddy worked as a production manager for the film.[15] Though the film faced troubles due to the shortage offilm stock due to the world war, it became successful.[20] K. V. Reddy also made acameo appearance in the song "Oho Tapodhana".[23]
While working onSwargaseema, K. V. Reddy started preparing the script for his next directorial venture. Along withSamudrala Sr., he gathered information onVemana from historical and folklore sources and prepared the script forYogi Vemana (1947). K. V. Reddy collaborated once again with Nagayya who played the lead role.[8] The film was critically acclaimed but underperformed commercially.[11]Ashish Rajadhyaksha andPaul Willemen inEncyclopedia of Indian Cinema note, "Bhakta Pothana andYogi Vemana, contributed to Chittor V Nagaiah’s image as South Indian cinema’s most famous actor in the saint film genre".[2]
Around the same time, Vauhini Productions' films were getting delayed due to lack of studio facilities. And so, they decided to build a studio of their own.[19] Narayana Swamy invested the capital required for building the studio while B. N. Reddy took up the responsibility of managing the construction work. Even though B. N. Reddy was to direct the next film for Vauhini as per the agreement, it fell upon K. V. Reddy to direct the next film as B. N. Reddy was busy in the construction work of the studio.[24]
K. V. Reddy wanted to make a film that was distinct from his previous films and any of the films produced till then by Vauhini. He choseWilliam Shakespeare's playKing Lear as the inspiration for the core plot.[10] But K. V. Reddy and his writersPingali andKamalakara Kameswara Rao changed the tone from thetragedy ofKing Lear to a more entertaining one for the film. TitledGunasundari Katha (1949), the film was successful at the box-office.[25][19][26] The film had a scene where the protagonist turns into a bear due to a curse. K. V. Reddy remembered a kind-hearted bear in his childhood which spared him his life and made it a character in the film. The film was later remade in Tamil asGunasundari (1955) byVijaya Productions under the direction of Kamalakara Kameswara Rao.[25]
Nagi Reddi andChakrapani signed K. V. Reddy in 1950 to directPathala Bhairavi. The film was based on a story fromKasi Majilee Kathalu, written byMadhira Subbanna Deekshitulu.[27]Pingali adapted the content and wrote the film's story.Kamalakara Kameswara Rao and Reddy worked on the screenplay.[28] Pingali was also inspired from the story ofAladdin.[28]Pathala Bhairavi was made as a bilingual film, shot in Telugu and Tamil simultaneously with both the versions having the same title.
The film starsN. T. Rama Rao,S. V. Ranga Rao and K. Malathi. The film focuses on a gardener's son who has to amass wealth equal to that of the king ofUjjain to marry his daughter and a sorcerer who has to sacrifice an intelligent and brave young man to Goddess Pathala Bhairavi to gain access to a statuette which can grant any wish. As the film is shot as a bilingual, production lasted for a whole year starting from 5 February 1950 until 8 February 1951.
The Telugu version ofPathala Bhairavi was released on 15 March 1951, and the Tamil version on 17 May 1951. Both versions were commercially successful.Pathala Bhairavi became the first Telugu film to run continuously for 175 days,[29] and the first Telugu film to have a direct run of 200 days.[30] The 1952 Hindi version was also successful.Pathala Bhairavi is considered to be abreakthrough film for both Rama Rao and Ranga Rao.[10] The success of the film established Vijaya Productions as a prominentproduction house in South Indian cinema.[2] It was also the only South Indian film to be screened at the firstInternational Film Festival of India held atMumbai on 24 January 1952.
