February 6th: Telugu Cinema’s Birthday

February 6th, 1921. The silent film Bhishma Pratigna was released in Madras, and later in Burma, Sri Lanka, and other South Asian countries. This is the first-ever film produced by a Telugu person, as the legendary Raghupati Venkaiah Naidu and his son RS Prakash produced and directed it, with Prakash in the lead and Pragya Castello as the leading lady.

Currently, this is being celebrated as the birthday of Telugu cinema, as Feb 6th marks the arrival of Telugu people into the scene as producers first, though Telugu actors have been there much prior. Bhishma Prathigna was made on a budget of ₹12,000 (nearly ₹3 crore today) on the “Star of the East” banner, and it earned ₹60,000 in returns. However, the first ever Telugu-talkie movie, Bhaktha Prahlada, came out a decade later in 1932.

From those silent films in 1921 to that of many respected Black&White movies, and then making terrific movies in color, to making movies that are now being called pan-world films, Telugu films have come a long way, making every Telugu person proud. Today, Telugu films have become go-to movies for people from all other states in India, and even the world is watching and waiting for movies like RRR and Varanasi.