Kanta Rao

Kanta Rao
Kanta Rao
Born	Tadepalli Lakshmi Kanta Rao; 16 November 1923; Kodada, Hyderabad State, British India; (present-day Telangana, India)
Died	22 March 2009 (aged 85); Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh (now Telangana), India
Other names	Nata Prapoorna; Kattula Kanta Rao
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1950s–1990s
Spouse(s)	Suseela, Hymavati

Tadepalli Lakshmi Kanta Rao (16 November 1923 – 22 March 2009) was an Indian actor and producer known for his works predominantly in Telugu cinema.^[1] Regarded as one of the finest method actors, Rao starred in more than four hundred feature films in a variety of genres including mythological, social and folklore. He has also acted in a few Hindi, Kannada, Tamil, and Malayalam movies. He has produced about five films under the Hyma Films banner.^[2] In the 1960s, he was one of the primary actors in Telugu cinema, along with N. T. Rama Rao and Akkineni Nageswara Rao. Kanta Rao was known for portraying the roles of Narada, Lord Krishna and Arjuna. He played Lakshmana in the blockbuster film Lava Kusa, for which he has won the Rashtrapati Award for best actor in 1963.^[3]^[4]^[5]

He is very familiar with the name of Kattula Kantarao in grandma stories, because he has carried swords in many films while entering the scene.

Early life[]

Rao was born to Kesavarao and Seetaramamma at Kodad of Nalgonda district in present-day Telangana on 16 November 1923.^[6] According to the Hindu calendar, it corresponds to Rudhirodgari Samvatsara Kartika Sudha Ashtami day. He lost his father the next year. His primary education was done in Gudibanda and Khammam. He was exposed to puranas and Hindu epic stories from his grandmother.^{[citation needed]}

Career[]

Surabhi Drama troupe has visited their village. Impressed by their professional performances, he established "Balamitra Natya Mandali" and used to play Gayopakhyanam and Madhuseva plays with his friends. He played the character Brahma in Sri Krishna Leelalu in the group "Surabhi" and subsequently in the plays Madhuseva, Kanakatara and Telugu Talli.

Rao was sent to Tenali to deviate from the drama activities. Tenali used to be very active in drama activities with stalwarts like Pulipati Lakshminarayana. He used to stay in same street where Rentachintala Satyanarayana and Banda Kanakalingeswara Rao used to live.^{[citation needed]}

He then shifted to Madras in 1950 and used stay with T. Krishnamachari, who used to work as assistant director for H. M. Reddy's Rohini Pictures.^{[citation needed]}

H. M. Reddy gave him chance to play a small role in Nirdoshi in 1951 and as his hero for Pratigna in 1953. He has acted in 450 films and in about 100 films as hero, whereas in others as different character roles. They include some popular roles in films like Jayasimha (1955), Shri Krishna Pandaviyam (1966), Guruvunu Minchina Sishyudu (1963), Lava Kusha (1963), Nartanasala (1963), Pandava Vanavasam (1965) and Muthyala Muggu (1975). His last movie was Pandurangadu, with Balakrishna, directed by K. Raghavendra Rao in 2008.^[7]

He made four films in between 1969 and 1974, Saptaswaralu, Gandara Gandadu, Premajeevulu and Gundelu Theesina Monagadu and lost all his previous earnings. The last film he made was Swathi Chinukulu. Subsequently, he shifted to Hyderabad.^[8]

Awards[]

National honours

Rashtrapati Award (president award) for the role of Lakshmana in Lava Kusha.

Nandi Awards

Raghupathi Venkaiah Award by the government of Andhra Pradesh in 2000, for lifetime achievement.
Nandi Award for Best Book, for Anaganaga Oka Raakumaarudu won for the year 2007.

