While Vijaya Pictures produced movies with ample dose of healthy comedy, Chakrapani was known to be a serious, taciturn personality who seldom spoke but point-blank frank when he actually did speak! It's said that even when watching the rushes of the great comedy Missamma, he was the only one among the audience that was not laughing. When asked why he wasn't, he simply said that he cannot smile until he gets his invested money back! Such was his shrewd nature, but there was a streak of sarcastic comedy in his words and acts. More such examples are heard all over the place, real or not. It's apt to recollect some such jokes here:

• Once Chakrapani presented an artiste with a box of cotton wicks (vattulu). When the surprised artiste asked why, Chakrapani clarified, "You'd then remember to pronounce Telugu properly, with vattulu (mahaapraaNaalu), whenever you see this box!"

• When asked why Chandraharam was a flop, Chakrapani's reply was: "People come to see NTR's action! And, we made a movie in which NTR is sleeping most of the time!"

• When someone commended that NTR's makeup in Bheeshma (made under the Vauhini Productions banner, by B.N. Reddy, brother of B. Nagireddy of Vijaya Pictures) made him totally unrecognizable, Chakrapani quipped, "You could have then gone for some cheaper artiste, if people cannot anyway recognize it's NTR!"

• When asked about the message he was giving in a movie, Chakrapani snapped, "I'd rather send a telegram if I need to give a message, than making a movie with huge expenses!"

While Chakrapani didn't believe in passing messages through his films, he did make socially conscious movies nevertheless! Missamma touches upon the unemployment in the society then, Pelli Chesi Choodu on issues of marriage, Shavukaru on maintaining harmonious relations among neighbors, and so on. Even in films like Pathala Bhairavi, when the evil sorcerer boss S.V. Ranga Rao asks his assistant Padmanabham, "janam kOrEdi manam SaayaDamaa? manam chEsEdi janam chooDaTamaa?" ("Should we do what people want, or should people watch what we exhibit?"), Chakrapani's intentions as a producer seem to come out as the reply: "mana janam, mana maaTa... janam kOrEdE manam chEyaali." (It's our people, after all! We must do what people ask for!") If a mythological film like Maya Bazar could come close to so many people, it's because of the way the story was presented - to be nearer to society and people's mindsets. Chakrapani's intentions of "presenting something useful" is also reflected in the dialogues that precede Mohini-Bhasmasura play in Maya Bazar.

One can write volumes about Vijaya Pictures' gifts to Telugu Cinema, but that still only covers a part of the towering, multi-faceted personality of Sree Chakrapani. The very fact that his centenary is being celebrated proves the strong impact he has on Telugu Cinema and literature. Such personalities with a good taste and command on departments on story, music, direction, camera, lyrics, and people's tastes is rare to find in any film industry! Telugu Cinema world should be ever-thankful to such great people that enriched our film culture. TeluguCinema.Com pays homage to the great visionary who cared to teach people to lead their lives putting in hard work and not with blessings from someone.

Article by NaChaKi