Kantha Rao

Kantha Rao
Born
Tadepalli Lakshmi Kantha Rao

(1923-11-16)16 November 1923
Kodada, Hyderabad State, British India
Died22 March 2009(2009-03-22) (aged 85)
Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India
Other names
  • Nata Prapoorna
  • Kattula Kanta Rao
OccupationActor
Years active1950s–1990s
Spouses
  • Suseela
  • Hymavathi
    ​
    (m. 1950)​

Tadepalli Lakshmi Kantha 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 appeared in more than 400 feature films, starring in many, in a variety of genres including mythological, social and folklore. After a success string in folklore and swashbuckling films, he became popularly referred to as Kattula Kantha Rao. 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. Kantha Rao was known for portraying the roles of Narada, Lord Krishna and Arjuna in mythological films. He played Lakshmana in the blockbuster film Lava Kusa, for which he received Vishehsa Puraskaram in 1963.[3][4][5]

  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". Archived from the original on 19 June 2018. Retrieved 13 March 2009.
  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. Vol. 9.
  5. ^ The Times of India directory and year book including who's who. Times of India Press. 1984.