The comedian who never failed!

The first purpose of comedy is to make people laugh. Anything deeper is a bonus. Some comedians want to make people laugh and make them think about socially relevant issues, but comedy, by the very nature of the word, is to make people laugh. If people aren't laughing, it's not comedy. It's as simple as that.” -Trevor Noah

Films may fail, but certain performers always succeed in every role given to them. Relangi surely falls into this category of rare actors.

Although many of the roles that he portrayed were comical, Relangi (Venkata Ramaiah) never did remain just a comedian, content with performing some tantrums and acrobatics supposedly needed for the uncouth, mentally not so evolved characters generally etched out as the comical samples in our films.

He was a total actor, at ease with every role he enacted. He did outgrow from being just a clown wrapped up as a joker.

He was the first star comedian who was as popular, if not more, as the heroes and heroines of his times.

At promotional events and the success meets, mobs used to throng around him, unmindful of the lead men around.

Every successful actor must be having in him, an ever haunting question as to how he would impart a touch of his own when he goes to act.

And Relangi perceivably had this inquiry in somewhat a larger dose. He never grew content that he had grown large enough that anything he passes on would be automatically accepted by the viewers and producers.

Why should anyone 'pay' to see me for nothing worthwhile? Relangi seemed to have been questioning himself.

That may be the reason that every character he took up got assimilated into his being and Relangi the man also tried to mould into the role.

Acting in films, for Relangi, was not a mere money spinning occupation. He had an inborn appetite to act, to integrate into himself the roles he donned and delivered the very best he could.

When someone quipped as to what he would do when he had no producer coming to him with a role, instant was the reply that he would bargain to act with no remuneration!

Till last, he remained the original simpleton he was without purchasing the falsified tempers and temperaments usually seen in the glamour world of cinema.

He is known to have never ever been into ego problems with people around him and thus naturally, had no enemies.

Perhaps the toughest subdivision for actors on the canvas of character portrayal is comedy and to prove oneself on that platform, one needs an in-depth understanding of the human psychology as well as an expansive vision of the society at large with all its malevolence and goodness.

Every actor, including the thespians among them, gets a chance to don multiple personalities. Relangi was a good actor in every role he donned and never failed to impress.

Looking at times stereotyped peripherally, as the timid, as the one who schemes without any villainy behind, his roles have surpassed expectations. Quintessentially, the viewer could see himself in the roles Relangi essayed from time to time.

Be it the foul-tongued washer man in 'Lava Kusha' or the timid prince in 'Nartanasaala' and 'Mayabazar', Relangi's performances were simply classic and thus remain alive with the audiences defying the changing times.

Relangi was born in the village of Ravulapalem on August 9, 1910 (East Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh).

He was a professional Harikatha artiste and also an expert harmonium player, which perhaps he acquired aspiring to join the tinsel world.

Method acting involves someone researching and moulding a character connecting it to its real life counterparts and one could observe these traits in the roles Relangi performed.

No blockbuster Telugu film of the 1950s and 60s went without Relangi donning a pivotal supporting role emitting his tantrums. He was equally at ease in mythologies, folklores and films based on contemporary social themes.

‘Pathala Bhairavi’ (1951), ‘Mayabazar’ (1957), ‘Jagadekaveeruni Katha’ (1961), ‘Lava Kusha’ (1963), ‘Narthanasala’ (1963), ‘Pakkinti Ammayi’ (1953), ‘Vipranarayan’ (1954), ‘Donga Ramudu’ (1955) ‘Gudachari 116’ (1966) – all these great hits had Relangi appearing in them, just to pick up a handful.

Other notable films in which Relangi featured were ‘Gunasundari Katha’, ‘Missamma’, ‘Iddaru Mithrulu’, ‘Chaduvukunna Ammayilu’, ‘Appu Chesi Pappu Koodu’, ‘Velugu Needalu’.

Leading production companies like Vijaya and Annapurna invariably had Relangi feature in their films. All through his life, he remained a man who knew his roots.

He is known to have quipped tongue-in-cheek, that when he was penniless, he had hunger and no resources to appease it and when he had plenty of wealth, he could not eat!

In 1970, he was awarded the Padma Shri. He acted in about 130 films in all. ‘Doctor Babu’ (1973) was his last film and he passed away on November 26, 1975, at Tadepalligudem at the age of 65.

The point whether any comedians in Telugu films could reach anywhere near where he was being debatable, Relangi was surely benchmark in the annals of Telugu films.

By: Relangi Venkata Ramaiah