Raghupathi Venkaiah Naidu

Raghupathi Venkaiah Naidu (15 October 1869 – 15 March 1941), was an Indian filmmaker, photographer, graphic artist, educationist and entrepreneur considered as the father of Telugu cinema. Regarded as one of the pioneers of Indian cinema, Naidu started his career as a commercial photographer in Madras; he was drawn into independent filmmaking, and he traveled to different regions in South east Asia to promote and teach cinematic techniques, filmmaking, and distribute foreign language silent films.

Venkaiah Naidu was the younger brother of Raghupathi Venkataratnam Naidu, an illustrious social reformer and educationist of modern Andhra. Venkaiah founded one of the first cinematograph companies in South India called "The Glass Studio" equipped with sound-on-disc display technology, allowing play back sound in sync with a motion picture. In 1912, he founded The Gaiety movie theater which was the first in Madras to screen films on a full-time basis. The Raghupati Venkaiah Award is an annual award incorporated into the state Nandi Awards honoring veteran artists who made significant contributions in Telugu cinema.