Pingali Nagendrarao

Pingali Nagendrarao Biography

Pingali Nagendrarao was a famous script writer, dialogue writer, playwright and lyricist of Telugu language. He is quite popular with his satire lyrics and has coined new and funny words in Telugu such as Dhimbaka, Dingari, Gimbali. Patala Bhairavi, Mayabazar and Missamma are his noted works. he participated in Indian independence movement also and has published a few books. Rao was considered a magician with words. He was born in Rajam of Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh on December 29, 1901. He was born in a Brahmin family to Gopalakrishnaiah and Mahalaxmamma.

Born in a Brahmin family in Rajam, near Bobbili, the family got shifted to Machilipatnam as most their relatives were settled there. After schooling he did a course in Mechanical Engineering from the Andhra Jateeya Kalasala, Machilipatnam. During this time, he took part in Indian independence movement. His first literary work was Janma Bhoomi – a patriotic work. He was arrested soon after publish of the book. He later worked as a teacher for a short period before joining Bengal Nagpur Railway at Kharagpur for two years. During this time he was active in trade unions and became union leader too. During this time, he translated two plays into Telugu - Mebar Patan and Pashini (Bengali work). Translated version of Mebar Patan was published in the name - Mevadu Rajyapatanam. He has also written the play, Jebunnisa during this period. He joined Indian National Congress and toured the whole country as pracharak.

After going to Sabarmati Ashram, he returned back to his native place – Machilipatnam. He joined Indian Dramatic Company of Devarakonda Venkata Subbarao in 1924 where he worked as writer and secretary. Vindyarani, Naa Raju, Maro Prapancham and Rani Samyukta were a few noted plays during this period.

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Updated: March 20, 2014