His brush brings life to the colours. His presentation of colour onto the canvas not only adds life but also convey a meaningful message. Mostly his message filled art replicates different angles of life.
In the world of art and artisan he is well known as Poduri Ravi, for others he is Poduri Venkata Subba Rao.
He was born to Poduri Satyanarayana Murthy and Venkamma from the Poduru village of West Godavari district.
He lost his parents at a very young age. Having lost the shadow and shelter of his parents, Ravi migrated to Madras (present Chennai) at the tender age of 15.
His journey into the world of fascinating colours and combinations of colours started with his entry into a diploma course. Ravi achieved distinction in his diploma putting all his efforts in learning the trade. With an ambition to be counted among the successful artists, under the guidance of the then celebrity Ankala Venkata Subba Rao, he learnt the secrets of the trade.
Taking to roads for livelihood and to earn fame, he forayed into the magical celluloid field. Gradually he grew to the stratum of contributing art director and publicity director to over 40 films. Ravi was never satisfied with what he learnt. He always attempted to learn more. His endeavour presented him expertise in editing, special effects (masking track).
Many feature films took advantage of Ravi’s talent in various viewpoints to become successful. His thirst for continuous learning transformed him into a writer. Phoolan Devi, the real story of bandit queen Phoolan Devi of Chambal Valley, authored by Ravi was published as a weekly serial in Andhra Prabha, a Telugu Weekly. This masterpiece made him one of the hot topic writers.
Over 1,500 paintings emerged out of his brush. Though his talent in other fields brought him many a laurel, he never neglected his main profession of art. He worked with F D Steward Advertising Agency as Commercial artist in Chennai, as artist with Nature Cure College of Hyderabad in Begumpet.
Additionally, Telugu readers remember him to have drawn umpteen illustrations on the front pages of highly circulated daily and weekly magazines. Besides contributing to English dailies and weeklies as cartoonist and artist, he worked with Andhra Prabha.
Research:
Once again, his incessant attempt to explore brought him glory through his research of other prominent painters of the world. The elite class of the artistic circles from around the world was puzzled with his findings. His research revealed that legendary paintings contained concentric art with double exposure.
To grasp and experience this, one has to take a close up view and a long view of the same.
Facilitation:
During the regime of N T Rama Rao as Chief Minister, Ravi was royally felicitated for his exceptionally good paintings of Tribal freedom fighter Alluri Seetha Rama Raju. In 1984, the then Governor of Andhra Pradesh Ms. Kumudben Joshi felicitated Ravi for transforming the sketch of foremost journalist Mutnuri Krishna Rao into a life size painting.
Many other appreciations and commendations came Ravi’s way. He is now engaged in providing special effects, paintings, glass paintings, and other contributions to the Hyderabad film industry. He is said to be an expert in nail drawing (drawings created by fingernails).
Contact address:
Poduri Ravi,
Artist,
8-7, Maithri Nagar
Gaddi Annaram, Dilsukh Nagar
Hyderabad
Phone: 4042804 – PP
(Between 12 noon and 5 P.M.)