Other honours

Visesha Puraskaram in Ramineni Foundation Awards in 2004.
Mahanati Savitri Award
C.H. Narayana Rao Award

Filmography[]

Actor[]

Year	Film	Role	Language	Director
1951	Nirdoshi		Telugu
1953	Pratigna	Pratap	Telugu	H. M. Reddy
1955	Jayasimha	Vijayasimha	Telugu	D. Yoganand
1955			Telugu	B. Vittalacharya
1956			Telugu	B. S. Ranga
	Ilavelpu		Telugu	D. Yoganand
			Telugu
1957	Sati Anasuya		Telugu	K. B. Nagabhushanam
1958		Narada Muni	Telugu	V.N. Reddy
1958			Telugu	Sattiraju Lakshmi Narayana
1959				Bolla Subba Rao
	Jaya Vijaya		Telugu	B. Vittalacharya
	Sabash Ramudu		Telugu	C. S. Rao
	Sati Sukanya	Ashwini Devatalu	Telugu
1960			Telugu	Samudrala Raghavacharya
	Bhatti Vikramarka	Bhatti	Telugu	Jampana Chandrasekhara Rao
	Chivaraku Migiledi	Prakasam	Telugu	Gutha Ramineedu
	Deepavali	Narada Muni	Telugu	Rajanikanth Sabnavis
		Sri Mahavishnu	Telugu	C. Pullaiah
		Madhava	Telugu	B. Vittalacharya
	Mangalyam		Telugu	B.S.Narayana
			Telugu	Hunsur Krishnamurthy
			Telugu	S. D. Lal
	Sanchari		Telugu
	Santhi Nivasam	Raju	Telugu	C. S. Rao
	Sri Krishna Rayabaram		Telugu
1961			Telugu	Palagummi Padmaraju
			Telugu	C. S. Rao
	Sabash Raja		Telugu	P. S. Ramakrishna Rao
	Sati Sulochana	Narada Muni	Telugu	Rajanikanth Sabnavis
	Sri Seetha Rama Kalyanam	Narada Muni	Telugu	N. T. Rama Rao
			Telugu	K. Hemabharadara Rao
	Usha Parinayam	Anirudha	Telugu	K. B. Nagabhushanam
		Krishnan	Malayalam	P. Subramaniam
	Varalakshmi Vratham		Telugu	B. Vittalacharya
1962	Bhishma	Salwa	Telugu	B. A. Subba Rao
	Chitti Tammudu	Srihari	Telugu	K. B. Tilak
	Khaidi Kannayya		Telugu	B. Vittalacharya
			Telugu	B. Vittalacharya
			Telugu	K. S. Prakash Rao
	Nagarjuna		Telugu	Y. V. Rao
	Nuvva Nena		Telugu
	Padandi Munduku		Telugu	V. Madhusudhana Rao
	Raktha Sambandham	Anand	Telugu	V. Madhusudhana Rao
	Swarna Gowri		Telugu
	Madana Kamaraju Katha		Telugu
1963	Aapta Mitrulu		Telugu	Kadaru Nagabhushanam
	Manthiri Kumaran		Tamil	B. Vittalacharya