After the success ofPathala Bhairavi,Nagi Reddi asked K. V. Reddy to make another fantasy film for Vijaya Productions.[31] But, after directing two historical films (Bhakta Pothana, Yogi Vemana) and two fantasy films (Gunasundari Katha, Pathala Bhairavi ), K. V. Reddy wanted to make adrama film this time. As B. N. Reddy and K. V. Reddy previously agreed to alternately direct films for Vauhini, K. V. Reddy planned to make his next film on Vauhini Productions banner.[32]
K. V. Reddy was interested inwestern literature and films.The Pillars of Society, a 1877 play by famous NorwegianplaywrightHenrik Ibsen attracted him.[10] He wanted to direct a film based on the play. He collaborated withD. V. Narasaraju and D. B. G. Tilak and prepared the script.[33] Only two characters from the play were retained and rest of the story was newly developed by the writers.[32]
The film titledPedda Manushulu portrayed corruption among so called respectable persons of the society.[10][8] It released on 11 March 1954 and was commercially successful.[34][32] It became the first Telugu film to win theNational Film Award.[10][34] The film became a trendsetter for many later films with a similar theme. It showed that those who are consideredPedda Manushulu (transl. Gentlemen ortransl. Respectable People) by the society are corrupt. After the film's release, the termPedda Manushulu had negative connotations in Telugu culture for a long time.[34] The film proved K. V. Reddy's capability in directing not only fantasy and mythological films, but also social dramas.[32]
AfterAkkineni Nageswara Rao became a majormovie star in the early 1950s, his friend and mentorDukkipati Madhusudhana Rao wanted to launch their ownproduction company.[35] They establishedAnnapurna Pictures, named after Madhusudhana Rao’s stepmother.[36] Madhusudana Rao, Nageswara Rao, and few others were its partners.[37][35] They wanted K. V. Reddy to direct the first film for their banner and waited for more than two years for him.[15]
D. V. Narasaraju, the writer ofPedda Manushulu was chosen to pen the story and dialogues.[36][35] Since he was directing Nageswara Rao for the first time, K. V. Reddy thought it should be different from the actor's earlier films.[38] He suggested a storyline on brother-sister sentiment with the brother going to any extent, even giving up his life for the sake of his sister.[38] Madhusudana Rao recollected a short story,Loving Brothers that he had previously read. In the story, the elder brother commits robberies to educate his younger brother.[38] Taking only that point, replacing the younger brother with a sister, Narasaraju, Madhusudana Rao and K. V. Reddy wrote the script ofDonga Ramudu.[38]
Released on 2 October 1955,Donga Ramudu became a super hit.[35][36][37][38] The success of the film established Annapurna Pictures as a leading production house in Telugu cinema. The film was later archived by the curriculum of theFilm and Television Institute of India.[3]Donga Ramudu was dubbed inTamil asThiruttu Raman (1956) and was commercially successful.[36][39] It was later remade in Hindi asMan-Mauji (1962) and again in Tamil asVasanthi (1988).
K. V. Reddy always had a vision of making a film based on itihas with huge sets similar toHollywood films. He found support fromVijaya Productions founded byNagi Reddi andChakrapani.[10] After the success ofPathala Bhairavi, Vijaya Productions selected the film's technical crew for an adaptation ofSasirekha Parinayam, also known asMayabazar. The eighth adaptation of the folk taleSasirekha Parinayam,[40] it was the studio's first film on itihas.[41] K. V. Reddy wrote and directedMayabazar, assisted bySingeetam Srinivasa Rao.[42] It was produced by Nagi Reddi and Chakrapani. Nearly a year was spent on pre-production and casting.[41]Pingali wrote the story, dialogues, and lyrics.
The film was produced inTelugu andTamil versions, with a slightly different cast for each.N. T. Rama Rao, hesitant to playKrishna after a negative response to his cameo appearance inSonta Ooru (1956), agreed at K. V. Reddy's insistence and special care was taken with his costume and body language;[41][43]Mayabazar was the first of Rama Rao's many appearances as Krishna. During rehearsals, K. V. Reddy timed his actors with a stopwatch, calculating the length of each scene (including songs) to determine the film's length.[41] D. S. Ambu Rao, Bartley's assistant, said thatMayabazar was shot according to the screenplay and Bartley's lighting.[44] In addition to the principal technicians and actors, a crew of 400, including light men, carpenters, and painters, worked onMayabazar during production.[41]
The Telugu version ofMayabazar was released on 27 March 1957,[41] and the Tamil version two weeks later on 12 April.[45][46] Both versions have a film-reel length of 5,888 metres (19,318 ft). A commercial success,Mayabazar had a theatrical run of 100 days in 24 theatres and went on to become asilver jubilee film with a theatrical run of 175 days (25 weeks)[41]Mayabazar was the first colourised Telugu film,[47] with its audio remastered from monaural to aDTS 5.1-channel system.[48]
Mayabazar is considered as a classic in Telugu cinema, particularly in its use of technology.[49][50][51][13] Various words and phrases, such as "antha alamalame kada" ("Is everything fine?"), "Asamadiyulu" ("Friends"), "Tasamadiyulu" ("Enemies"), "Gilpam" and "Gimbali" ("bed-" and "room-mat"), later became part of Telugu vernacular.[52]
K. V. Reddy founded aproduction company named Jayanthi Pictures, in partnership with P. S. Reddy andTikkavarapu Pattabhirama Reddy.[10] K. V. Reddy liked the filmThe Seven Year Itch (1955) and wanted to make a film on the same theme. He initially wanted to make this film forAnnapurna Pictures' maiden production, but dropped the idea as the producerD. Madhusudhana Rao was not keen on it.[11] He chose this idea for Jayanthi Pictures' first project.[53]
