Few know that legendary film moghul LV Prasad also acted in the first ever talkies in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu!

He was born Akkineni Lakshmi Vara Prasada Rao in Elluru in South India. Even as a youngster, Prasad was drawn by the drums of the touring theatres and drama troupes, going on to act in local dramas. His fascination for the moving image would see him regularly attend 'screenings' of old and worn out film prints shown in ramshackle tents.

In 1924, he married Soundarya Manoharamma, his maternal uncle's daughter, despite objections from her family on account of his poor financial status. They had a baby girl. However by now, a firm desire had entered Prasad's heart to be a part of the Indian film Industry and he left for Bombay in 1930 without evening informing his wife or family or anuone in his village with Rs 100 in his pocket.

Prasad reached Mumbai without knowing how to speak Hindi or English. He had just heard of a studio, Kohinoor at Dadar. For days and hours on end, he waited outside the studio but couln't manage an entry. This was noticed by a tailor who had his shop opposite Kohinoor Studio. Once his trunk was borken into at the lodge he was staying with the thief leaving him money to return home but he refused to return. The tailor gave him a job to clean his shop and set up his hookah. Subsequently Prasad found a job with Venus Film Company and even did a bit role in a silent film Star of the East which never saw the light of day! At Venus he had met a Punjabi youth, Dharilal, whose sister now took him to Ardershir Irani who at Imperial Film Company was maing India's first talkie Alam Ara (1931). Prasad played a bit role in the film.

At Imperial Film Company, Prasad came into contact with HM Reddy also from Andhra Pradesh, who had given up his job with the police and was also trying his luck in the movies. When Reddy was given the job of directing the first Telugu Talkie by Ardershir Irani, he gave Prasad a bit role in the film Bhakta Prahalada (1931). Subsequently Reddy also directed the first Tamil talkie Kalidas (1931) with again a small role for Prasad. Around this time, an accountant shortened his name to LV Prasad since he found his name so long! Thus he was known now as LV Prasad with the name sticking to him for life.

Prasad returned to his village to find out his daughter had died in his absence. He returned to Bombay with his wife. However Imperial Film Company was now retrenching people and he was now jobless. He returned to his village and tried raising funds to launch a Production Company but unfortunately for him, things did not take off. It was Reddy who came to his rescue again, asking him to act in the film he was making then, Grihalakshmi (1938). Prasad shifted to Madras, assisting and acting in Reddy's Barristor Parvatisham (1940), Bondam Pelli (1940), Chanduvukonna Bharya (1940) and Tenali Ramakrishna (1941) among other films. However when the Japanese bombed Madras, he had to shift again as Reddy left for Pune. He was given the job of Production superviser and Assistant Director in a film Kashta Jeevi which took him to Bombay again. However the film was shelved. In Bombay he joined Prithvi Theatres, run by Prithviraj Kapoor and acting in various plays like Deewaar and Shakuntala there.

Prasad made his directorial debut with the Telugu Feature Film Grihapravesham (1946), based on a story by well-known Telugu writer, Tripuraneni Gopichand. Prasad also acted in the film alongside P Bhanumathi contrasted as a misogynist bachelor against the 'modern' Bhanumathi. The film, a reformist story critiquing simultaneously Westernization and the practice of arranged marriages boasted of one of Bhanumathi's most popular songs - Amma Nee Nayanammulla and was acommercial success.

Prasad's next film, Palnati Yuddham (1947), was a film he took over when the original director Gudavalli Ramabrahmam died before completing it. The film, a historical foreshadowing Indian Independence, tells of warfare and rivalries within the kingdom of Palnadu. It established Prasad as a popular director of merit in Telegu Cinema, following which he made a series of films in Telugu (Drohi (1948), Mana Desam (1949), Samsaram (1950), Shavukaru (1950)) before branching out to bilinguals in Telugu and Tamil with Pelli Chesi Choodu (Telegu)/ Kalyanam Panni Par (Tamil) in 1952. With Pelli Chasi Choodu, Savithri became a star. But then Prasad was a fine judge of talent. It was Prasad who introduced NT Rama Rao as a police inspector in Mana Desam, also Ghantasala Venkateshwara Rao's first assignment as composer, and also launched Savithri in Samsaram.

