Chatla Sriramulu Biography 
Chatla Sriramulu is considered a pioneer of modern Telugu theatre. He was an eminent playwright and play director, and a stage actor who established popular literary and cultural organisation Rasaranjani, which was dedicated to the field of theatre arts. He was also a writer who authored several books. He has acted and directed more than 100 plays. He worked as a railway employee in Vijayawada. Mime, expressionism, symbolism and freeze technique are some of the techniques he introduced to his plays. An icon with the title - ‘Abhinava Bharatacharya’ he passed away on 18th December, 2015.
He was the first artiste from Andhra Pradesh to receive the Emeritus Fellowship from the Human Resources Department of the Government of India. One of the eminent stage actors from Andhra Pradesh, he received ‘Best Actor’ twice from the Andhra Nataka Kala Parishad. Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1982, Kendra Sangeet Natak Akademi’s Rabindra Puraskar in 2011 and Certificate of ‘Producer and Teacher’ by the British Drama League, London in 1970 are the other major honours received by him. He also trained students of theatre arts departments of various universities of Andhra Pradesh.
He was born into a very poor family who lived by the side of a canal in Vijayawada. He graduated from a local college and slowly developed love towards theater and plays. He joined Indian railways at Vijaywada, where he worked as an announcer. He shared time between his job in Railways and theatre. But later he quit the job to his dedicate full time to theatre. He regularly participated in competitions held at Andhra Nataka Kala Parishat and Andhra University, where he won prizes for best actor and director.
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Updated: January 19, 2016