TitledPellilnati Pramanalu, the film starred Akkineni Nageswara Rao andJamuna, with music composed byGhantasala. The film was simultaneously made inTamil asVaazhkai Oppandham with a slightly different cast that released the following year.[53] The Telugu version was released on 12 December 1958 and the Tamil film on 4 September 1959. The Telugu version was above average at the box-office while the Tamil film fared average but recovered its money through pre-selling.[53] At the6th National Film Awards,Pellinaati Pramanalu won the award forBest Feature Film in Telugu.[54]
N. T. Rama Rao's brotherN. Trivikrama Rao decided to produce a film based onRamayana for his company National Art Theatre. Rama Rao's portrayal of the Ravana inBhookailas (1958) earned him critical acclaim.[55] Also, Ravana's reputation as a renowned LordSiva devotee, made Rama Rao consider reprising the role in this film with a more layered representation of the character.[56]
Rama Rao approached his mentor K. V. Reddy to direct the film. But, K. V. Reddy wanted Rama Rao to don the role ofLord Rama andS. V. Ranga Rao to play the character ofRavana.[57] Since Rama Rao was adamant about playing Ravana, K. V. Reddy declined the offer, saying that he could not envision Rama Rao playing a demon. Rama Rao then decided to direct the film himself, marking his directorial debut with the film titledSita Rama Kalyanam (1961).[56][57]
K. V. Reddy's next project was the Vijaya Productions' fantasy filmJagadeka Veeruni Katha (1961). The film was adapted from a popular Tamilfolktale on which a previous film,Pakshiraja Films’Jagathalapratapan (1944) was also based.[58] ScreenwriterPingali and K. V. Reddy took the core plot fromJagathala Prathapan, but added new characters, made other changes to the story and prepared the script ofJagadeka Veeruni Katha which made it quite distinct from the 1944 film.[58]
The film starredN. T. Rama Rao,B. Saroja Devi, andRajanala with music composed byPendyala. Released on 9 August 1961, the film was a box office success.[10] The film was also dubbed intoBengali,Hindi,Kannada,Odia, and Tamil.[58]
K. V. Reddy’s next project was the mythological filmSri Krishnarjuna Yuddhamu (1963). The film was based on the popularTelugu playGayopakhyanam written byChilakamarti Lakshmi Narasimham in 1890. K. V. Reddy also produced the film under the Jayanthi Pictures banner.[59][60]
The film starsN. T. Rama Rao asKrishna andAkkineni Nageswara Rao asArjuna. Initially, Nageswara Rao was not keen on acting in a mythological film alongside Rama Rao. However, he accepted the role due to his respect towards K. V. Reddy for having directedDonga Ramudu (1955), the maiden venture of his own production houseAnnapurna Pictures.[60][61]Sri Krishnarjuna Yuddhamu became a commercial success.[10] The film was later dubbed into Kannada and Tamil.[62]
After the success ofSri Krishnarjuna Yuddhamu based on popular mythological playGayopakhyanam, K. V. Reddy planned a film based on another mythological playSatyaHarishchandra for Vijaya Productions.[63] The songs and poems written byBalijepalli Lakshmikantha Kavi for hismagnum opus playSatya Harischandriyamu in 1924 were already popular with the audience. However, due to copyright issues, K. V. Reddy could not use those poems.Pingali wrote new poems and songs for the film.[64] K. V. Reddy also produced the film for Vijaya Productions.[65] The film titledSatya Harishchandra starredN. T. Rama Rao in the title role andS. Varalakshmi as Chandramathi.[66] The film released on 22 April 1965 and was a failure at the box-office.[67][10][13] Audience accustomed to the old poems of Lakshmikantha Kavi were disappointed with the new ones and this was attributed as one of the reasons for the failure of the film.[64][67]
K. V. Reddy produced the film simultaneously inKannada withthe same title, starringDr Rajkumar. The Kannada film was hugely successful at the time of its release and is seen as a milestone inKannada cinema.[68][69] It won the President's silver medal forBest Feature Film in Kannada at the13th National Film Awards.[70] It also became the third Indian and the first South Indianblack-and-white film to be digitally coloured in 2008.[71][69]
K. V. Reddy's next film wasUma Chandi Gowri Sankarula Katha (1968). It is amythological film produced byNagi Reddi andChakrapani under theVijaya Productions banner. The film starredN. T. Rama Rao asLord Siva andB. Saroja Devi in a triple role as Uma, Chandi and Gowri.[72][73] Released on 11 January 1968, the film was a commercial failure.[74][10][13]
After directing two consecutive flop films for Vijaya Productions, technicians and crew who were a part of K. V. Reddy’s team and were being employed by Vijaya Productions on a monthly salary basis were laid off by the company. This caused a stir in the film industry.[75]
K. V. Reddy started directing a folklore film titledBhagya Chakramu for his own production company, Jayanthi Pictures with N. T. Rama Rao in the lead role. K. V. Reddy clashed with his partners in Jayanthi Pictures during the production. Though he was credited as the director and producer, K. V. Reddy’s involvement in the making of the film was less.[15] The film released on 13 September 1968 and was also a failure at the box-office.[10][13]
After the failure ofBhagya Chakramu, K. V. Reddy had no offers for two years. He also felt humiliated by thelayoff of his collaborators by Vijaya Productions. He was worried about not directing another successful film and ending his career as a director with three failures in his last stage.[75][16] He started assisting in the script work of others’ films.
