Subbaiah Naidu

Subbaiah Naidu Biography

Subbaiah Naidu was a south Indian film and stage actor belonging to Kannada language. A legendary figure associated with Kannada cinema since its first phase, he acted in the first Kannada movie. He directed and acted in the first Kannada talkie, Sati Sulochana in 1934. Bhookailas in Telugu and Bhakta Prahlada (1958) in Kannada are other major works as a director. He mostly chose mythological themes for his movies, and remained successful. He was also a legendary artist associated with theatre, for which government of India honoured him with Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1961. He passed away the following year aged 65.

Mysore Venkatappa Subbaiah Naidu was born in the year 1896. Madalapura of Kingdom of Mysore in British India was his hometown. He started his professional career as a stage actor doing bit roles, and later moved to senior roles on stage. He also gained a huge fan following crowd as a stage artist in Kannada theatre circles.

He got into touch with R. Nagendra Rao, and later got frequently associated with him. That’s how he moved to film scene. Film industry was only in the primitive stage then. The duo worked together for the movies - Vasantsena (1941), Satya Harishchandra (1943) and Mahatma Kabir (1947). As a film actor, he was last seen in the movie, Bhakta Prahlada. He burnt his fingers on the film sets, and decided to quit from films.

Even while he was involved with film direction and acting, he never took a break from stage and theatre. He was fully involved with theatre till he died of a cardiac arrest in 1962. Hearing his death news, his wife also died the same day.

Published: October 09, 2018

Updated: October 09, 2018