Award for 'Mana Cinema.. first reel’ !

In the recently announced Gaddar Awards, the book 'Mana Cinema.. First Reel' written by renowned film journalist Rentala Jayadeva won the award. This book won the award in the Best Book on Telugu Cinema category.

Going into the details of this book.. Like the process of developing photo film and converting a negative into a positive... the book 'Mana Cinema.. First Reel' has come to light through observation, analysis, criticism and research on the history of cinema.

Many books have been published on the history of Telugu cinema. But very few have been original research done with solid evidence, honesty and hard work. Jayadeva has expanded his research not only to Telugu cinema but also to Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam cinema in this book.

He has explained the details of India's first talkie 'Alam Aara' (1931), the first Kannada film 'Sathi Sulochana', the Malayalam talkie 'Balan', as well as the influences of films in other languages. The most sensational thing in the book is - a big misunderstanding in the history of Telugu cinema.

'Bhakta Prahlada' (1932, February 6) is famous as the first Telugu talkie. But what Jayadeva has proven with evidence is that the film 'Kalidas' was released earlier, that is, on October 31, 1931, and entertained the audience with Telugu dialogues and Thyagaraya kirtans.

This became the first South Indian language talkie. But while the Tamils ​​respected it as their first talkie, the Telugus ignored it. Jayadeva tried to correct this mistake.