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| Gubbi Veeranna |
Gubbi Veeranna (1890-1974) was an Indian theatre director, one
of the pioneers and most prolific contributors to Kannada theatre. He
established the drama company, Gubbi Veeranna Nataka Company that played a
crucial role in promoting the Kannada theatre. Some of the stalwarts that have
emerged from this company includeRajkumar, B. Jayashree and G. V. Shivananda.
He is conferred the title Nataka Ratnameaning jewel in the theatre world. Gubbi
Veeranna Nataka Company is the first theatre company in Karnataka to employ
female artists to portray female characters on the stage. There is a popular
saying that the story of Gubbi Veeranna's company is the story of the Kannada
theatre which indicates the standing of this company in the theatre world.
Apart from theatre, Gubbi Veeranna has also produced films and acted in them as
well.
In 1955, he was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for
acting, given by theSangeet Natak Akademi, India's National Academy of Music,
Dance & Drama, and the highest Indian recognition given to practicing
artists
Biography
Gubbi Veeranna was born in the town of Gubbi in the Tumkur
district of Karnataka in the year 1890. He started a drama company called Gubbi
Shree Chenna Basaveshwara Nataka Company and started producing plays in which
he also acted sometimes. He had four wives, three of them being Sundaramma,
Bhadramma and Jayamma. He had an unnerving commitment towards the theatre. An
incident to corroborate this is when his second wife Sundaramma who was also an
artist with the company died on the stage while enacting a play. It is said
that Gubbi Veeranna who was also acting in the play along with his children,
did not stop the play but allowed it to continue till the end. He and his
children attended to her dead body only after the play stopped. Veeranna also
is credited for having groomed people like Rajkumar and B. V. Karanth. He not
only helped them groom their career in the theatre field but also provided them
with other financial help. As an example, Veerana provided financial
contribution towards B. V. Karanth's graduation and masters degree at Banaras
Hindu University.
Theatre company
Initially located in Gubbi, the company started to travel to
different places and stage plays in those locations. The company had a troupe
of more than 150 artists and backstage workers. Some popular plays staged by
the company included Sadaarame and Yechamma Nayaka. These plays consisted of
innovations like trick scenes, floods, clouds and rain. In those days, dramas used
were staged for free with people only paying according to their liking at the
end of the drama. However, Gubbi Veeranna's dramas were an exception with
people willing to buy tickets to watch them. Most of the actors and actresses
that entered the Kannada cinema world in those days were from this drama
company. Later the company opened branches in different places. An important
branch of the company was the Mysore branch which staged popular plays and the
finances generated from this branch actually sustained the whole company. The
humorist Hirannaiah was one of the persons responsible for the popularity of
the Mysore branch. Gubbi Veeranna's company first came to Bangalore in the year
1916. Later Gubbi Veeranna constructed his own theatre in Bangalore on the
Subedar Chatram Road in 1924 and the Shivananda Theatre (now called as
Movieland) in 1930. Probably, the most famous artist to emerge from the Gubbi
Veeranna company was Rajkumar. Rajkumar's father Singanallur Puttaswamiah was
an actor in the company and Rajkumar and his brother joined the company as
child artistes. Rajkumar actually attributed his command over the Kannada
language and his singing skills to the training he underwent under the watchful
eyes of Gubbi Veeranna
Film production
Gubbi Veeranna also started Karnataka Gubbi Productions which was
a company to produce films. He first produced Sadarame in 1935, in which he
acted in the lead role. The film had C.I.D. Sakunthala, Ashwathama, B. Jayamma
in the cast and was directed by Raja Chandrasekar. He then produced Subhadra
which had Honnappa Bhagavatharin the lead. In 1942, he produced Jeevana Nataka
with Kemraj Urs in the lead. He again acted in the lead role in the film
Hemareddy Mallamma, in 1945. He produced Sathya Shodhanai in 1953, which was a
Tamil Film and had again starred Honnappa Bhagavathar. Karnataka Gubbi
Productions was later called as The Karnataka Films Ltd., it is attributed to
have started the film career of Rajkumar when it agreed to offer him the lead
role in his first filmBedara Kannappa He has also produced silent movies like
His Love Affair which was directed by a foreigner, Raphel Algoet. In this film,
the lead role of the actor was played by Gubbi Veeranna himself and the actress
was none other than his wife, Jayamma.] In 1956, he produced Sadaarme, which
had T.N. Balakrishna in lead and also had Kalyan Kumar. It was the remake of
1936 movie with the same name. In 1959, he produced Sagothari, a Tamil Film
which had K. Balaji in the Lead.Filmography as an Actor
Film
|
Year
|
Director
|
Hari Maya
|
1932
|
Y. V. Rao
|
Sadarame
|
1936
|
Raja Chandrasekhar
|
Jeevana Naataka
|
1942
|
Wahab Kashmiri
|
Hemareddy Mallamma
|
1945
|
S. Soundararajan
|
Gunasagari
|
1953
|
H. L. N. Simha
|
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