Sundar Rao Nadkarni


Sundar Rao Nadkarni was an Indian film actor, editor, cinematographer, producer and director. He was the director of the first hit film for AVM productions Bhookails in Telugu in the year 1940, and later the record-creating Tamil film Haridas.

Early life

Sundar Rao Nadkarni was born in Mangalore in a Konkani speaking family. He started his career in Bangalore as an actor in silent films produced by Surya Films. Later, he moved to Bombay where he took to film direction and editing. Nadkarni caught the eye of film producer Avichi Meiyappa Chettiar who, after the success of Sabhapathy, was looking to make another comedy film. Thereon, he moved to Coimbatore and finally Madras, where he settled down permanently.
In 1942, Nadkarni directed the Tamil film En Manaivi which was a hit. Following this success, Nadkarni also made other successful Tamil films. But his greatest hit was the 1944 film Haridas which set a record by becoming the first Tamil film to run for 110 weeks at a single theatre. He directed all the top Tamil actors during his active years, notably M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar and T. R. Rajakumari in Haridas, Narsimha Bharathi in Krishna Vijayam, and MGR and Savitri in Mahadevi.

Filmography

As director

YearTitleRoleLanguageNotes
1928Maya Na RangDirectorSilent
1930RandhirDirectorSilent
1930Kaliko No KopDirectorSilent
1930DhoomketuDirectorSilent
1931Zindagi Nu JugarDirectorSilent
1931Teer-e-QatilDirector
1931QurbaniDirector
1931Ishq O AnjamDirector
1931Baaz BahadurDirector
1931Asir-i-HirsDirector
1939Shantha SakkubaiDirector, editor, actor, singerTamil
1940BhookailasDirectorTelugu
1942En ManaiviDirectorTamil
1944HaridasDirectorTamil
1946ValmikiDirectorTamil
1950Krishna VijayamDirectorTamil
1953AzhagiDirectorTamil
1955KoteeswaranDirectorTamil
1957MahadheviDirectorTamil
1963Santha ThukaramDirectorKannadaNational Film Award for Best Feature Film in Kannada