Tikkavarapu Pattabhirama Reddy (19 February 1919 – 6 May 2006) was an Indian film screenwriter, producer, director, social activist, poet, and writer known for his pioneering works in Telugu cinema, and Kannada cinema.[1][2]
Reddy has received three National Film Awards for his works.[3] In 1972 he produced and directed Samskara which garnered the National Film Award for Best Feature Film and Bronze Leopard at the Locarno International Film Festival.[4] Reddy has actively participated the Indian Emergency opposition movement, human rights movement, and child labor movements as founder member of People's Union for Civil Liberties. In 1977, he produced and directed the bilingual Chandamarutha in Kannada, and English. The film was banned during the Emergency, and was later released to critical appreciation.[5][6]
Pattabhirama Reddy was born in Nellore, Andhra Pradesh into a Telugu speaking family. He studied at Shantiniketan, Calcutta University and Columbia University. He was married to Snehalata Reddy, and founded the organisation Concerned for Working Children.[7] In 2003, he directed In the Hour of God, a play based on Sri Aurobindo's classic Savitri, inspired by the mythical woman who defied death for love, which he dedicated to his wife Snehalata Reddy.[8] Pattabhirama Reddy died on 6 May 2006, at the age of 86.[9]
