Krishnankoil Venkadachalam Mahadevan was an Indian composer, singer-songwriter, music producer, and musician who won the inaugural National Film Award for Best Music Direction in (1967) for Kandan Karunai. Known for his works in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada films. He is best known for his contributions in works such as Manchi Manasulu (1962), Lava Kusa (1963), Thiruvilaiyadal (1965), Saraswathi Sabatham (1966), Kandan Karunai (1967), Thillana Mohanambal (1968), Adimai Penn (1969), Balaraju Katha (1970), Athiparasakthi (1971), Sankarabharanam (1979), Saptapadi (1981), Sirivennela (1986), Sruthilayalu (1987), Pelli Pustakam (1991), and Swathi Kiranam (1992).
Saritha is an Indian actress who has acted in more than 500 films in Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Telugu languages. She was one of the popular and critically acclaimed lead actresses during the 1980s. She also appeared in a television serial, Selvi. She is also credited as a dubbing artist. She has dubbed her voice for Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam and Telugu movies for actresses like Nagma, Vijayashanti, Tabu, Sushmita Sen, Ramya Krishnan and Soundarya in 1990s.
Kaikala Satyanarayana was an Indian actor, producer, director, and politician who predominantly worked in Telugu cinema. He appeared in more than 750 films over six decades. He was a recipient of the Raghupathi Venkaiah Award in 2011, and the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017. Renowned for his acting prowess across a range of roles and genres, he was given the epithet Navarasa Natana Sarvabhouma.
Dasari Narayana Rao was an Indian film director, screenwriter, actor, producer, lyricist, and politician, primarily known for his work in Telugu cinema. Over his four decade career, he directed more than 150 feature films, earning a Limca World Record for directing the most films in the world. He was recognized by the title "Darsaka Ratna" and was known for films addressing social injustice, corruption and gender discrimination. Narayana Rao received numerous accolades, including two National Film Awards, 16 state Nandi Awards including the Raghupathi Venkaiah Award, and five Filmfare Awards South including the Lifetime Achievement.
Allu Ramalingaiah was an Indian character actor, comedian, and producer known for his works in Telugu cinema. In 1990, he was honoured with the Padma Shri for his contribution to Indian cinema. In 1998, he received the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award - South, and the Raghupathi Venkaiah Award in 2001. Ramalingaiah appeared in over 1000 films in a variety of roles. The "Allu Ramalingaiah National Award" was instituted in his memory by the "Allu Ramalingaiah Academy of Arts". The award is presented every year to a Telugu film personality for life time achievement.
Gummadi Venkateswara Rao, known mononymously by his surname Gummadi, was an Indian actor and producer, who worked predominantly in Telugu cinema and a few Tamil films. Known as one of the finest supporting/character actors in Telugu cinema, Gummadi acted in around five hundred feature films. He received critical recognition for his work in Thodu Dongalu (1954) and Mahamantri Timmarusu (1962), for which he received the erstwhile Rashtrapati Award. Gummadi was an official member of the Indian delegation from South India to the Tashkent Film Festival in 1978 and 1982.
Maganti Murali Mohan is an Indian actor, producer, politician, and business executive from Telugu cinema. In 1973, Murali Mohan debuted in Jagame Maya, produced by Atluri Poornachandra Rao. He gained recognition with the 1974 film Tirupati, directed by Dasari Narayana Rao. He has acted in over 350 feature films. He has served in various positions in the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) and the Andhra Pradesh Film Development Corporation. He was the Honorary President of the Telugu Movie Artists Association until the elections in 2015.
Pasupuleti Ramesh Naidu (1933–1987) was an Indian music composer, multi instrumentalist, and singer known for his works predominantly in Telugu cinema. He garnered the National Film Award for Best Music Direction for the film Meghasandesam in 1982. He won three Nandi Awards. He also worked for Bengali, Nepali, Kannada, and Oriya films.
Mandadi Prabhakar Reddy (1935–1997) was an Indian film character actor known for his works in Telugu cinema. He acted in over 472 films over three decades. He wrote stories for several acclaimed films, including Karthika Deepam. The "Dr. M Prabhakara Reddy Chalana Chitra Karmika Chitrapuri" in Manikonda, Hyderabad is named in honor of him. He won four Nandi Awards.
Jamuna was an Indian actress, director, and politician who appeared mainly in Telugu cinema. She made her acting debut at age 16 in Dr. Garikapati Rajarao's Puttillu (1953), and received her breakthrough with L. V. Prasad'sMissamma (1955). Her filmography also includes Tamil, Kannada, and Hindi films. She won a Filmfare Award and an award at Filmfare Awards South. She was a member of parliament in the 9th Lok Sabha (1989–1991) representing the Rajahmundry constituency.
Sarathi, also called Kadali Jaya Sarathi, was an Indian comedic actor and producer in the Telugu film industry. His most notable roles are in Manavuri Pandavulu, Bobilli Brahmanna, Driver Ramudu, Bakta Kannappa and Jaganmohini. Sarathi died from kidney ailments at a hospital in Hyderabad on 1 August 2022, at the age of 80.
Idi Katha Kaadu is a 1979 Indian Telugu-language drama film directed by K. Balachander starring Chiranjeevi, Jayasudha, Kamal Haasan, Sarath Babu and, Saritha. It is a remake of Balachander's own Tamil film Avargal (1977). Jayasudha reprised the role of Sujatha in the original. Kamal Haasan starred in the same role in both languages. This film also had Chiranjeevi as the villainous husband of Jayasudha. The film was shot in Black and white. Jayasudha won the Nandi Award for Best Actress.
Basavaraju Venkata Padmanabha Rao, known mononymously as Padmanabham, was an Indian actor, comedian, producer, and director who predominantly worked in Telugu cinema and Telugu theatre. He is known for his comic expressions and dialogues. In a career spanning over six decades, he acted in more than 400 films.
K. Chakravarthi was an Indian music director who primarily worked in Telugu cinema. He made his debut in 1971 with Mooga Prema and went on compose music for over 1000 films, predominantly in Telugu language, followed by Kannada. He won two Nandi Awards.
Nirmalamma was an Indian actress in the Telugu cinema. She appeared in more than 1000 films and was well known for her grandmother roles in several films. She won two Nandi Awards.
Sangeeta is an Indian actress who has predominantly worked in Telugu films, alongside Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam films. She has appeared with leading actors like Sivaji Ganesan, Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan and Chiranjeevi. In the late 1990s she started appearing as a character artist. She has appeared in over 500 films in various south Indian languages.
Pudipeddi Jogeswara Sarma was an Indian film dubbing artist, turned actor and writer, known for his works predominantly in Telugu cinema. He has worked for over 500 films as an actor and dubbing artist. He is the father of actors P. Sai Kumar, P. Ravi Shankar and Ayyappa P. Sarma.
Mikkilineni Radhakrishna Murthy was an Indian actor and thespian known for his works predominantly in Telugu cinema. He was the founder of the theater group Praja Natya Mandali. He has received the honorary Kalaprapoorna from Andhra University, for his contributions towards Telugu theater and cinema.
Raavi Kondala Rao was an Indian actor, screenwriter, playwright, and journalist who worked in Telugu cinema and Telugu theatre. He acted in over 400 films. He won Nandi Award for Best Story Writer for Pelli Pusthakam (1991) and won Nandi Award for Best Book on Telugu Cinema for Black and White.
Durga Prabha, known by her stage name, Hema Chaudhary is an Indian actress who has predominantly acted in Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam and Tamil films. Starting her career as a lead actress in the Telugu film Pelli Kani Pelli in 1976, she switched over to supporting roles in the 1980s.