In this situation, N. T. Rama Rao approached him with two scripts written by his collaborator Pingali —Chanakya Chandragupta andSri Krishna Satya.[13] He offered K. V. Reddy the choice of directing either of the scripts for Rama Rao's own production house. K. V. Reddy chose the latter.[75][13] The plot ofSri Krishna Satya is linked to bothTreta Yuga andDvapara Yuga. The film stars N. T. Rama Rao as Lord Krishna andJayalalithaa as his consortSatyabhama. After shooting a large part of the film, K. V. Reddy fell ill. Then, Rama Rao finished the remaining portions under the supervision of K. V. Reddy.Sri Krishna Satya released on 24 December 1971 and was commercially successful.[76][10][8][13] The film won theNandi Award forSecond Best Feature Film for the year 1971.[77]
Directing the film and its success gave a lot of satisfaction to K. V. Reddy.[16] He wanted to make one more successful film and then retire to his hometownTadipatri. As his health deteriorated, he could not fulfil his wish and died on 15 September 1972.[75]
K. V. Reddy married Seshamma. They had nine children — five daughters and four sons. When Seshamma was diagnosed with cancer, he was depressed and stopped taking his medicines forDiabetes andHypertension.[11]
His children were featured in the song "Bhale Thatha Mana Bapuji" inDonga Ramudu (1955). His son Srinivasa Reddy worked as an assistant director to his father onUma Chandi Gowri Sankarula Katha (1968) andBhagya Chakramu (1968).[11] Another son K. Ramachandra Reddy was educated atIIT. He is aserial entrepreneur and worked inUS for 30 years.[11] He founded Moschip Technologies Ltd. in 1999 inHyderabad. As of 2015, it is the only publicly tradedfab-lesssemiconductor company based in India.[78]
K. V. Reddy died on 15 September 1972.[75] His wife also died three months after his death.[11]
K. V. Reddy was aperfectionist who was passionate about filmmaking.Singeetam Srinivasa Rao, who assisted K. V. Reddy for over a decade, mentions that he had a ‘scientific approach’ to filmmaking.[17] He would always work with a bound script. Everything regarding the film would already be written in the script prior to the commencement of filming — dialogues, shot division,camera angles,props on theset etc.[21][79] Once the script is finalized, he would not make any changes to it during the shooting.[17] He usedstopwatch to time his actors calculating the length of each scene to determine the film's length.[16][17]
He was careful in finishing the film within the range offilm stock that was planned to be used duringpreproduction.[16][79] He was also mindful of finishing the film within the range of pre-planned budget.Editing would only start after the completion of shooting.[21]
He was also particular aboutcasting.[21] He was insistent on casting N. T. Rama Rao for the role of Lord Krishna inMayabazar, though many members of the production opposed it.[11] N. T. Rama Rao followed the filmmaking style of K. V. Reddy after he became a director and was successful.[16]
K. V. Reddy is noted for his collaboration with writerPingali which produced many successful films.[9] K. V. Reddy also introducedD. V. Narasaraju, who became a noted screenwriter, into the film industry.[15] He also collaborated withMarcus Bartley on most of his films.[10]Pendyala worked as a music composer for seven of his films, whileGhantasala composed the music for three films.Ogirala Ramachandra Rao and Nagayya composed music for three and two films respectively.Singeetam Srinivasa Rao, who would later become a doyen ofSouth Indian cinema, worked with K. V. Reddy fromDonga Ramudu (1955) tillUma Chandi Gowri Sankarula Katha (1968). He initially joined Reddy as anapprentice and later became an assistant director in his team.[17][80]
N. T. Rama Rao collaborated with him on eight of his films.Akkineni Nageswara Rao acted in four films of his. Nagayya played the lead role in K. V. Reddy’s first two films —Bhakta Potana,Yogi Vemana and later played supporting roles in three films.S. V. Ranga Rao acted in three of his films —Pathala Bhairavi, Pellinaati Pramanalu, Sri Krishna Satya.B. Saroja Devi played the female lead in four of his films.Savitri andJamuna each played the female lead in two of K. V. Reddy’s films.[citation needed]
I was 7-8 years old when I first saw it [Mayabazaar] as a kid, I loved it immensely. Later, when I came to the film industry, I kept thinking about how KV Reddy and his team made the film back in those days. I was mesmerised by the visual effects in that film. Later, while makingYamadonga, my VFX supervisor and I spent two days just to figure out how KV Reddy had pulled off such amazing special effects back then. The more I explored the world of Mayabazaar, my respect for KV Reddy kept growing.
