He gave faces to presidents and prime ministers, actors and saints — then history forgot his own.
The story
In the 1950s, a young man from a farming village near Tenali carved his way into Madras studios, Delhi's corridors of power, and an international stage. Presidents sat for him. Actors were cast in bronze by his hands. Then, quietly, he went home to farm his field — and the world moved on.
This is his family putting his name back where it belongs.
01
Born in 1925 in Bodapadu village near Tenali — the only son of Veerayya and Seethamma, a farming family — he was shaping clay and drawing long before anyone taught him. At fifteen, his school spotted the gift and asked him to sculpt Gandhi, Nehru and Jesus for the school. He worked day and night. But his father needed him in the fields, so he ran away — to Macharla, where Adavi Bapiraju became his first guru and taught him painting, and painting only.
02
First came study: in 1946 he moved to Madras and joined the Government School of Arts and Crafts — his teachers, struck by his talent, finished his five-year course early. In 1952 he took his diploma in Advanced Painting, First Class — and learned sculpture from Devi Prasad Roy Chowdhury of Bengal.
In 1952 he apprenticed under art director Madhavapeddi Gokhale at Vauhini Studios, Madras — the dream factory of Telugu cinema. He rose to become an art director himself at Saradhi Studio.
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03
In October 1956, the Government Museum at Egmore hosted his one-man show — paintings, drawings and sculptures together. It was opened by Chief Justice P. V. Rajamannar. The catalogue billed him simply: A. R. KRISHNA.
Then came the invitation that could have changed everything: an art academy in Milan offered him a seat — on talent alone, but no scholarship to live on. He could have scraped his way there. But smallpox had taken his eldest daughter Adamma, his wife was lost in grief, and his friends urged him to stay home. So he let Italy slip through his fingers — and stayed with the people who needed him.
1956 exhibition catalogue
04
In 1962, on the encouragement — protsaham — of journalist Narla Venkateswara Rao, he moved to Hyderabad. The two had met at Narla's fiftieth birthday, back when Narla still lived in Chennai; from that day Narla looked after him like a younger brother, and it was Narla who convinced him to come. In Gandipet, across from the Osman Sagar lake, Ancha set up his studio on the ground floor of a farmhouse everyone called the wooden house. His days fell into a rhythm: up at half past six, yoga, then work — some twenty cups of tea and thirty cigarettes a day to see him through it. And when it came time to say thank you, he said it the only way he knew how: he sculpted Narla himself. Five or six months of sittings, an hour or two at a time, every detail pushed as far as it would go — he wanted it to be one of his best works. Under Narla's blessings the work kept coming: a commission for Dr. Gururaju's Homeopathic College, and — at director P. Pullaiah's personal request — a statue of ANR for the film Prana Mithrulu (1967), which appears in its climax.
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05
It began with an idea from Professor K. Satchidananda Murthy — Ancha's art student, who was also a professor at Andhra University. He kindled the same fire in his fellow students, and together they took a proposal to Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan — India's Vice-President at the time — asking that Ancha be allowed to sculpt him from life. Radhakrishnan said yes. The professor telephoned Ancha with the news. He boarded a train from Chennai to Delhi — alone; his family stayed back in Chennai, the children at school — checked into a hotel, and walked into Rashtrapati Bhavan. Three sittings, thirty minutes each — and a clay model that delighted Radhakrishnan so much he approved it on the spot. Ancha carried the clay home to Chennai, made the mold, and cast it in bronze by the lost-wax process. The finished statue was presented to Andhra University. Radhakrishnan himself wasn't at the unveiling — but Ancha was, standing in the crowd, watching. He was one of the few sculptors in Andhra of his time.
06
In 1964 he completed a postgraduate course in sculpture at the Madras School of Art under Devi Prasad Roy Chowdhury — whose teachers wanted to send him to America for further study.
Everything he had learned, he would one day pass on — to Katuri Venkateshwara Rao, a student history does remember.
07
He played the sitar — taught by A.R. Dawood, learned while he was a student in Madras. It was only ever a hobby: every night around ten o'clock, he played classical tunes on it. The same hands that shaped bronze drew music from strings — one more art folded into a life that refused to hold just one.
