A multifaceted personality, my grandfather, Dr. Aruda, wrote many poems, essays, short stories, dramas, translations, film songs, detective stories and a book on Chess as well. His films include 'Farz', the film that made Jeetendra into a star and 'The Train' one of Rajesh Khanna's initial superhits and Shyam Benegal's 'Kondura' and his literary works include the legendary poem 'Tvamevaaham' (1948) and the 1987 Sahitya Akademi winning collection of essays 'Gurazada Gurupeetham' beside the 12 volume history of Telugu literature 'Samagragrandhra Sahityam.' Till date, his name evokes love and reverence in every single Telugu speaking person I meet and it fills me with pride and awe. Here's a small clip of him talking about Kuchipudi dance. It was his research that led to a revival of Vilasini Natyam, a dance style the had almost died as temple dancers were banned in the mid-20th century. This video was originally located at - HoustonSahitilokam's YouTube channel - (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SF4g...)