			Telugu	Tapi Chanakya
	Deva Sundari		Telugu	Hanumappa Vishwanath Babu
	Edureeta	Village Doctor	Telugu	B. S. Narayana Rao
	Guruvunu Minchina Sishyudu	Vijayudu	Telugu	B. Vittalacharya
	Lava Kusha	Lakshmana	Telugu	C. Pullaiah and C. S. Rao
			Telugu
	Nartanasala	Lord Krishna	Telugu	Kamalakara Kameswara Rao
			Telugu
	Sri Krishnarjuna Yudham	Narada Muni	Telugu	K. V. Reddy
			Telugu	Ranganath Das
	Vishnumaya		Telugu	Nammalvar
	Valmiki		Telugu	C. S. Rao
1964	Babruvahana	Lord Krishna	Telugu	Samudrala Raghavacharya
			Telugu
	Desa Drohulu		Telugu
			Telugu	B. A. Subba Rao
	Marmayogi		Telugu	B. A. Subba Rao
			Telugu	B. Vittalacharya
	Sri Satyanarayana Mahatyam		Telugu	Rajanikanth Sabnavis
			Telugu	G.Viswanath
1965	Aada Bratuku		Telugu	Vedantam Raghavaiah
			Telugu	G. Viswanath
			Telugu	K. B. Nagabhushanam
	Devata (1965 film)	Cameo	Telugu
	Dorikithe Dongalu		Telugu
	Jwaladweepa Rahasyam		Telugu	B. Vittalacharya
			Telugu	S.R. Puttana Kanagal
	Pandava Vanavasam	Lord Krishna	Telugu	Kamalakara Kameshwara Rao
			Telugu	C. S. Rao
		Lord Krishna	Telugu
			Telugu	C. S. Rao
			Telugu	Vedantam Raghavaiah
	Sri Simhachala Kshetra Mahima	Pururava Chakravarthi	Telugu	B. V. Prasad
	Veerabhimanyu	Arjuna	Telugu	V. Madhusudan Rao
		Vijaya Simha	Telugu	B Vittalacharya, S D Lal
1966			Telugu	G. Vishwanathan
	Bhimanjaneya Yuddham	Nala Kuber	Telugu	S. D. Lal
			Telugu	G. Viswanath
	Mohini Bhasmasura			B. A. Subba Rao
	Paduka Pattabhishekam		Telugu	Kadaru Nagabhushanam
	Palnati Yudham	Nalagamaraju	Telugu	Gutha Ramineedu
	Shri Krishna Pandaviyam	Narada Muni	Telugu	N. T. Rama Rao
	Sri Krishna Tulabharam	Narada Muni	Telugu	Kamalakara Kameshwara Rao
	Srimati
1967			Telugu	B. Vittalacharya
	Chikkadu Dorakadu	Dorakadu	Telugu	B. Vittalacharya
			Telugu	Hunsur Krishnamurthy
			Telugu	B. Vittalacharya
	Kanchu Kota	Narendra	Telugu	C. S. R. Rao
			Telugu	Kotayya Pratyagatma
	Pinni		Telugu
	Rahasyam		Telugu	Vedantam Raghavaiah
			Telugu	Vedantam Raghavaiah

