B. S. Ranga

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bindinganavale Srinivasiyengar Ranga (popularly known as JACK) was born on 11 November 1918, in Magadi Village (near Bangalore, India) in the erstwhile princely state of Mysore (now part of Karnataka State). After an art-enriched childhood wherein he interacted with many stage personalities, B.S.Ranga entered the field of photography. As with most things he attempted, he excelled in this through a combination of raw talent and dogged hard work. At the tender age of 17, the self-trained Ranga sent some of his work to be exhibited at the Royal Salon in London, and was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society.

Subsequently, he moved to Bombay (now Mumbai) and apprenticed himself to the famous cameraman / laboratory technician, Krishna Gopal. B.S.Ranga then embarked on an illustrious film career lasting more than five decades, during which he played the roles of cinematographer, director, producer, laboratory owner, studio owner, exhibitor and script-writer, sometimes all at once for one of his productions. His production company, Vikram Productions, gained fame and fortune throughout the 60's and 70's, and won B.S.Ranga many prestigious awards, including two President's Awards. The first was for "Tenali Ramakrishna" in Telugu (starring NTR and Nageswara Rao),