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08
By the late seventies a new obsession had taken hold: design. He studied it on his own, and in 1978 moved to Bangalore to chase it properly — a futuristic cycle, prototypes and experiments. He even designed a movie trolley-dolly, a multipurpose crane for film shoots. When his health declined, he came home to Bodapadu — to his wife Hamsakshari and his agriculture field — and farmed to the end. Hamsakshari was from his own village, an arranged marriage, and she had stood behind his art all his life: going wherever he went, staying with him, never asking a second question — only supporting him as much as she could. He had founded a village development association there, personally overseeing road repairs and drainage works. He died on March 29, 2001. The man who sculpted a President ended his days as a farmer — not defeated, just home.
The student remembers the teacher — even if history does not.
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09
Everything he learned, he passed on. Among his students was Prof. K. Satchidananda Murthy — who, as a professor at Andhra University, led the proposal that sent Ancha to Delhi to sculpt Radhakrishnan from life.
In his village years, the young Katuri Venkateshwara Rao came to him in Bodapadu and became his student — the student history remembers. On 26 September 2000, in Tenali, Katuri and his students felicitated their teacher — with garlands, and with a verse tribute, the “Geya Sumanjali.”
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10
In 1996, Vaartha called him an “international artist” who “remained a farmer.” On 26 September 2000, his students felicitated him in Tenali. In May 2017, the Telugu daily Sakshi profiled him again — rare published records of a life lived quietly. “Given even a modicum of encouragement,” V.R. Narla had written of him in 1959, “he would, I am sure, develop into a master artist.” Today his family is gathering every photograph, catalogue and memory into this archive, and a book on his life is in progress.
The forgetting ends here.
Timeline
Born in Bodapadu village near Tenali, to Veerayya and Seethamma — a farming family's only son.
At fifteen, his school spots his gift and asks him to sculpt Gandhi, Nehru and Jesus for the school. He works day and night; his father wants him in the fields.
He runs away to Macharla. Adavi Bapiraju becomes his first guru — teaching him painting, and painting only.
Moves to Madras and joins the Government School of Arts and Crafts. His teachers, struck by his talent, complete his five-year course early.
Diploma in Fine Arts — Advanced Painting, First Class.
Apprentices under art director Madhavapeddi Gokhale at Vauhini Studios, Madras; later art director at Saradhi Studio.
One-man show of paintings, drawings and sculptures at the Government Museum, Egmore — opened by Chief Justice P. V. Rajamannar.
A government scholarship to study in Italy. He is ready to go — but smallpox takes his eldest daughter, and he stays with his grieving family.
Bust of Akkineni Nageswara Rao — gifted to the actor out of respect; ANR kept it in his house.
Bust of Narla Venkateswara Rao — a token of appreciation for the journalist who treated him like a younger brother. Narla, then a Rajya Sabha MP, writes him a glowing testimonial.
Duggirala Gopala Krishnayya statue — sculpted in Chennai at Pragada Kotaiah's request, installed in Chirala.
New Delhi → Waltair: his students arrange three thirty-minute sittings with Vice-President Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan at Rashtrapati Bhavan; the approved clay is cast in bronze in Chennai and presented to Andhra University (received 12 February 1962), unveiled with the sculptor present.
Moves to Hyderabad on Narla Venkateswara Rao's protsaham (encouragement) — the journalist treated him like a younger brother.
Postgraduate course in sculpture, Madras School of Art, under Devi Prasad Roy Chowdhury.
Statue of Dr. Gururaju for the Government Homoeopathic Medical College he founded.
Bangalore — opens a mechanical workshop (1981); after it closes, he prototypes the aerocycle, a flying bicycle — experiments until his health declines.
Returns to Bodapadu and farms his agriculture field. There, Katuri Venkateshwara Rao meets him and becomes his student.
Vaartha profiles him: “International artist... yet remained a farmer.”
Felicitated in Tenali — his student Katuri presents the “Geya Sumanjali” tribute.
March 29 — dies in Bodapadu, a farmer to the end.
Sakshi profiles him as an “international artist” — a rare published record.
A book on his life is in progress.
The work
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