Singeetam Srinivasa Rao was born on 21 September 1931 into a Telugu-speaking family in Udayagiri of Nellore district in present-day Andhra Pradesh. His father, Ramachandra Rao, was a headmaster and his mother, Sakunthala Bai, was a violinist.[2] As a school student, he showed glimpses of talent both in plays and music. He graduated with a Physics Degree from Presidency College, Chennai.[23][9] In college, he honed his skills in plays such as Windows under Harindranath Chattopadhyay.[2]
Career
Early career
After graduation his ambition was to get into films. As his attempts to meet the director K. V. Reddy failed, he took up the job of a teacher in Sullurupeta.[2] But he continued writing and wrote two experimental award-winning plays Bhrama and Anthyaghattam. He also wrote Chitrarjuna, a musical play adopted from Tagore's Chitra - Prince of the Dark Chamber. It was translated into English by Scottish dramatist Tom Buchan for an American television channel. He also worked as a journalist at the time writing for Telugu Swatantra.[2][9]
Telugu cinema
He continued his efforts to meet his favourite director K. V. Reddy and in 1954 he was finally able to meet him. K. V. Reddy gave him a copy of The Monkey's Paw and asked him to write a script based on it. Srinivasa Rao wrote the script along with dialogues in three months. K. V. Reddy was impressed and took him as an apprentice.[2] He later graduated as an associate director under K. V. Reddy and worked with him for all his films from Donga Ramudu (1955) until Uma Chandi Gowri Sankarula Katha (1968) including Mayabazar (1957), Jagadeka Veeruni Katha (1961), Sri Krishnarjuna Yuddham (1963).[8]
He made over half of his films in Telugu. He directed nearly 30 Telugu films across genres. His most recent film was Welcome Obama (2013). The story deals with commercial surrogacy in India where women are used as surrogates by foreigners and tells the story of one such surrogate mother who bears a foreigner's child.[1]
He is also roped in as a mentor for the upcoming Telugu science fiction film Project K. Made at an estimated budget of ₹500 crore, it is one of the most expensive Indian films ever made. Srinivasa Rao gave his inputs and opinion on the film's script as a part of the mentorship.[24]
Kannada cinema
Srinivasa Rao was the executive director of the 1970 Kannada movie Samskara directed by Pattabhirama Reddy. It won the President's gold medal for National Film Award for Best Feature Film.[4] Singeetam made his Kannada directorial debut with the 1982 blockbuster Haalu Jenu starring Rajkumar. He went on to direct six more Kannada blockbusters with Rajkumar - Chalisuva Modagalu (1982), Eradu Nakshatragalu (1983), Shravana Banthu (1984), Jwaalamukhi (1985), Bhagyada Lakshmi Baramma (1986) and Devatha Manushya (1988). Two of these were based on novels. He was selected to direct the historical Amoghavarsha Nrupathunga which was supposed to be Rajkumar's 200th movie but eventually dropped.[25] However, he subsequently went on to direct Devatha Manushya (1988) which happened to be Rajkumar's 200th film.
His other non-Rajkumar Kannada directorials include Anand (1986) and Chiranjeevi Sudhakara (1988) apart from Ksheera Sagara (1992), Tuvvi Tuvvi Tuvvi (1999) and Make-up (2002) in the latter part of his career. He co-wrote the screenplay for two Kannada movies produced by Rajkumar's banner that were not directed by him - Shruthi Seridaaga (1987) and Samyuktha (1988). He was also the script-writer of Belliyappa Bangarappa (1992). A disciple of legendary composer S. Rajeswara Rao, he has composed music for two Kannada films - Bhagyada Lakshmi Baramma and Samyuktha.[26]
Most of the films he directed in Kannada were produced by Parvathamma Rajkumar and all were critically and commercially successful. Of the seven films Srinivasa Rao directed with Rajkumar in lead roles, four movies were remade in Telugu.
Singeetam's association with Rajkumar was a rare one where he not only directed cult classics and landmark movies but also co-wrote screenplay and composed music for movies produced by the actor even though they were not directed by him. This stands as a testimony for the faith Rajkumar had in the abilities of Rao and the admiration Srinivasa had for Rajkumar.[27]
In 1988, when Rajkumar announced his desire to temporarily retire from acting, Singeetam decided to concentrate on Tamil movies where he mostly had Kamal Haasan in the lead roles.[28]
The Kannada Film Journalists Association has honoured Srinivasa Rao with a Special Biography. Srinivasa Rao received three Karnataka State Film Awards — two for Best Screenplay and one for Best movie.[4]
Lyricist and composer
He composed lyrics for films like Bhairava Dweepam (1994) and soundtracks for a few Kannada films. He edited many magazines in Telugu such as Bharati, and scripted plays like Brahma, Antya Ghattam, and Chitrārjuna. Chitrārjuna was also translated into English, and was telecasted in American Television.[29] A disciple of legendary composer S. Rajeswara Rao, he has also composed music for two Kannada movies of matinee idol Rajkumar's banner - Bhagyada Lakshmi Baramma (which was directed by him) and Samyuktha - (which was not directed by him).[30]
The 1984 Telugu biographicaldance film, Mayuri, which won the National Film Award – Special Mention (Feature Film), was premiered at the 1985 International Film Festival of India, has also received several state Awards, including the State Nandi Award for Best Feature Film, and Filmfare Award South for Best Direction.[31] The film was later remade into Hindi as Naache Mayuri.