			Telugu	K.S. Prakash Rao
1968			Telugu	A.V. Seshagiri Rao
		Veerendra	Telugu
			Telugu	B. Vittalacharya
	Deva Kanya		Telugu	K. Hemambharadhara Rao
			Telugu
			Telugu
			Telugu	M.S. Gopinath
			Telugu	Vedantam Raghavaiah
		Vikrama	Telugu	G. Suryam
	Rajayogam		Telugu	K. S. R. Das
			Telugu	Giduthuri Satyam
			Telugu	K.V. Nandana Rao
	Veeranjaneya		Telugu	Kamalakara Kameshwara Rao
	Bangaru Gaajulu		Telugu	C.S.R. Rao
	Niluvu Dopidi	Guest	Telugu	C.S.R. Rao
1969			Telugu	G. Viswanath
			Telugu
			Telugu	K. S. R. Das
	Saptaswaralu	Saranga	Telugu	Vedantam Raghavaiah
			Telugu	K. S. R. Das
		Manoharudu	Telugu	K. S. R. Das
	Tarasasankam		Telugu	M. Appa Rao
	Ekaveera	Veerbhupati	Telugu	C.S.R. Rao
1970			Telugu
			Telugu	V Ramachandra Rao
	Janmabhoomi		Telugu
		Prasoona	Telugu	H.S. Venu
			Telugu	Vedantam Raghavaiah
			Telugu	B.S. Srinivas
	Oke Kutumbham		Telugu	A. Bhimsingh
			Telugu	T. Vishwanathan
1971			Telugu	K. S. R. Das
	Sri Krishna Vijayamu		Telugu
			Telugu	K. S. R. Das
	Ananda Nilayam		Telugu
			Telugu	Subba Rao B.A.
			Telugu	Padmanabham
		Madhavudu	Telugu
			Telugu	P Subramanyam
	Shri Krishna Satya	Narada Muni	Telugu	K. V. Reddy
	Chelleli Kapuram		Telugu	K. Viswanath
	Varalakshmi Vratam		Telugu	B. Vittalacharya
1972			Telugu
	Shri Krishnanjaneya Yuddham	Narada Muni	Telugu	C. S. R. Rao
	Sree Guruvayoorappan		Malayalam	P. Subramaniam
	Bala Bharatam	Pandu Raju	Telugu	Kamalakara Kameshwara Rao
			Telugu	P. Chandrashekar Reddy
			Telugu	V. Madhusudan Rao
1973	Devudu Chesina Manushulu		Telugu	V. Ramachandra Rao
	Neramu Siksha	Rajasekharam	Telugu	K. Viswanath
			Telugu	Adurthi Subba Rao
1974			Telugu	N. B. Chakravarthi
	Alluri Seetharama Raju	Padalu	Telugu	V. Ramachandra Rao
	Shri Ramanjaneya Yuddham	Narada Muni	Telugu	Bapu
			Telugu
	Devi Kanyakumari		Malayalam	P. Subramaniam
	Devadasu		Telugu	Vijaya Nirmala
			Telugu	Adurthi Subba Rao
	O Seeta Katha	Madhava Rao	Telugu	K. Vishwanath
	Nippulanti Manishi		Telugu	S. D. Lal
	Tulabharam		Telugu	Pendyala Naganjaneyulu
			Telugu
	Nirnayam		Telugu
			Telugu	C. S. Rao
	Hare Krishna		Hindi
1975			Telugu	Adurthi Subba Rao
			Telugu
	Muthyala Muggu	Raja Rao Bahadur	Telugu	Bapu
			Telugu	Babubhai Mistri
			Telugu
			Telugu
			Telugu	Adurthi Subba Rao
	Pooja		Telugu	Murugan Kumaran
	Eduruleni Manishi		Telugu	K. Bapayya
			Telugu	P Chandrashekar Reddy
			Telugu	K. S. Rami Reddy
			Telugu	M. Mallikarjuna Rao
			Telugu	G. V. R. Seshagiri Rao
			Telugu	S. D. Lal
			Telugu	Dasari Narayana Rao
