Gudavalli Ramabrahmam was an

Indian film The Cinema of India consists of motion pictures produced in India, which had a large effect on world cinema since the late 20th century. Major centers of film production across the country include Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Ko ...

director,

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

, and

producer Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

who worked in Telugu cinema. He is known for directing critically acclaimed

social problem film A social problem film is a narrative film that integrates a larger social conflict into the individual conflict between its characters. In the context of the United States and of Hollywood, the genre is defined by fictionalized depictions of soc ...

s like ''

Mala Pilla ''Mala Pilla'' or ''Malapilla'' (''English: ''Girl from Mala caste) is a 1938 Indian Telugu-language social problem film directed by Gudavalli Ramabrahmam and written by Tapi Dharma Rao.S. V. Rama Rao (2006) ''Naati 101 Chitralu''. Kinnera Publ ...

'' (1938) and ''

Raithu Bidda ''Raithu Bidda'' (''English:'' Farmer of Common Origins) ( ''Telugu'': రైతు బిడ్డ, lit. Farmer-Son of the Soil) is a 1939 Telugu social problem film directed by Gudavalli Ramabrahmam. It is a social reformist film during the p ...

'' (1939). At a time when mythological films were ruling the roost, Ramabrahmam ushered in a new era in Telugu cinema by making films on contemporary social issues. In 1937, he founded the film production company Sarathi Films along with Raja of

Challapalli Challapalli (officially known as Challapalle) is a village in the Krishna district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is located in the Challapalli mandal, Machilipatnam revenue division. Geography Challapalli is located at . It has a ...

, Yaralagadda Sivarama Prasad. In 1945, he was elected as the chairman for South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce.

Early life and career

Gudavalli Ramabrahmam was born in the village of Nandamuru, Krishna District in 1898 or 1902 to Gudavalli Venkayya and Bapamma. Viswanata Satyanarayana was also born in the same village. Ramabrahmam was educated in Indupalli, Gudivada, and Machilipatnam. He got married at the age of eighteen to Saradhamba. Later he gave up his education and joined the non-cooperation movement by burning foreign clothes in his father-in-law's house. In 1924, he started “Friends and Co,” a stationery shop in Vijayawada. This store became a meeting place for artists and litterateurs like Basavaraju Apparao, Samudrala Raghavacharya, and Andhra University Vice-Chancellor

Cattamanchi Ramalinga Reddy Sir Cattamanchi Ramalinga Reddy (10 December 1880 – 24 February 1951), also popularly known as Sir C. R. Reddy, was an educationist and political thinker, essayist and economist, poet and literary critic. He was a prominent member of the Just ...

. In 1931, he became the Chairman of Andhra Farmers Meeting organizing committee. In 1934, he was elected as the secretary of ''Andhra Nataka Parishathu''. He then worked as the editor of ''Prajamithra'' magazine in

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

. He wrote ''Kammakula Charitra'' (). He went to Kadapa to do research on ''Kamma'' caste. There, he did research on Gandikota and also wrote a play on the destruction of Gandikota tited G''andikota Pathanam'' which became very popular and was played in many cities. Subsequently, he ventured into Telugu cinema, and founded the film production company Sarathi Films along with Raja of

, Yaralagadda Sivarama Prasad and worked as a production executive for the film ''Kanaka Tara''. He then ventured into direction through the folklore film, '' Draupadi Vasthrapharanam'' (1936) under his home production. He then teamed up with producer P. V. Das and directed ''Sree Krishna Leelalu''. He has also directed films like ''Mala Pilla'' (1938), ''Raithu Bidda'' (1939), ''Illalu'' (1940), ''Apavaadhu'' (1941), ''Pathni'' (1942), ''Panthulamma'' (1943), and ''Mayalokam'' (1945). He died on 1 October 1946.Naati 101 Chitralu, S. V. Rama Rao, Kinnera Publications, Hyderabad, 2006, pp.14. He was also the co-director for the film '' Palnati Yuddham'' (1947) which was later finished by

L. V. Prasad Akkineni Laxmi Vara Prasada Rao (17 January 1907 – 22 June 1994), known professionally as L. V. Prasad, was an Indian film director, producer, actor, and businessman. He was one of the pioneers of Indian cinema and is the recipient of the Dad ...

due to his untimely death in 1946.

Legacy

At a time when mythological films were ruling the roost, Ramabrahmam ushered in a new era in Telugu cinema by making films on contemporary social issues. The success of ''Malapilla'' kindled interest in other Telugu

filmmakers Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a Film, motion picture is #Production, produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through scr ...

to make films based on social themes. ''Malapilla'' also discarded the literary Telugu used in films until then and traded it for colloquial Telugu in its dialogue.

Selected filmography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ramabrahmam, Gudavalli 20th-century Indian film directors Telugu film directors 1902 births 1946 deaths Film directors from Andhra Pradesh People from Krishna district Screenwriters from Andhra Pradesh Film producers from Andhra Pradesh Telugu screenwriters Telugu film producers 20th-century Indian screenwriters