One of his best known bilingual films was Misamma (Telugu)/ Missiamma (Tamil) in 1955. The film was a hit comedy about a couple pretending to be married in order to get a job to run a school as the job advertises for a married couple only. The Tamil version in particular launched the Gemini Ganesh - Savithri pair (NTR played the lead in the Telugu version opposite Savithri). One song especially popular in the Tamil version was the Ghantasala - P Susheela duet Varaya Vennilave.

Meanwhile Prasad had purchased a plot of land where he began building his own studio. He also turned Producer with the Telugu film Ilavelpu (1956). He then made his debut as Producer-Director in Hindi Films with Sharada (1957) starring Raj Kapoor (whom he had met at Prithvi Theatres) and Meena Kumari. The film was a remake of the Tamil film Ethirparadathu (1954) starring Sivaji Ganesan and Padmini which itself was remade in Telugu as Illavelpu (1956). Sharada sees Meena Kumari give a tour de force performance as Raj Kapoor's lover who becomes his stepmother. Unfortunately coming in the same year as Mother India, Nargis swept all the Best Actress awards that year except that of the Bombay Film Journalists Association who named Meena as their Best Actress of the year for Sharada. That year saw another Prasad directed Hindi film, Miss Mary (1957), a remake of his own Missamma (Telugu)/ Missiamma (Tamil), re-uniting him with Meena Kumari while also starring Gemini Ganesh, Kishore Kumar and Jamuna. The film is one of the few light-hearted roles attempted by Meena Kumari and she displays an uninhibitedness that is refreshing to say the least. - a stark contrast to the studied mannerisms and passive postures of her more familiar tragic roles. The film aided greatly by a typical madcap performance by Kishore Kumar also had a fine musical score by Hemant Kumar ( O Raat ke Musafir, Gaana na Aaya, Aayi re Ghir Ghir among others) and was remade disastrously years later with Anil Kapoor and Madhuri Dixit, Pratikaar (1991). Chhoti Bahen (1959), a family melodrama, starring Balraj Sahni and Nanda in the title role was yet another popular film produced and directed by Prasad in Hindi. Prasad's films were a set of mid-budget soap operas often making hits from films of other languages.

Post Beti Bete (1964), Prasad only directed Hindi Films while continuing to produce films in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and even Kannada. Among the films he directed. he formed a successful partnership with Jeetendra - Jeene ki Raah (1969), Shaadi ke Baad (1972) and Bidaai (1974). His major prodcutions in Hindi include Sasural (1961) and Humrahi (1963) both starring Rajendra Kumar, the hugely successful reincarnation tale Milan (1967) with Sunil Dutt, Nutan and Jamuna, Khilona (1970) with Sanjeev Kumar, Jeetendra and Mumtaz which won the Filmfare Award for Best Film and Best Actress for Mumtaz and Ek Duje ke Liye (1981), one of the biggest hits of his career. Other important films produced by Prasad include Illalu (1965) in Telugu, Idaya Kamalam (1965) in Tamil, Mane Belagida Sose (1975) in Kannada and Bidaai (1994) in Bengali.

Prasad was persuaded by Kamal Hassan to return to facing the camera, when aged 73, for Raja Parvai (1981). In the film, Prasad endearingly played the playful grandfather of the heroine, Madhavi, who helps her elope on a scooter with the hero, a blind musician, played by Kamal Hassan.

Prasad finished the Prasad Studio by 1965 and launched the Prasad film laboratory in 1976 which has undoubtedly grown into India's finest film lab today. He has been the subject of a biography by KNT Sastry (1993) and is a recipient of Indian Cinema's highest award, the Dada Saheb Phalke Award, given to him in 1983 for his contribution to Indian Cinema. He also served as Chairman of the Studio Owners Council, a wing of the Film Federation of India.