Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Mirjapuram Raja (Producer and Director)

Mirjapuram Raja was born on 11 Nov, 1896 at Nuzvid, Krishna District. Meka Venkatramaiah Appa Rao Bahadur was his original name.
He established a film studio called Jaya Films at Alwarpet, Chennai.
'Jarasandha' was his first movie as a producer, directed by Chitrapu Narasimha Rao and starred by Vemuri Gaggaiah and MV Rajamma.
Actress C Krishnaveni was his second wife while Anuradha Devi, a producer, is their daughter.
Later Jaya Films turned as Sobhanachala Pictures. 'Bhatka Prahlada' was the first film on this new banner.
Raja turned as a director with the film 'Keelu Gurram', an ANR starred.
He introduced some great personlities to the film industry like Anjali Devi (Gollabhama), Chadalawada Narayana Rao (Jeevana Jyothi), NT Rama Rao (Manadesam), Ghantasala (Lakshmamma), Kamala Kotnis, Ramesh Naidu (Dampatyam), Tripuraneni Gopichand (Lakshamma), Jr. Sriranjani (Bheeshma), P. Leela (Manadesam) and Jikki.
His 'Keelu Gurram' created records at box-office as collected Rs. 40 Lakhs, which was a huge amount at that time. This was the first film dubbed into Tamil.
Raja died on 4 May, 1974.

FilmographyFilms made on Jaya Films:1. Jarasandha (1938)
2. Mahananda (1939)
3. Bhoja Kalidasa (1940)
4. Jeevana Jyothi (1940)
5. Daksha Yagnam (1941)
6. Samsara Narada (1942)

Films made on Sobhanachala Pictures:1. Bhakta Prahlada (1942)
2. Chenchu Lakshmi (1943)
3. Bheeshma (1944)
4. Gollabhama (1947)
5. Madalasa (1948)
6. Keelu Gurram (1949)
7. Lakshmamma (1950)
8. Tilottama (1951)
9. Prajaseva (1952)
10. Sahasam (1952)

14 comments:

Arige Prakash said...

Hi,
Your Article says "Mirjapuram Raja was born on 11 Nov, 1896 at Nuzvid, Krishna District. Meka Venkatramaiah Appa Rao Bahadur was his original name..... Actress C Krishnaveni was his second wife while Anuradha Devi, a producer, is their daughter".

BUT the Article at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meka_Rangaiah_Appa_Rao says -

"Meka Rangaiah Appa Rao shortly M. R. Appa Rao (21 March 1915 – 31 January 2003) married famous actress and singer Krishnaveni and produced some Telugu films during the 1950s"

Which one is correct? What is the original name of Krishnaveni's husband.

Please Clarify.

Kind Regards,
Prakash

Yagna said...

Prakash garu, thanks for your eclectic eye.
Mirjapuram Raja's first film as a producer came in 1938. If he born in 1915, he was just 23 years old when he became a producer as per the wikipedia source. But it is not correct. He died in 1974, not in 2003. I have given the information with reference of articles and books.

Arige Prakash said...

Yagna Buddhi garu, thank you very much for your prompt reply. I took clarification from my father today (native of Nuzvid) he clarified your Article is correct compared to wikipedia. My dad told me M.R.Appa Rao is a politician but not producer and he is not husband of Actress Krishnaveni and he is not Mirjapuram Rajavaru. Wikipedia wrongly merged the details of both persons in one Article.
Thanks for your genuine Article.
Kind Regards,
Prakash

NUVZID RAJA FAMILY-veenus said...


VEENUS STUDIO'S-CHENNAI
Belong to the NUZVID ZAMINDAR family .Later shifted to Madras now chennai.RAJAH SAHEB OF MIRZAPURAM started his film studio " SHOBANACHALA STUDIO" in early 1930's and have produced many successful movies . RAJAH SAHEB RAMAIYYA APPARAO garu's younger son SRI RAJAH M.V.M.G.APPARAO garu(MURALI NAINA)bought over "SHOBANACHALA STUDIO" and renamed it as "VEENUS STUDIO'S".His both sons SRI.M.V.G.K.APPARAO and SRI.M.V.R.K.APPARAO were the managing partners of "VEENUS STUDIOS" and took over it.


