Chitrapu Narayana Rao

Chitrapu Narayana Rao (b: 1913 - d: 1985) is a Telugu film directed during the early period of Telugu cinema. He is also called Chitrapu Narayana Murthy. He is brother of Chitrapu Narasimha Rao, another film director.

He was born at Masulipatnam, Andhra Pradesh in 1913. He started his film career assisting his younger brother Chitrapu Narasimha Rao in movies Seetha Kalyanam, Sati Tulasi, Mohini Rukhmangadhe and Krishna Jarasandha. His directorial debut was Bhakta Markandeya starring Vemuri Gaggayya and Sriranjani.^[1] This movie had done well establishing him as a director. He subsequently directed many movies like Myravana, Bhakta Prahlada, Daksha Yagnam, Bheeshma in both Telugu and Tamil languages. They have failed at the box-office.

He has produced the movie Krishna Kuchela in 1961. It was a failure and he went into financial problems. During the same period, he lost his son in 1962.

He wanted to direct a movie for AVM Productions to regain his financial status. They started working on Bhakta Prahlada in 1965, for the first time in Eastman color. It was technically far superior to the Black and White version he made 25 years earlier. D. V. Narasa Raju was the co-writer for the project. Roja Ramani debuted with an astounding performance for a four-year-old, in the role of Prahlada that captured many hearts. It was great success at Boxoffice.

Filmography

1. Markandeya (1938)
2. Mahiravana (1940)
3. Dakshayagnam (1941)
4. Bhakta Prahlada (1942)
5. Bhakta Kabir (1944)
6. Bhishma (1944)
7. Samsara Naradi (1944)
8. Brahma Ratham (1947)
9. Madalasa (1948)
10. Brahma Ratham (1949)
11. En Thangai (1952)
12. Naa Chellelu (1953)
13. Ethirparadathu (1954)
14. Adarshasati (1956)
15. Naga Panchami (1956/II)
16. Nagula Chaviti (1956)
17. Pathni Daivam (1957)
18. Annaiyin Aanai (1958)
19. Manamalai (1958)
20. Naan Valartha Thangai (1958)
21. Daivame Thunai (1959)
22. Bhakta Shabari (Telugu, 1960)
23. Bhakta Shabari (Tamil, 1960)
24. Bhakta Shabari (Kannada, 1960)
25. Krishna Kuchela (1961) (director and producer)
26. Tallichina Ajna (1961)
27. Chittor Rani Padmini (1963)
28. Pativrata (1964)
29. Bhakta Prahlada (Telugu, 1967)
30. Bhakta Prahlada (Tamil, 1967)
31. Bhakta Prahlada (Hindi, 1967)

References

1. ^ http://www.cinegoer.com/bhaktaprahladaeng.htm

External Links

• Chitrapu Narayana Rao at IMDb.