Kota Srinivasa Rao is an Indian actor and former politician. He served as a member of the Andhra Pradesh legislative assembly from 1999 to 2004. He has acted in more than 750 films in several languages such as Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada.
Wiki/Biography
Kota Srinivasa Rao was born on Thursday, 10 July 1947 (age 75 years; in 2022) in Kankipadu, Madras Presidency, British India (now Andhra Pradesh, India). His zodiac sign is Cancer. After completing his schooling in Andhra Pradesh, he pursued his bachelor’s degree in science in Andhra Pradesh. He participated in several plays during his college days.
Physical appearance
Height (approx): 5′ 9″
Hair Color: Salt and Pepper
Eye Color: Dark Brown
Family
Kota Srinivasa Rao was born in a Telugu Brahmin family in Andhra Pradesh.
Parents & Siblings
His father, Seetha Rama Anjaneyulu, was a doctor. His younger brother, Kota Sankara Rao, is an actor and a banker.
Srinivasa Rao with his younger brother Kota Sankara Rao
His elder brother Kota Narasimha Rao (deceased) was an artist. He has four younger sisters. One of her sister’s names is Annapurna.
Picture of Kota Narsimha Rao
Photo of Kota Srinivasa Rao with his brother and sister
Wife & Children
His wife’s name is Rukmani Rao. His son, Kota Venkata Anjaneya Prasad, was an actor, who died in Hyderabad on 20 June 2010 after an accident. He has two daughters named Pavani Srinivasa Rao and Pallavi Srinivasa Rao.
Photo of Kota Srinivasa Rao with his son
Pavani daughter of Kota Srinivasa Rao
religion
Kota Srinivasa Rao is a Hindu.
Address
Kota Srinivasa Rao resides at House number 10-D, Street No. 8, Film Nagar, Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad, Telangana – 500096.
Career
Banker
After completing his formal education, Kota Srinivasa Rao joined the State Bank of India in Andhra Pradesh. He however left the bank after working there for several years to pursue a career in acting.
Actor
Telugu
Kota Srinivasa Rao made his debut in the Telugu film industry in 1978 with the film Pranam Khareedu.
In 1985, he played the role of a politician named Yadagiri in the film Pratighatana and received the Nandi Award for his performance. He got the role of a villain named Guru Narayan in the 1993 film Gaayam.
Kota Srinivasa Rao in a still from the movie Gaayam
He won the award for the 1994 film Teerpu. He received a Nandi Award for playing the role of Major Harishchandra Prasad in the film Little Soldiers in 1996. He got the role of a health minister named Samba Sivudu in the film Ganesh 1998. He played the role of a villain in the film Chinna 2001 and won a Nandi Award for it. In the same year, he appeared as Samba Sivam aka Leakage Sambayya in the film No. Students: 1. In 2002, he appeared as Narayana in the film Prudhvi Narayana and received the Nandi Award for it. He won the role of Kotayya in the 2004 film Aa Naluguru and won the Nandi Award.
Kota Srinivasa Rao in still from Aa Naluguru
He played the role of Veeraraju in the 2006 film Pellaina Kothalo. He appeared as a villain named Mallesh Goud in the 2011 film Dookudu. He received an award for playing the role of Subrahmanyam in the 2012 film Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum.
Srinivasa in still from Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum
In 2017, he acted in several films including Balakrishnudu, Jawaan, and Gunturodu. In 2019, he played the role of Oori Pedda in the film Oorantha Anukuntunnaru.
Tamil language
Kota Srinivasa Rao made his debut in the Tamil film industry with the 2003 film Saamy in which he played a villain named Perumal Pichai.
Kota Srinivasa Rao in a still from the movie Saamy
In 2004, he appeared in several Tamil films including Aai, Jaisurya, and Jore. In 2010, he played a character named Ayyanarappan in the movie Kanagavel Kaaka. In 2014, he appeared in several Tamil films including Malini 22 Palayamkottai, Damaal Dumeel, and Aranmanai. In 2018, he made a cameo appearance as Ilaiya Perumal (Perumal Pichai) in Saamy 2.
City in still from Saamy 2
Malayalam
In 2011, he appeared as a character named Yogesh Thivari in the film The Train.
Kannada
In 2003, he got a role in Raktha Kanneeru. He played the role of Pampathy in the 2005 film Namma Basava. In 2023, he appeared in Kabzaa.
My forehead
In 2006, Srinivasa Rao appeared in the Hyderabadi language comedy film Hyderabad Nawabs.
Hindi
He got a role in the 1987 film Pratighaat. In 2005, he played a character named Selver Mani in the film Sarkar, starring Amitabh Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan. In 2009, he bagged a role in Ek: The Power of One. She appeared as Rajidi Nagamani Reddy in the 2010 film series Rakta Charitra. In the 2016 film Baaghi, she played the role of Dasanna, sharing the screen with Tiger Shroff.
