Christi2099 at 21:42, 15 October 2025

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{{Short description|Film director}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=May 2018}}
{{distinguish|P. Pullayya}}{{family name hatnote|Chittajallu|lang=Telugu}}{{Infobox person
| name = C. Pullayya
| image = C.PullaiahImg.jpg
| imagesize =
| caption =
| native_name = చిత్తజల్లు పుల్లయ్య
| birth_name = Chittajallu Pullayya
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1898|01|01}}
| birth_place = [[Kakinada]], India
| death_date = {{death date|df=yes|1967|10|06}} (aged 69)
| death_place = [[Madras]], India
| occupation = [[Film director|Director]], producer
| spouse =
| awards =
}}

'''Chittajallu Pullayya''' (1 January 1898 – 6 October 1967) was an [[Indian film]] director and screenwriter. He is one of the earliest film personalities in [[Telugu cinema]] being associated with the industry right from the [[Silent film|silent era]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=C. Pullaiah – Indiancine.ma Wiki |url=https://wiki.indiancine.ma/wiki/C.%20Pullaiah |access-date=2022-10-10 |website=Indiancine.ma}}</ref>

Pullayya started his film career in 1921 as a camera apprentice to the 'father of Telugu cinema' [[Raghupathi Venkaiah Naidu|Raghupati Venkaiah Naidu’s]] Star of the East in [[Chennai|Madras]], and at Kohinoor in [[Bombay]]. He was also the [[playwright]] for [[Kakinada]]-based Young Men’s Happy Club.

After gaining experience in filmmaking, he purchased a second-hand [[movie camera]] in 1924 in Bombay and returned to his native place [[Kakinada]] with an intention to make films in Andhra.<ref name="autogenerated2">{{Cite news |date=19 January 2007 |title=Reliving the reel and the real |work=[[The Hindu]] |location=Chennai, India |url=http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/fr/2007/01/19/stories/2007011901020100.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070501115359/http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/fr/2007/01/19/stories/2007011901020100.htm |archive-date=1 May 2007}}</ref> He made a silent three-[[reel]] [[short film]] ''Markandeya'' (1926 or 1931) in Kakinada.<ref>{{Cite news |last=W. Chandrakanth |date=9 February 2007 |title='Nijam cheppamantara, abaddham cheppamantara...' |work=[[The Hindu]] |url=http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/fr/2007/02/09/stories/2007020901390100.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070529031557/http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/fr/2007/02/09/stories/2007020901390100.htm |archive-date=29 May 2007}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Parthasarathy |first=R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uSleeGRjcvEC&q=C.+Pullayya |title=Andhra Culture: A Petal in Indian Lotus |date=1984 |publisher=Government of Andhra Pradesh |pages=128 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="shodhganga">{{cite web |last=Rao |first=Akkina Mareswara |date=1997 |title=Cultural and ideological mediation of Telugu cinema in colonial Andhra's Past (1931–1947) |url=http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/25594/7/07_chapter%202.pdf |access-date=15 March 2023 |website=[[Shodhganga]]}}</ref> To exhibit it he started a tent theatre named 'City Electric Cinema' and took the projector and chairs to various towns and exhibited the film, thus pioneering a [[Movie theater|movie theatre]] movement in [[Andhra Pradesh|Andhra]].<ref name=":0">{{cite news |last=Narasimham |first=M. L. |date=7 November 2010 |title=Sati Savitri (1933) |work=[[The Hindu]] |url=http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-cinemaplus/article871376.ece |accessdate=8 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101113225918/https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-cinemaplus/article871376.ece |archive-date=13 November 2010 |quote=Pullayya can be called as the father of theatre movement in Andhra Pradesh. He made a silent film Markandeya. Since there was no facility to screen a film in Kakinada, he started a tent theatre, ‘City Electric Cinema' and showed the film much to the cheers of local people. He then took the projector and chairs to various towns and exhibited his film, thus pioneering a theatre movement.}}</ref> He later ran the permanent Minerva theatre.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Lavakusa (1963) |url=https://indiancine.ma/KTW |access-date=2022-10-10 |website=Indiancine.ma}}</ref>