Many telugu movies were shot in this studio until the Telugu film Industry was shifted to Hyderabad.Later numerous big banner movies in Tamil like RAJA PARVAI,VARUMAIYIN NERAM,SIGAPU,KAIDHI IN DIARY,NAYGAN(KAMAL HASSAN),KODI PARAKUTHU,THALAPATHY,DHARMATHIN THALAIVAN,
ABOORVA SAGODARARGAL,ANJALI and etc.

HINDI movies like ANDHAKHANOON starrer SHRI AMITABH BACHAN, and DAYAVAN starrer FEROZ KHAN AND VINOD KHANNA and etc were shot in" VEENUS STUDIO'S".

Legendery and Veteran actors from N.T.RAMARAO,AKKINENI NAGESHARA RAO,
SIVAJI GANESAN,AMITABH BACHAN,DHARMENDRA,JITENDRA,FEROZ KHAN,
VINOD KHANNA,SHOBAN BABU,MEGA STAR CHIRANJEEVI,AKKINENI NAGARJUNA,KAMAL HASSAN,SUPER SRAR RAJINIKANTH,VIJAYAKANTH,
SATYA RAJ,SARATH KUMAR,PRABHU,RADHA RAVI,PRABHU DEVA and etc.

Director MANI RATNAM specifically produced and directed almost all his films at Veenus Studios.

Padmashri Thota Tharani got his first national award for his film Nayagan for his art direction.He played with his great skills of Art Director ship with grand Indoor and outdoor sets at "Veenus Studios".

Cinematorapher Sri P.C.SRI RAM also received national award for "Nayagan".

Producers and veteran directors like BALACHANDAR,BHARATHI RAJA,
RAAMA NARAYANAN,VISU,SHANKAR, S.A CHANDRASEKAR,T.RAJENDAR and etc have done most of their movies at "Veenus Studios"

In the year 1992 the "Veenus Studios" was demolished and converted into residential area.One of the managing partners still remains to reside there.

Yagna said...

Thank u so much for the information.

Natesan said...

Dear Mr. Prakash, i come to this site while searching for Mr. MR Appa rao. My family was associated with him in delhi during 1980-82 while he was a Rajya sabha MP . I want to know about him whether he is alive or not? I want to see him./his wife or his adopted son with whom i used to play cricket in india gate lawns. pl provide me some details thru this site or to pathfinders1997@gmail.com my mob 07042413069

Unknown said...

Actress C Krishnaveni was the second wife of Meka Venkatramaiah Appa Rao Bahadur. The Wikipedia article is wrong. M.R. Apparao was in Politics and Vice Chancellor of AU. He was never in films.

Unknown said...

You can contact me @ raghuapparao@yahoo.com. I am a member of the family.

Madhu said...

I am looking to find an old house (1960's) with the address 3 sriman srinivasa iyengar road. It was resided by a person with last name Boihan who helped in building paper mill companies across the world. Can anyone help me locate the address as it was right next to veenus studios? Any old photos of the area available?

vavera said...

meka family had 6 more estates in nuzvid.that was meerjapuram,vuyyuru,telaprolu,yelamarru.gannavaram,kotapadu.etc they all estate holders are from single family meka basavanna.who was senanaik of kakatiya empire. their family adding apparao title since 1775 there after.this confusion came to you the last name apparao.these family's using last name apparao in the name of vijaya apparao he is great warrior died at war at bijapoor

NUZVID FAMILY said...

C krishnaveni is the not legal wife of Raja . Raja was legally married once. keishnaveni is a film artist and has acted various films with raja banner and they were living together .shes not legal wife.

citizen said...

Was the late Maharani Sita Devi of Baroda married to the politician Mr. Meka Rangaiah Appa Rao ( also the Zamindar of Vuyyur) ?

v,siva kumar said...

Yes. Maharani Sita Devi is the 1st wife of Mr.M.R. Appa Rao.

PALDURAI said...

whether Maharani sita devi( later married to baroda maharja) is his first wife?