Kongara Jaggayya was an Indian actor, littérateur, journalist, lyricist, dubbing artist and politician known for his works predominantly in Telugu cinema and Telugu theatre. He was known as Kanchu Kantam Jaggayya (Telugu) for his booming voice. In a film career spanning forty years as a matinee idol, he starred in eighty films, as a lead actor, and lead antagonist in a variety of genres. In 1967, he was elected as a member of the fourth Lok Sabha, from the constituency of Ongole, becoming the first Indian film actor to be elected as a member of the Parliament.
Manchu Bhakthavatsalam Naidu, credited and also known as Mohan Babu, is an Indian actor and producer known for his works predominantly in Telugu cinema. An alumnus of the Madras Film Institute, Mohan Babu has acted in more than 500 films in lead, supporting and a variety of roles.
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.
Sarada is an Indian actress and politician. Known for her work predominantly in Telugu films and Malayalam films, Sarada is the recipient of three National Awards. She has also appeared in few Tamil, Hindi as well as Kannada language films. She is also known as Urvasi Sarada – National Film Award for Best Actress was officially designated the Urvasi Award. She won three National Awards for her roles in Thulabharam (1968), Swayamvaram (1972), and Nimajjanam (1977). Sarada won the NTR National Award by the Government of Andhra Pradesh for her contributions to Indian cinema.
Mannava Balayya was an Indian actor, writer, director, and producer known for his work in Telugu cinema. He appeared in 300 films during his career.
Manchu Vishnu Vardhan Babu is an Indian actor and producer known for his works in Telugu cinema and television. Manchu had a brief stint as a child artist with the 1985 film Ragile Gundelu. Years later, he starred in the 2003 Telugu action film Vishnu, for which he won the Filmfare Best Male Debut.
Chandra Mohan was an Indian actor known for his works predominantly in Telugu films. He won a Filmfare Award South and two Nandi Awards.
Punyamurthula Appalaraju, better known by his stage name Raja Babu, was an Indian actor and comedian known for his works predominantly in Telugu cinema. He is noted as one of the finest Telugu comedians. A 9 ft bronze statue of Rajababu was unveiled in his birthplace of Rajahmundry, Andhra Pradesh in 2012.
Rama Prabha is an Indian actress who performs in Telugu, Tamil and Hindi films. She has acted in more than 1,400 films and is credited as a character artist who shared screen space with superstars across all generation of South Indian Cinema with a career spanning over six decades. She formed a noted pair on Telugu screen during the 1970s and 1980s with comedian Raja Babu. She acted opposite Nagesh in Shanti Nilayam and many other films from 1968 onwards. She acted in Hindi opposite Mehmood in the movie Do Phool.
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.
C. Nagabushanam was an Indian actor known for his works in Telugu cinema and Telugu theatre. He acted in more than 350 films from the 1950s to the 1980s. He primarily acted in villain and character actor roles. Nagabushanam was a trendsetter in enacting comic villain characters. He was also known by the title “Natabhooshana”.
Pally Babu Mohan known as Babu Mohan is an Indian actor and politician from Bharatiya Janata Party. He prominently works in Telugu films as a comedian and is a former Minister for Labour in Andhra Pradesh. He won Nandi Award for Best Male Comedian for his role in Mamagaru.
Alludugaru or Alludu Garu is a 1990 Indian Telugu-language drama film directed by K. Raghavendra Rao and produced by Mohan Babu under Lakshmi Prasanna Films. This film stars Mohan Babu and Shobhana in lead roles, while Ramya Krishna also appeared in an important supporting role. It was commercially and critically successful running for more than 100 days. The music of the movie was composed by K. V. Mahadevan.
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.
Hema Sunder is an Indian actor known for his works in Telugu cinema, and a few in Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Hindi, and Bhojpuri. He starred in over 300 feature films. He made his debut with the 1972 film Vichithra Bandham.
Ramakrishna was an Indian actor who worked in Telugu cinema. He has acted in over 200 films, including Telugu, Tamil, and Malayalam. He has acted in several super hit Telugu movies such as 'Nomu', 'Pooja', 'Nenu Naa Desam', 'Bomma Borusa', 'Badi panthulu', 'Kurukshetram', 'Yuvataram kadilindi', 'Mantralaya Sri Raghavendra Vaaibhavam', 'Hantakulostunnaru jagrattha', 'Magadu', 'Katakatala Rudraiah', 'Doralu Dongalu', 'Kotalo paga', 'Viswanatha Nayakudu'. He played various roles in several mythological films, including Yashoda Krishna, Vinayaka Vijayamu, Devude digivasthe. He had also acted alongside thespians N. T. Ramarao and Akkineni Nageswara Rao.
The Movie Artists Association (MAA) started on October 4, 1993, with the collective vision and efforts of stalwarts like Akkineni Nageswara Rao, Krishnam Raju, Krishna, Murali Mohan, Mohan Babu and other senior artists. Chiranjeevi was the maiden president of the MAA.
Kannappa is an upcoming Indian Telugu-language fantasy drama film directed by Mukesh Kumar Singh. It is based on the story of Kannappa, a devotee of Hindu god Shiva. The film was produced by Mohan Babu through his companies AVA Entertainment and 24 Frames Factory. The film stars Vishnu Manchu in the title role, who also wrote the screenplay of the film based on a story developed by Paruchuri Gopala Krishna, Eshwar Reddy, G. Nageswara Reddy, and Thota Prasad..
