B. S. Ranga

Who was B. S. Ranga?

Bindinganavile Srinivas Iyengar Ranga was born in Magadi Village in the erstwhile princely state of Mysore. After an art-enriched childhood wherein he interacted with many stage personalities, B.S.Ranga entered the field of photography. At the age of 17, the self-trained Ranga sent some of his work to be exhibited at the Royal Salon in London, and was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society.

Subsequently, he moved to Bombay and apprenticed himself to the famous cameraman / laboratory technician, Krishna Gopal. B.S.Ranga then embarked on a film career lasting more than five decades, during which he played the roles of cinematographer, director, producer, laboratory owner, studio owner, exhibitor and script-writer, sometimes all at once for one of his productions. His production company, Vikram Productions, gained fame and fortune throughout the 60's and 70's, and won B.S.Ranga many awards, including two President's Awards. The first was for "Tenali Ramakrishna" in Telugu, and the second was for "Amarshilpi Jakkanna", the first colour movie produced in Kannada.