Mullapudi Venkata Ramana

Mullapudi Venkata Ramana was born in middle-class traditional family and his childhood mostly spent in a tiny village called Dowleswaram near Rajahmundry, Andhra Pradesh. Mullapudi had one elder sister and a younger brother. It was a happy family with no troubles until his father expired when Mullapudi was 9 years old.^[2] This turned their status upside down and they shifted to Chennai (called Madras in those days) for better opportunities. Mullapudi's mother Mrs. Adilakshmi took all the pains to raise the family in such situation. Mullapudi's education and career happened in Madras. During his study days, he had shown penchant for literature in Telugu and inclination in writing up short, effective storylines.

During the same period, he got a friend, 'Bapu'. Their friendship was mutually expanding capacities as Mullapudi did write-ups whereas Bapu painted and did caricature drawing. Later in their lives, they worked together on a number of Telugu films.

Katha Ramaneeyam' Part-1 having around 40 stories off 8 chapters each of them representing one of Navarasams (Nine emotions each human has). Some of them were made Films later viz. Seetha Kalyanam, Bhogimanta, Swayamvaram etc..

Katha Ramaneeyam' Part-2 having about 45 stories, some of which represent Indian middle-class' tryst with life in hilarious way.

Runanandalahiri is representation of average Indians, leading life in the times of inflation, joblessness, less privileged society and their tryst with their lives' problems. Mullapudi himself suffered such upsets in his life and even frank enough that some characters inspired from his own sufferings but dealt with in a humorous way.

After completing SSLC in Madras, Mullapudi had to do many odd jobs before starting as a reporter for then-popular newspaper Andhra Patrika in 1953.^[3] Here he got the opportunity to interact with eminent writers of Telugu literature like Nanduri Ramamohana Rao, Pilaka Ganapati Sastri, Surampudi Seetaram etc. who were working for the same newspaper.

Sri. Mullapudi was first working for the "Daily" section of the newspaper and then shifted to "Weekly" section. While working here, his stories for children in the name of 'Budugu' (lil kid) were published and became very popular. He authored these stories to present the views of the little kids off their elders in the family. These stories are humorous, informative, knowledgeable to children and at the same time helping the elderly to know the thought process of their kids. Later, these stories were published in the form of a book, which was well received.

While writing for the "Cinema Page" section in the paper, Mullapudi's short and crisp writing helped him to gain popularity for his film reviews. That was the same time when he got introduced to film industry and befriended the famous stars of film fraternity. He got introduced to some great directors of those times, Adurthi SubbaRao and Dundi, who encouraged him to work for films. RakthaSambandam was his first break as a writer; since then he never lagged in his progress as story, screenplay, dialogue writer.

Kothi Kommachi, Inkothi Kommachi and Mukkothi Kommachi are Mullapudi's three-volume autobiography in books and audio forms. Just like the titles, the story keep hopping timelines and incidents. To put it in Mullapudi's own words, "it is like a monkey hopping from one branch to another branch."

Mullapudi's career encompassed journalism, literature, film criticism, screenwriting, dialogue writing, and other contributions to the Indian film industry. Despite his prominence in these fields, some commentators and admirers have noted that he did not receive a Padma award from the Government of India. Various explanations have been suggested for this omission, including his personal background and his lack of association with political parties, although no official reason has been given.

However, he received widespread appreciation for his work in Telugu language and cinema.

• He was felicitated with Raghupathi Venkaiah Award for excellence in Films in 1986 instituted by the state of A.P.
• Received Honorary Doctorate awarded by Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati.
• He was awarded the Raja-Lakshmi Literary Award for 1995 from Sri Raja-Lakshmi Foundation, Chennai.

Nandi Awards^[5]

• Second Best Story Writer – Poola Rangadu (1967)
• Best Story Writer – Kathanayakudu (1969)
• Second Best Story Writer – Andala Ramudu (1973)
• Best Dialogue Writer – Pelli Pusthakam (1991)
• Second Best Feature Film – Silver – Pelli Pusthakam (1991)
• Second Best Story Writer – Mister Pellam (1993)

Mullapudi died of old-age related illness in Chennai on 24 February 2011. At the time of the death, he just completed the work for another mythological film Sri RamaRajyam.

This is partial list of his films. Kindly help expanding it.

• Raghupathi Venkaiah Award