Raghupathi Surya Prakash

Raghupathi Surya Prakash Rao Naidu (1901–1956), popularly known as R. S. Prakash, was an Indian film director, producer, and cinematographer. He was one of the pioneers of Indian cinema. He was the first director of Telugu cinema. He shot, developed and edited all his early films.

Along with his father, Raghupathi Venkaiah Naidu, he produced Bhishma Pratigya in 1921 generally considered to be the first Telugu feature film. His father was Raghupathi Venkaiah Naidu, a film pioneer regarded as the "father of Telugu cinema".

Surya Prakash's ancestors are telaga balija naidu's who served as Subedars in Madras Army and East Indian Company Army since its inception i.e. late 17th century.

Venkaiah Naidu started film exhibition in South India around 1910 and built the first movie theatre in Madras in 1914. Prakash directed the film and also played the title role of Bhishma. An Englishwoman named Peggy Castello played the role of Ganga. The film was released all over India, Burma and Sri Lanka and was a big success. The film was made on a budget of 12,000 (worth 2.2 crore in 2021 prices) and made ₹60,000 in returns.

C. Pullayya, A. Narayanan (also credited as A. Narayan) and other pioneers of South Indian cinema worked with him there. The films were distributed throughout the subcontinent with intertitles in various languages. Surya Prakash reportedly directed the Catholic propaganda film, The Catechist of Kil-Arni (1923), produced and written by the Irish priest Thomas Gavan-Duffy together with Bruce Gordon as a fund-raiser for the Paris Foreign Mission Society in Pondicherry.

Surya Prakash also became a distributor and founded Guarantee Pics (1926) with backing from the merchant Moti Narayana Rao, but it went bankrupt. He later separated from Narayanan in the mid-30s and joined Sundaram Sound Studio. He also worked with Govardhan Film Distributors, owning three movie theatres in Madras. It was reportedly the most expensive film made in India at the time.

Surya Prakash was known as a brilliant technician. In Draupadi Vastrapaharanam (1934) he managed to make one actor appear in five places within one image, apparently without resorting to optical effects. Gajendra Moksham (1923) Bhakta Nandan (1923) Samudra Madanam (1923) Usha Swapna (1924) Mahatma Kabirdas (1925) Mohini Avatar (1926) Dashavtar (1929) Stage Girl (1929) Gajendra Moksham (1930) Sree Kanyaka Parmeswari (1930) Lanka Dabana (1930) Gandhariyin Pulambal (1930) Pavalakkodi (1931) Leila the Star of Mingrelia (1931) Tara Sasank (1941) Babruvahana (1942) Mayapilla (1951) Moondru Penngal (1956)