Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra are not only Border States but have strong connection in customs and relationship even mainly due to the fact that Marathwada region of Maharashtra was part of the erstwhile Nizam Sate. Marawada people feel more at home at Hyderabad rather than visiting Mumbai, their capital city. Many Maharashtrians have settled in Telangana region of A.P, mainly in Hyderabad since many decades. Many Telugu people especially from Telangana region are settled especially in Mumbai and Solapur. Some of the customs in Telangana region are similar to Maharashtrians. There are many inter linguist marriages between Marathi and Telugu people. Famous Telugu poet Kaloji Narayan Rao is Maharashtrian. His family members are settled at Warangal.
There were two schools, Keshav Memorial High School and Vivekavardhini High School started by Maharashtrians in Hyderabad. Both these schools have grown up into big institutions. Chatrapati Shivaji and Babasaheb Ambedkar are household names in A.P. At one time Balgangadhar Tilak and Gopal Krishna Gokhale also were very popular names in A.P. There may be a million Telugu Shivajis named after Chatrapati. There are still hundreds of Telugu Tilaks and Gokhales in the age group of 60 years and above. Parents named their children Balgangadhar Tilak and Gopal Krishna Gokhale without knowing that Tilak and Gokhale are Maharashtrian surnames. As such these people have two surnames, Telugu surname at the beginning and Maharashtrian surname at the end of the name.
There are any number of streets and colonies named after Shivaji and Ambedkar in A.P. There are thousands of Shivaji and Ambedkar statues in A.P. At one time people were arguing heatedly to name a university in Marathwada as ‘’Ambedkar University’’. But Ambedkar University already existed at Hyderabad by then.
In 1954 popular Telugu Actress Anjali Devi made ‘’Sati Sakkubai’’ in Telugu. She also acted as Sakkubai. This movie was a huge hit. She displayed the emotions of Sakkubai beautifully. This film was later dubbed in Marathi as ‘’ Sakku Ali Pandharpurla’’. In 1957 N.T.Rama Rao made ‘’ Panduranga Mahatyam’’ in Telugu. He also acted as Bhakta Pundareek. He displayed the arrogance, devotion and humility of Pundareek at various stages most delicately. The song ‘’ Jaya Krishna Mukunda Murari’’ is the highlight of this movie. This movie is evergreen and a huge hit at that time. Two Telugu movies are made on Bhakta Gorakumbhar. In one movie Akkineni Nageswara Rao(A.N.R)acted as Bhakta Gorakumbhar. This movie with Akkineni Nageswara Rao as the main character was also a big hit. Telugu film ‘’Vundamma Bottu Pedatha’’ was based on Marathi film. ‘’ Thamb Lakshmi Kunku Lavthe’’. Marathi film ”. The Telugu film’s title is literally word by word translation of the Marathi film, what can be said as ” Makki to Makki” translation. Vahinichya Bangdiya” was made in 1953. In the year 1955 this film was remade in Telugu as ” Vadina gari Gajulu” and later in the year 1961, it was remade in Hindi as ”Bhabhi ki Choodiyan”.
Famous Marathi actor Sayaji Shinde is also a very popular character actor in Telugu movies. He dubs his voice in Telugu. As such he speaks his dialogues in Telugu. Popular Marathi actor Sadashiv Amrapurkar also acted in some Telugu films. Popular Marathi actress Rohini Hattangadi co starred with Akkineni Nageswara Rao(A.N.R) in the Telugu movie ” Seetharamaiah gari Manavaralu”(Seetharamayya’s Granddaughter) and played a very sensitive and memorable role. This movie was also commercially successful.
Telugu Vaishyas(Komatis) migrated to the Vidharbha region of Maharashtra many decades back. They are called by the surname ” War” like ” Regundwar”. R.S.S founder Hedgewar is said to be Telugu Vaishya.