In 1933, he made his first [[feature film]] ''[[Sati Savitri (C. Pullayya film)|Sati Savitri]]'' in [[Kolkata|Calcutta]]''.'' It was the first Telugu film produced by [[East India Film Company]] and received an honorary diploma at the [[2nd Venice International Film Festival|2nd Venice Film Festival]]. He then directed ''Lava Kusa'' (1934) and ''Sati Anasuya'' (1936), the first Telugu [[Children's Film Foundation filmography|children's film]] made with sixty [[Child actor|child actors]].<ref name=":1" /><ref name="SoManyCinemas">{{cite book |title=So many cinemas: the motion picture in India|author=Bhagawan Das Garg|publisher=Eminence Designs|year=1996|isbn=81-900602-1-X |page=86 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wXRZAAAAMAAJ&q=%22East+India+Film+Company%22+-inpublisher:icon}}</ref> ''Lava Kusa'' was the first major commercial success in Telugu cinema. The film attracted unprecedented numbers of viewers to theatres and thrust the young industry into mainstream culture.<ref name="autogenerated2" />

He continued to direct films like ''[[Vara Vikrayam (film)|Vara Vikrayam]]'' (1939), ''Maalati Madhavam'' (1940), ''[[Pakka Inti Ammayi]]'' (1953) under the [[East India Film Company]].<ref name=":1" /> He directed ''[[Bala Nagamma (1942 film)|Bala Nagamma]]'' (1942) and ''Apoorva Sahodarulu'' (1950) under [[Gemini Studios|Gemini Pictures]] after shifting base to [[Madras]]. He is well remembered for ''[[Lava Kusa (1963 film)|Lava Kusa]]'' (1963), the story of [[Lava (Ramayana)|Lava]] and [[Kusha (Ramayana)|Kusa]] in Hindu epic ''[[Ramayana]]'', which won the [[National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Telugu]].<ref name="11thaward">{{cite web|url=http://iffi.nic.in/Dff2011/Frm11thNFAAward.aspx|title=11th National Film Awards|publisher=[[International Film Festival of India]]|accessdate=13 September 2011|archive-url=https://archive.today/20170502124428/http://iffi.nic.in/Dff2011/Frm11thNFAAward.aspx|archive-date=2 May 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Pullayya introduced [[P. Bhanumathi|Bhanumathi]] and [[Anjali Devi]] to the film industry through ''Vara Vikrayam'' (1939) and ''Gollabhama'' (1947) respectively.<ref name=":2" />

==Filmography==

# ''Ramadasu'' (1933)
# ''[[Sati Savitri (C. Pullayya film)|Sati Savitri]]'' (1933)
# ''[[Lava Kusa (1934 film)|Lava Kusa]]'' (1934)
# ''Anasuya'' (1936)
# ''Dhruva'' ''Vijayam'' (1936)<ref>{{Citation |title=C.Pullaiah {{!}} Chittajallu Pullaiah{{!}} తెలుగు సినీ పితామహుడు । చిత్తజల్లు పుల్లయ్య । సి.పుల్లయ్య |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6w56q0_2RuY&t=368s |language=en |access-date=2022-10-10}}; Event occurs at 6:08</ref>
# ''Chal Mohana Ranga'' (1937)
# ''Dasavataramulu'' (1937)
# ''Kasula Peru'' (1937)
# ''Mohini Bhasmasura'' (1938)
# ''Satyanarayana Vratam'' (1938)
# ''[[Vara Vikrayam]]'' (1939)
# ''[[Malathi Madhavam]]'' (1940)
# ''[[Bala Nagamma (1942 film)|Bala Nagamma]]'' (1942)
# ''Narada Naradi'' (1946)
# ''[[Gollabhama (1947 film)|Gollabhama]]'' (1947)
# ''[[Vindhyarani]]'' (1948)
# ''Apoorva Sahodaralu'' (1950)
# ''Sankranti'' (1952)
# ''[[Pakka Inti Ammayi]]'' (1953)
# ''[[Devanthakudu (1960 film)|Devanthakudu]]'' (1960)
# ''[[Naan Kanda Sorgam]]'' (1960)
# ''[[Lava Kusa (1963 film)|Lava Kusa]]'' (1963)
# ''[[Paramanandayya Sishyula Katha]]'' (1966)
# ''Bhuvana Sundari Katha'' (1967)
# ''[[Bhama Vijayam]]'' (1967)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb name|0700393}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pullaiah, C.}}
[[Category:Telugu film directors]]
[[Category:Indian male dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:Indian theatre directors]]
[[Category:Indian arts administrators]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:1898 births]]
[[Category:1967 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Kakinada]]
[[Category:Film people from East Godavari district]]
[[Category:Film directors from Andhra Pradesh]]
[[Category:Screenwriters from Andhra Pradesh]]
[[Category:Telugu screenwriters]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian male writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian screenwriters]]

C. Pullayya - Revision history

Christi2099 at 21:42, 15 October 2025