The Telugu film industry lost one of its most prolific and successful script-writers on Thursday when Mullapudi Venkata Ramana passed away due to age-related illnesses at his residence in Abhirmapuram, Chennai in the early hours of Thursday.
Mullapudi was 80 and is survived by his wife, a son and a daughter. Apart from writing scripts for many hit films, he was also appreciated immensely for his autobiography which was published by 'Swathi' magazine. This autobiography is regarded as one of the best essays in Telugu literature by regular readers and critics alike. His 'Budugu' is considered one of the outstanding writings in children's literature.
Mullapudi's association and deep friendship with noted caricature artist and film director Bapu produced many a memorable film for the silver screen. Their combination was so potent that it drew both commercial success and critical acclaim.
Films like Sakshi, Mutyala Muggu, Sita Kalyanam, Sampurna Ramayanam, Budhimantudu, Andala Ramudu, Pelli Pustakam, Radha Gopalam and many others are testimony to the combined genius of the duo. These films were trend-setters in the film industry.
Before he ventured into script-writing, Mullapudi worked as a journalist and was associated with the weekly magazine 'Andhra Patrika'. But his ability to write scripts which were emotional but coated with humour made him draw to himself many admirers, and finally he devoted his energies full-time to script-writing.
His script-writing career spanned over 3 decades.
During this time, he worked with stalwarts of the Telugu film industry like the legendary N T Rama Rao, Akkineni Nageswara Rao, Krishna, Sobhan Babu and many more.