Voice Actor
Apart from acting, Kota Srinivasa Rao has lent his voice to dub several Tamil films such as Gentleman (1993), Oke Okkadu (1999), Priyaralu Pilichindi (2000), Majaa (2005), and Sivaji: The Boss (2007) in Telugu.
Politicians
While pursuing a career in acting, Kota Srinivasa Rao joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He contested the 1999 Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly election on a BJP ticket from Vijayawada East constituency. In the election, he registered a victory over Ilapuram Venkaiah, the Indian National Congress (INC) candidate, by a margin of 6,076 votes. Despite winning the 1999 elections, the BJP did not give him a ticket to contest the 2004 Andhra Pradesh state assembly election as many senior BJP leaders were against him getting a ticket as he rarely visited his constituency. While talking about it, a senior BJP leader said,
Mr. Srinivasa Rao has not been able to spend much of his time in the area for the past four years as he lives in Hyderabad most of the time. Therefore, we want someone who knows the local problems and will be available to the public at any time.”
After that, he retired from politics.
Controversy
Grinning at Anasuya’s outfit
While giving an interview on YouTube channel in October 2021, Kota Srinivasa Rao was asked to give his opinion on Jabardasth, a Telugu comedy show. While giving his opinion on the show, Kota targeted Anasuya Bharadwaj, the host of the show, and said he did not like the way she was dressed on the show. He further said that the audience will still love her if she wears a saree. Speaking about it, he said,
What’s in it? Anasuya garu is there, she is a good actress, a good dancer with good personality and good expression and everything. But look at her in the program, the way she dresses, I don’t like the way she dresses. She is beautiful, the audience will see it even otherwise. She can be so ordinary, the audience will watch even if she wears a saree. Roja (judge) is also in the same program, right [the audience] didn’t see her in a saree?”
After his speech, Anasuya took to Twitter to express his displeasure and indirectly slammed Kota for his remarks, saying that he “glorifies drinking alcohol, wearing shabby clothes, and women being treated and humiliated on screen.”
— Anasuya Bharadwaj (@anusuyakhasba) October 18, 2021
Making inappropriate comments
Kota Srinivasa Rao has often courted controversy for making unwanted comments about South Indian actors. In May 2022, in an interview, he said that he did not see any potential in Ram Charan, and that he had become an actor only because of his father Chiranjeevi. Speaking about it, he said,
Charan comes only after Jr NTR, Mahesh Babu and Allu Arjun. Because he is the son of megastar Chiranjeevi, he has risen to this level.”
Later, when Kota was asked about Chiranjeevi’s promise to build a hospital for the needy, Kota questioned Chiranjeevi’s intentions and claimed that Chiranjeevi never donated money to poor South Indian film artists or supported them in any way. Kota further said that Chiranjeevi is making a hospital to raise his public image. Speaking about it, in an interview, he said,
Who will go to the hospital? He should help the poor artist get a job, then he can go to the hospital himself. There are some budding and senior actors who ruin their careers without proper jobs and get addicted to bad habits due to lack of income. He never gave a single penny to any film worker in his entire life. and how suddenly Chiranjeevi wants to be in the good books by building a hospital?”
Award
Public Honors
- Padma Shri (2015)
Photo of Kota Srinivasa Rao receiving the Padma Shri from President Pranab Mukherjee
Nandi Award
- Special Jury Award – Pratighatana (1985)
- Best Villain – Gaayam (1993)
- Best Villain – Teerpu (1994)
- Best Actor – Little Soldiers (1996)
- Best Villain – Ganesh (1998)
- Best Villain – Chinna (2000)
- Best Supporting Actress – Prudhvi Narayana (2002)
- Best Actor – Aa Naluguru (2004)
- Best Actress – Pellaina Kothalo (2006)
Photo of award received by Kota Srinivasa Rao
SIIMA Award
- South Indian International Film Award – Best Supporting Actor – Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum (2012)
Another honor
- Allu Ramalingaiah Puraskaram
Facts/Trivia
- In an interview, he revealed that he wants to be a doctor.
- Kota Srinivasa Rao used to consume alcoholic beverages. According to some sources, he many times came to the film set drunk. In an interview, he said that he used to go on set after consuming alcohol only after getting permission from the film’s director.
- In 2023, fake news about his death started circulating on social media claiming that Kota Srinivasa Rao was killed in a road accident in Hyderabad. However, Kota addressed the crowd and dismissed the news of his death and urged his fans not to believe such news. Speaking about it, in an interview, he said,
I was busy preparing for tomorrow’s Ugadi festival when I received a series of phone calls and 10 policemen came to my residence for security.”
Tragedy that veteran actor Kota Srinivasa Rao had to release a DECLARATION video condemning the social media rumors about his death. Life of Kota Srinivasa Rao garu. pic.twitter.com/zzF8CXDUPd
— P Pavan (@PavanJourno) March 21, 2023
Categories: Biography
Source: SCHOOL TRANG DAI