Noted directorS. S. Rajamouli cited K. V. Reddy as the Indian director who had the biggest influence on him.[82][81][83]
A street was named after him in his hometownTadipatri.[11] In 2012, on the occasion of K. V. Reddy’s birth centenary, a book on his film career was written by H. Ramesh Babu and Tanneeru Srinivas.[84]
On the centenary ofIndian cinema in April 2013,CNN-IBN includedPathala Bhairavi andMayabazar in its list of "100 greatest Indian films of all time".[6] In an online poll conducted byCNN-IBN among those 100 films,Mayabazar was voted by the public as the "greatest Indian film of all time."[7]
Archana Nathan ofScroll.in called K. V. Reddy, "the original fantasy movie king". She added thatPathala Bhairavi successfully revived the adventure fantasy genre when it was declared that the genre had run out of steam.[85]
Vedantam Sripatisarma, a film critic, wrote of him, "Kadiri Venkata Reddy stands out as one of the most seasoned minds of yesteryears who missed no moment in entertaining the viewer even inside a subject involving melancholy and drama. His style of comedy was absolutely unimaginable. His ways never appeared to be contrived. There was this great ease with which he moved his subjects."[86]
K. V. Reddy directed 14feature films.
| Year | Title | Language | Direction | Screenplay | Story | Producer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1942 | Bhakta Potana | Telugu | Yes | No | No | No |
| 1947 | Yogi Vemana | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | |
| 1949 | Gunasundari Katha | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | |
| 1951 | Pathala Bhairavi | Telugu Tamil | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| 1954 | Pedda Manushulu | Telugu | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 1955 | Donga Ramudu | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | |
| 1957 | Mayabazar | Telugu Tamil | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| 1958 | Pellinaati Pramanalu | Telugu | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| 1961 | Jagadeka Veeruni Katha | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | |
| 1963 | Sri Krishnarjuna Yuddhamu | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | |
| 1965 | Satya Harishchandra | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | |
| 1968 | Uma Chandi Gowri Sankarula Katha | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | |
| 1968 | Bhagya Chakramu | Yes | Yes | No | No | |
| 1971 | Sri Krishna Satya | Yes | Yes | No | No |
Other roles
K. V. Reddy is portrayed by directorKrish Jagarlamudi in the filmsMahanati (2018) andNTR: Kathanayakudu (2019).[89]
S.S. Rajamouli calls Mayabazar "the greatest classic and absolute influence of all times, not only on me and my generation of filmmakers, but the entire Telugu film industry."
Gunasundari Katha was an experiment by itself with Kasturi Siva Rao, a comedian, as hero. It clicked and made good profits.
KV Reddy used to estimate the length of shot in the planning stage and write it in the script itself. Then he used to order raw film in accordance with the estimation done during the script stage. KV Reddy was one of the most economical directors.
I was 7-8 years old when I first saw it as a kid, I loved it immensely. Later, when I came to the film industry, I kept thinking about how KV Reddy and his team made the film back in those days. I was mesmerised by the visual effects in that film. Later, while making Yamadonga, my VFX supervisor and I spent two days just to figure out how KV Reddy had pulled off such amazing special effects back then. The more I explored the world of Mayabazaar, my respect for KV Reddy kept growing.
In Telugu cinema, KV Reddy films are my favourites.
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