A.K.Sekar, A Monograph- A Brief Overview

A.K.Sekar  (Appakonam Kula Sekhar) 

Born : August 6, 1906 – Died August 22, 1980 is an Indian Film Art Director and Production Designer.

Early Life

Appakonam Kula Sekar popularly known as A.K.Sekhar is a well-known Art Director of Telugu and Tamil Movie of Yesteryears.  He hailed from the then Madras Presidency and lived in Kadapa District of Andhrapradesh for  a while with his father Mr. Kanniah Chetty.    He had two brothers of whom Madhava Chetty  was an established Chartered Accountant in Madras Presidency and he also had a sister named Tulsi.   He was married to Smt. Lalitha and he had 8  children which includes A.K.Gopal, Kamala, Padmavathi, Ramudu, Ananda Babu, Ramathilakam, Srinivasulu and Saraswathi.

Introduction to Art and Cinema

He was a student of School of Arts and Crafts, in Poonamalee in Chennai and did his pre university in the olden days.   He was interested in Arts and Painting and started his career in Films as a Sound recording engineers and very soon moved to Art Direction in which he succeeded in creating great  films in the black and white era of Indian Cinema.    He worked with connoisseurs of Art Direction including Thota Venkateswarulu, Valli, Gokuley and Raju.   He used to source material for his movies from Cine Crafts in Chennai and used to have excellent associated in carpenters, painters and artist who transformed his imagination into art work that brought glory to the Black and white movies with non-digital equipment.  He was an expert in creating oil paintings for his set designing.  He worked with pioneers like S.S.Vasan, K.Ramnoth, Murugdasa and B.N.Reddi.  He also worked with  all-time great artists that include N.T.Rama Rao,M.G. Ramachandran,  Sivaji Ganesan,  S.V.Ranga Rao, Naggaiah, Akkineni Nageshwara Rao, Gemini Ganesan, RajniKanth,  Savithri, Rajasulochana,  Vanishri, Jamuna and Padmini to name a few.   He worked in all movies of Anjali Productions in the initial days.  He was pioneer in building Karthikeya Studios and later joined Vahuni Studies and Gemini Studios.   In 1962, he joined in AVM studios and productions on several movies.  He completed close to 70 films as a Set Designer and Art Director and also been Director of 2 movies and Produced one movie in which he casted NTR as a hero. He was an distinguished Art Director, sound recording, director and production designer  in Telugu, Tamil and Hindi movie industries in the early era of Indian Cinema.