Kattula Kanta Rao passes away

Veteran actor Tadepalli Lakshmi Kanta Rao, popularly known as Kanta Rao, passed away late on Sunday evening. He was 85 and is survived by a son. The yesteryear star, who acted in over 400 films, was nicknamed ‘Kattula Kanta Rao’ for his sword fighting skills, had been battling against cancer for the last few months. Born in Gudibanda village of Nalgonda district on November 16, 1923, Kanta Rao started his film career in 1950 with ‘Pratigna’ and made a mark as a hero with ‘Nirdoshi’ in 1951.

Since then he acted in several mythological and social movies in Telugu, Tamil, Hindi and Kannada languages. His stature as an actor grew with roles in films like Jayasimha (1955), Shri Krishna Pandaviyam (1966), Guruvuni Minchina Sishyudu (1963), Lava Kusha (1963), Nartanasala (1963), Pandava Vanavasam (1965) and Muthyala Muggu (1975). His last movie was ‘Pandurangadu’ with Balakrishna and directed by K. Ragahvendra Rao last year. He won the national award for his role in ‘Lava Kusha’, Raghupathi Venkaiah award by the State government in 2000 for his contribution to cinema and the Nandi Award for his work ‘Anaganaga Oka Raakumaarudu’ in 2007.