	Alakh Niranjan		Hindi	Babubhai Mistri
1976		Narada Muni	Hindi	K. V. Reddy
	Mahatmudu		Telugu	M.S. Gopinath
			Telugu	K. Raghavendra Rao
			Telugu
	America Ammayi		Telugu	Singeetham Srinivasa Rao
			Telugu
	Magaadu		Telugu	S. D. Lal
			Telugu
			Telugu	T. Krishna
	Mahakavi Kshetrayya		Telugu	C. S. Rao, Adurthi Subba Rao
			Telugu	Dasari Narayana Rao
	Seeta Kalyanam		Telugu	Bapu
	Sita Swayamvar		Hindi	Bapu
			Telugu	Bapu, Chakrapani
1977	Kurukshetram	Drupada	Telugu	Kamalakara Kameshwara Rao
			Telugu	Vijaya Nirmala
			Telugu	G. C. Shekhar
	Yamagola	Indrudu	Telugu	Tatineni Rama Rao
			Telugu	Singeetham Srinivasa Rao
	Edureeta		Telugu	V. Madhusudan Rao
			Telugu	Bhanumathi Ramakrishna
			Telugu
	Manassakshi		Telugu	P. Sambasiva Rao
			Telugu	P. Chandrashekar Reddy
			Telugu	M.S. Koti Reddy
1978	Sommokadidhi Sokokadidhi		Telugu	Singeetham Srinivasa Rao
	Vayasu Pilichindi		Telugu	C. V. Sridhar
	Manavoori Pandavulu	Dharmaiah	Telugu	Bapu
	Gorantha Deepam		Telugu	Bapu
	Lawyer Viswanath		Telugu
1979	Yugandhar		Telugu	K. S. R. Das
			Telugu	G. Giridhara Rao
	Dongalaku Saval	Dharma Rao	Telugu
	Mande Gundelu	Sathyam	Telugu
1980	Chandipriya		Telugu	V. Madhusudan Rao
	Vamsa Vruksham		Telugu	Bapu
	Kaali		Telugu	I. V. Sasi
	Superman		Telugu	V. Madhusudan Rao
	Chukkallo Chandrudu		Telugu
	Sarada Ramudu	Raja Rao	Telugu	Vasu
	Ram Robert Rahim	Catholic priest	Telugu	Vijaya Nirmala
	Prema Tarangalu	Ranga Rao	Telugu
1981	Satyabhama		Telugu	K. Raghavendra Rao
	Radha Kalyanam		Telugu	Bapu
	Ooriki Ichina Maata		Telugu	Mannava Balayya
	Sati Savitri		Telugu	P. Subba Rao
1982	Ekalavya		Telugu	Kamalakara Kameshwara Rao
			Telugu
			Telugu
	Golconda Abbulu		Telugu
1985	Vijetha	Venkayya (guest)	Telugu	A. Kodandarami Reddy
			Telugu
	Mantra Dandam		Telugu
			Telugu
			Telugu
	Pachani Kapuram		Telugu
1986			Hindi	Bapu
	Simhasanam		Telugu	Krishna
	Sri Shirdi Saibaba Mahathyam	Shyama	Telugu	K. Vasu
	Vikram		Telugu	V. Madhusudan Rao
	Deshoddharakudu		Telugu
1988	Jhansi Rani		Telugu
1989			Telugu	Ravi Raja Pinisetty
1992			Telugu	Dasari Narayana Rao
1994	Mugguru Monagallu		Telugu	K. Raghavendra Rao
1994	Bangaru Kutumbam		Telugu	Dasari Narayana Rao
1998			Telugu	Dasari Narayana Rao
1999	Postman		Telugu
2003	Kabirdas		Telugu	V. V. Raju
	Nijam	Narayana Rao	Telugu	Teja
	Satyam		Telugu	R. Surya Kiran
	Seetayya		Telugu
2005			Telugu	R. Surya Kiran
2007	Shankar Dada Zindabad		Telugu	Prabhu Deva
2008	Pandurangadu		Telugu	K. Raghavendra Rao

