Darsakendra Sri
K Raghavendra Rao celebrates his 70th birthday today. He is looking back on 37 years commitment to the film industry in 2012. He has been directing films since 1975 and is known as one of the most commercially successful directors of Telugu cinema. As of now, the filmmaker directed more than 100 films, his most recent being ‘Jhummandi Naadam’. Most of his films attract the family audiences. Though he focused majorly on family oriented films, he is one of those rare directors who made films covering almost all genres – be it female oriented films like ‘Aame Katha’, ‘Jyothi’, ‘Kalpana’; teenage love stories like ‘Padaharella Vayasu’, ‘Sundarakanda’; full-fledged comedy entertainers like ‘Pelli Sandadi’, ‘Bombay Priyudu’, ‘Moodu Mukkalata’; devotional films like ‘Annamayya’, ‘Sri Ramadasu’, ‘Sri Manjunatha’, ‘Pandurangadu’; action entertainers like ‘Adavi Ramudu’, ‘Driver Ramudu’, ‘Vetagadu’, ‘Trisulam’, ‘Kondaveeti Raja’, ‘Aakari Poratam’, ‘Gharana Mogudu’, ‘Apoorva Sahodarulu’ or family dramas like ‘Devatha’, ‘Justice Chowdary’, ‘Kaliyuga Pandavulu’, ‘Janaki Ramudu’, ‘Coolie No.1’, ‘Major Chandrakanth’, etc.
The specialty of KRR’s films is music and the unique style of picturising songs. A few musical hits to note are ‘Jagadeka Veerudu Athilokha Sundari’, ‘Pelli Sandadi’, ‘Coolie No.1’, ‘Aakhari Poratam’, ‘Allari Priyudu’, ‘Bombai Priyudu’, ‘Kondaveeti Raja’, ‘Annamayya’, ‘Gangotri’ and the list goes on. Heroines like Sridevi, Radhika, Radha, Vijaya Shanti, Rambha, Ramya Krishna, etc., got a good break in their career through his films. Besides Telugu, he also earned special place in the hearts of film-lovers in North with his directorial ventures like ‘Tofha’, ‘Himmatwala’, ‘Justice Chowdary’, ‘Dharam Adhikari’, ‘Suhagan’, etc. The director is presently filming a devotional film 'Shirdi Sai' in Telugu based on the life history of Shirdi Sai Baba.
To conclude, this BN Reddy National Award winner took the Telugu cinema to the next level by showing the commercial potential of Telugu films. His thoughts are fresh and his mind is young even at 70. Yes! Never expect him to retire from films. They are his life, they are his soul. Ragalahari salutes legend Raghavendra Rao and wishes him ‘Many Many Happy Returns of the Day’.
