Vamsy

Vamsy or Vamsi (Telugu: వంశీ, born Nallamilli Bamireddy on 20 November 1956) is a Telugu Indian film director, screenwriter and music director. He is considered one of the four cornerstones of Telugu cinema of the 1980s and '90s, the others being K Viswanath, Bapu and Jandhyala.

Biography

Vamsy was born and brought up at the village of Pasalapudi, near Ramachandrapuram of East Godavari District, Andhra Pradesh on 20 November 1956. His birth name is Nallamilli Bamireddy; Vamsy is his screen name.

Career

Vamsy worked as an assistant director to K Viswanath on Sankarabharanam before making his first film Manchupallaki with Chiranjeevi, Suhasini,Tripuraneni Sai Chand and Rajendra Prasad in 1982. This movie was a remake of the Tamil film Palaivana Solai directed by Robert-Rajasekaran.^[1] In 1984, Vamsy made the critically acclaimed Sitaara, with which he introduced Bhanupriya to the Telugu film industry. The movie was adapted from his own novel Mahal lo Kokila (The Nightingale in the Palace). The movie won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Telugu. In 1985, he made 'Preminchu Pelladu', the first movie with Rajendra Prasad as the sole lead^[2]

For a significant period of his career, Vamsy collaborated with the music director Ilayaraja. Some of their best work has been in co-operation with each other. The two were so attuned to each other's way of thinking that for a song in his movie Ladies Tailor, Vamsy shot the video for a song ("Ekkada Ekkada") before the song was recorded.^[3] This is against the norm as usually the songs are recorded first and the videos are made later in most movies.

He has published a short stories compilation called Maa Pasalapudi Kathalu. Besides that compilation, Vamsy has written a wide variety of short stories since 1974 when he was 18 years old. His major works include Manchupallaki, Aa Naati Vaana Chinukulu, Venditera Kathalu (original scripts of Sankarabharanam and Anveshana), Vennela Bomma, Gokulam lo Radha. He has penned around 150 short stories published in swathi weekly under title "Maa Diguwa Godavari Kathalu". For his contributions to the art of story telling with a native approach through his books he was bestowed with "Sripada Puraskhaaram" at Rajamundry on 17 April 2011.

He also directed a TV serial named Lady detective for ETV-Telugu which was aired on every Thursday in 1995–96.

Style

Vamsy is one of the very few filmmakers in Telugu who tries to depict the nativity of the concerned story. Although he is well known for portraying the scenic beauty of Godavari and surrounding regions, the element of characterisation is the highlight in his films.

Personal life

Vamsy never wanted to become a film director. He considered himself as a better writer.

It is rumoured that Vamsy fell in love with the famous south Indian actress Bhanupriya while working with her in Anveshana, Sitara and Preminchu Pelladu. However, it was not successful; during this time he was making Mohan Babu-starrer Detective Narada. The unsuccessful affair was traumatic to Vamsy, and his films were never the same. Many of his failures at the box office were attributed to this. He is one of the few directors in India who has highest number of fan sites (13).

Awards

• National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Telugu – Sitaara – 1985

Filmography

Director^[4][5]

Music director^[4]

See also

• Ilaiyaraaja
• Rajendra Prasad

References

External links

• Vamsy Fansite
• Series on Vamsy
• Vamsy on IMDB
• MBS Prasad's articles on Pasalapudy kathalu