Shri Tatineni Prakash Rao

To a great extent Prasad was instrumental in fostering a school of directors, to which we all belong. Apart from myself, Ranganathadas, Yoganand, K Pratyagatma, A Subba Rao, are all products of Prasad's school. The way he used to take work from the artistes is indeed impeccable. Take for instance, when I joined as an assistant in DROHI, he gave me so much of freedom, it was tremendous for my ego; in the very first film, I was allowed to say 'Start' and 'Cut' the action, when Prasad himself was acting. There are occassions, when I had to cut the action. Prasad would come to me and ask "What happened. We were all acting okay..?" I would reply- The angle of the camera seems to have blurred the image of the heroine, or some such thing. Prasad instead of getting restless, would ask me to go ahead to shoot the scene afresh" steadily, the directors blossomed.

"Later in life", recalls Tatineni Prakash Rao, "We have learnt to give similar lee-way to our assistants. Infact if Madhusudana Rao or my own Son T L V Prasad are doing their best, it is because of the freedom to experiment that we learnt from Pasad and passed on to this generation of directors.

I recall Prasadji, giving me the opportunity to be independent in the very first film, when Prasad, who was acting in the film, irritated as he was at my saying 'cut', coming to me and asking ''what happened? I replied well I fell the actress had not come out with the proper expressions". Without any kind of argument, Prasad asked me to go ahead and acted again. This sort of independence is seldom given by directors to their assistants espically in the formative stages. May be that is why we stood our ground as film-makers for a long time.

Sri L V Prasad inaugurating Chowdry Cine Camera Service on 15.2.1983 Mr. K.R. Veter M.D., H.G. Ramelt of Bolex International Switzerland. V.V.R. Chowdry and Sardul Singh Sethi.