Hyderabad: He’s directed a few Tollywood movies so far, but his first love will always remain the radio. To celebrate that, Madhura Sreedhar has put together a photo exhibition of over 54 photographs titled, Journey of a Radio.
Sreedhar, who started collecting photographs five months ago, says, “We’ve been to many places to collect them. A few date back to 50 years. It was a little difficult to collect them in such a short span.” What was the idea behind the exhibition? “Whenever I think of the radio, it brings up memories of my childhood. The lazy evenings spent listening to Akashvani, plays, songs, etc.”
He adds, “Since I also own a music label, I know the importance of the radio. So as a tribute to the radio and to bring the radio and the film industry a little closer, I thought it would be a good idea.” From the 54 photos, Sreedhar has his favourites.
“There is a photo of radio presenters Jyothsna Iliyas and Iliyas Ahmed, who hosted many popular Telugu shows. Their working still is 40 years old and that is a lively photo,” says Sreedhar. “We visited the AIR archives in Delhi. I also met old radio announcers and got their photographs and interesting snippets,” he says.
The exhibition also has a few interesting snippets about the Nizam’s radio channel.
“There was a private channel back in the early 1930s called the Deccan Radio. Sadly, we couldn’t find those photos. The radio channel, later on merged with AIR in 1970 and it was famous for its plays and ghazal performances.” The exhibition also has information about AIR’s first Telugu announcer, P. Bhanumati, who used to work from Chennai.
While the photos are a blast from the past, Sreedhar assures us that the highlight of the exhibition are the two paintings by artist Agacharya.
