Popular producer and owner of Pratap Art Productions, K. Raghava passed away early Tuesday morning at age 105. He is survived by his son and daughter.
Born in Kotipalli village near Kakinada in East Godavari district in 1913, Raghava ran away from home when he was just eight-years-old and reached Kolkata where he joined as a trolley puller in Silent Pictures. From then onwards, he worked in different positions such as office boy, helper, associate director and production manager among others. He even worked as a stuntman for the film Patala Bhairavi in 1951 starring NTR.
Raghava teamed up with producer C. Ekamreswara Rao to start Phalguni Films and their first film was Sukha Dukhalu in 1968, based on a play written by director K. Balachander. The film was a great success and they went on to produce films like Jagath Jeteelu and Jagath Kiladeelu, which were spy-based films.
Later, he started producing films independently under the banner of Pratap Art Productions, named after his son Pratap. It was Raghava who introduced legendary director Dasari Narayana Rao with the film Tata Manavadu along with several new talents to the Telugu film industry.
Interestingly, of the 27 films he produced, 95 per cent of them turned out to be blockbusters. Popular director Kodi Ramakrishna was also introduced by K. Raghava with the film Intlo Ramayya Veedhilo Krishnayya, starring Chiranjeevi.
Among the veteran producer’s well-known afilms are Samsaram Sagaram, Thoorpu Padamara, Chaduvu Samksaram, Suryachandrulu, Antuleni Vintha Katha and Tharangini. He also remade the Telugu hit film Sukha Dukhalu in Hindi with Ashok Kumar as Oonche Log.