Producer[]

Saptaswaralu (1969)
(1969)
(1971)
(1974)
(1989)

Personal[]

Rao was married to Susheela and had a daughter in 1942. The daughter died of smallpox during infancy. They had a son in 1945 named after his father as Keshav. He married Hymavathi in 1950 and subsequently Susheela died of illness. His son also died of typhoid fever in his childhood. He has four sons and a daughter by Hymavathi, named Pratap, Keshav, Susheela, Raja and Satyam, in that order. ^[9]

His son Raja (Rajeswara Rao) has acted in Sudigundalu, Prema Jeevulu, Gandara Gandadu, Gundelu Teesina Monagadu, Swati Chinukulu, Ukku Pidugu, Rajasimha, Evaru Monagadu, Maro Prapancham and Manushulu Matti Bommalu.

His son Satyam also has acted in Saptaswaralu, Prema Jeevulu and Gandara Gandadu'. His grandson Sai Eshwar also worked as child artist in Television industry.

Death[]

He died at 9:50 PM IST at Yashoda Hospital, Hyderabad on 22 March 2009 due to cancer complications.

References[]

^ "Exposure in films decried". The Hindu. 25 February 2007. Archived from the original on 25 January 2013.
^ Murali Krishna. "T L KANTHA RAO ~ Early Tollywood".
^ Social Post (25 March 2009). "Kantha Rao becomes a memory | News - Oneindia Entertainment". Entertainment.oneindia.in. Archived from the original on 2 November 2013. Retrieved 3 November 2012.
^ Ramachandran, T.M. (1973). Film world. 9.
^ The Times of India directory and year book including who's who. Times of India Press. 1984.
^ Tanmayi, Bhawana. "Kantha Rao biopic to go on floors soon". Telangana Today. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
^ Kanta Rao passes away in The Hindu. Archived 7 November 2012 at the Wayback Machine
^ A deprived legend: T L Kantha Rao; An exclusive interview at Tripod.com Archived 5 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine
^ ".:: Deccan Radio - 24/7 South India's Internet Radio - View topic - Actor Kanta Rao passed away at 85 Years ::".

External links[]

Kanta Rao at IMDb

[1] "Exposure in films decried". The Hindu. 25 February 2007. Archived from the original on 25 January 2013.

[2] Murali Krishna. "T L KANTHA RAO ~ Early Tollywood".

[3] Social Post (25 March 2009). "Kantha Rao becomes a memory | News - Oneindia Entertainment". Entertainment.oneindia.in. Archived from the original on 2 November 2013. Retrieved 3 November 2012.

[4] Ramachandran, T.M. (1973). Film world. 9.

[5] The Times of India directory and year book including who's who. Times of India Press. 1984.

[6] Tanmayi, Bhawana. "Kantha Rao biopic to go on floors soon". Telangana Today. Retrieved 20 September 2020.

[7] Kanta Rao passes away in The Hindu. Archived 7 November 2012 at the Wayback Machine

[8] A deprived legend: T L Kantha Rao; An exclusive interview at Tripod.com Archived 5 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine

[9] ".:: Deccan Radio - 24/7 South India's Internet Radio - View topic - Actor Kanta Rao passed away at 85 Years ::".

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show v Raghupathi Venkaiah Award
1980–1990	1980: L. V. Prasad (director and producer) 1981: P. Pullaiah and Santha Kumari (director and producer) 1982: B. A. Subba Rao (director, producer and writer) 1983: M. A. Rahman 1984: Kosaraju Raghavaiah (lyricist, poet and actor) 1985: Bhanumathi (actor, producer, singer, music director, and writer) 1986: Bapu and Mullapudi Venkata Ramana 1987: B. Nagi Reddy (producer) 1988: D. V. S. Raju (producer) 1989: Akkineni Nageswara Rao (actor) 1990: Dasari Narayana Rao (actor, director, and producer)
1991–2000	1991: K. Viswanath (Film director) 1992: S. Rajeswara Rao (composer) 1993: D. Madhusudhana Rao (producer) 1994: Anjali Devi (actress) 1995: K. S. Prakash Rao (actor, cinematographer, director, producer) 1996: Inturi Venkateswara Rao 1997: V. Madhusudhan Rao 1998: Gummadi (actor) 1999: P. Shanthakumari (actress and producer) 2000: Kanta Rao (actor, producer)
2001–present	2001: Allu Ramalingaiah (actor) 2002: P. Susheela (playback singer) 2003: V. B. Rajendra Prasad (producer) 2004: Krishnaveni (actress and producer) 2005: M. S. Reddy (producer, writer, and director) 2006: Daggubati Rama Naidu (producer, actor) 2007: Tammareddy Krishna Murthy (producer) 2008: Vijaya Nirmala (actress, producer and director) 2009: K. Ragava (producer) 2010: M. Balayya (actor, producer and director) 2011: Kaikala Satyanarayana (actor, producer and director) 2012: Kodi Ramakrishna (director) 2013: Vanisri (actress) 2014: Krishnam Raju (actor) 2015: Eswar (publicity designer, writer) 2016: Chiranjeevi (actor, producer)

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