In 1988, he co-produced, scripted and directed the first Indian dialogue-less film, Pushpaka Vimana which received special mention at Shanghai Film Festival.[32][33] When he was working with Rajkumar, Srinivasa Rao was introduced to Rajkumar's relative, actor Shringar Nagaraj who decided to co-produce Pushpaka Vimana.[34] The film was listed among CNN-IBN's 'Hundred greatest Indian films of all time'.[35]
Srinivasa Rao plans to make a sequel to Aditya 369 in the future.[3] He also expressed his wish to direct a pre-recorded experimental film — a musical in which he wants to use pre-recorded sequences and dialogues while shooting. He also wants to make a documentary on the making of Apoorva Sagodhararkal. He also wants to write a book on the making of Pushpaka Vimana, and his autobiography in the form of a screenplay.[6]
Collaborators
Srinivasa Rao is particularly noted for his collaboration with two actors - Dr. Rajkumar and Kamal Haasan - which resulted in commercially successful and critically acclaimed movies. With Kamal Haasan he made films such as Pushpaka Vimana (1987), Apoorva Sagodharargal (1990) and Michael Madana Kama Rajan (1991) among others,[19] He also directed Kamal Haasan in his 100th film Raja Paarvai / Amavasya Chandrudu (1981).[47]
He directed Rajkumar in seven Kannada films in the 1980s.[21] Notable among them are Haalu Jenu (1982),[20]Chalisuva Modagalu (1982), Bhagyada Lakshmi Baramma (1986),[22] and Rajkumar's 200th film Devatha Manushya (1988). He was also the first person to direct Dr. Rajkumar and all his three sons.[48] He directed Shiva Rajkumar and Raghavendra Rajkumar in their debut movies, Anand (1986) and Chiranjeevi Sudhakara (1988) respectively.[21][49] He had also directed Puneeth Rajkumar as a child artiste in Eradu Nakshatragalu in which he played dual role.[50] Most of his Kannada films were produced by Parvathamma Rajkumar whose ability to judge what would work with the audience and whose story-picking knack he believed in.[51] He was the only director to have worked with her on at least one film in each of the seven years during 1982 to 1988.[52]
Kannada actor Shivaram has been a part of all seven movies of Srinivasa Rao starring Rajkumar. B. C. Gowrishankar, a regular cameraman for Rajkumar movies, was selected as the cinematographer for Srinivasa Rao's later movies - Pushpaka Vimana[55] and Michael Madana Kama Rajan.[56] Another regular technician of Rajkumar movies - art director Peketi Ranga - was also selected as the art director for Srinivasa Rao's Michael Madana Kama Rajan.[57]
Influences
His favourite litterateurs are Vemana, Mark Twain, and P. G. Wodehouse.[58] He feels no one has expressed the truths of everyday life better than Vemana. He was introduced to Mark Twain by an American missionary when he was eight. He considers Robin Hood to be his favourite hero of fiction.[58]
Accolades
In 2010, Srinivasa Rao headed the Jury of the Indian Panorama at the 8th Chennai International Film Festival.[59] In 2011, Srinivasa Rao received the Life Achievement Award from the Film Federation of India at the 4th Global Film Festival.[7] Srinivasa Rao was also the Guest of honor alongside Barrie Osbourne at the Media and Entertainment Business Conclave 2012 hosted by FICCI and FFI.[60][61] In 2012, Srinivasa Rao served as one of the selection committee members for the Sundance Institute's screenwriters lab.[62]
^ abcdeM. L., Narasimham (20 May 2005). "Spinning magic". The Hindu. Chennai, India. Archived from the original on 9 April 2006. With an amazing display of mastery over a wide range of subjects from comedies to experimental socials to folklore to mythological to 3D animation films that no other contemporary filmmaker has attempted, Singeetham Srinivasa Rao completes half a century of film career this year.
^ abcSrinivasan, Pavithra (7 September 2010). "Singeetham Srinivasa Rao's gems before Christ". Rediff.com. Archived from the original on 17 September 2017. Retrieved 6 October 2014. There's no stopping the drive and ambition of the veteran film-maker Singeetham Srinivasa Rao who has made film after successful film in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, and Hindi in as many genres as he could, from mythology to laugh-aloud comedies.
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