Pingali Nagendrarao

Pingali Nagendrarao was a lyricist, story writer, play writer, scriptwriter, and a poet by profession who worked in the Indian film industry. His work was mainly seen in the Telugu films. He was born on 29 December 1901 in Rajam which is situated near Bobbili in Andhra Pradesh. His father’s name was Gopalakrishnaiah and mother’s name was Mahalaxmamma. They were a Telugu Brahmin family. Though he was born in Rajam, his family migrated to Machilipatnam later as most of their relatives were settled at that place. He pursued the course of B.Tech. in Mechanical engineering from a college named “Andhra Jateeya Kalasala” situated in Machilipatnam. He was also a part of the Indian independence movement, and his first literary work as a writer was “Janma Bhoomi” for which he also got arrested.

Later, he started working as a teacher but, it was just for a small period. After this, he joined the Bengal Nagpur Railway of Kharagpur and worked there for around two years as a union leader of its labor association. While he was working there, he did the translation of Dwijendralal Ray’s Mebar Patan of 1922 and named that translation as Mevadu Rajyapatanam. He also translated Pashani of 1923 from the Bengali language to the Telugu language. At the same time, he gave his independent work titled “Jebunnisa.” All his three dramas were published in a magazine named “Krishna Patrica.” Then he became a member of the Indian National Congress in the role of a pracharak that gave him the chance to travel the whole country, and finally, he reached the Sabarmati Ashram.

After he returned to his place Machilipatnam, he joined Devaerakonda Venkata Subbarao’s business known as the “Indian Dramatic Company” in 1924 at the post of a writer and a secretary. In 1928, he wrote a play titled “Vindyarani” which was based on Oscar Wilde’s play named “Dubois of Padua.” He also wrote many other plays also which were named “Naa Raju” whose basis was the historical story of Sri Krishnadevaraya, “Maro Prapancham” which was a social drama, and “Rani Samyukta” which was again a historical play. He died on the 6th of May in 1971 and his memories, a book titled “Pingaleeyam” was published that contains all the plays written by him printed in it. He also worked in many films such as Chanakya Chandragupta, Neeti-Nijayiti, C.I.D., Satya Harishchandra, Appu Chesi Pappu Koodu, and many more.