Veteran Tollywood actor Kaikala Satyanarayana is no more. He breathed his last at 4.30 am on Friday at his Jubilee Hills residence after brief illness.
He was 87. He is survived by his two daughters. The last rites of Satyanarayana would be performed at Mahaprasthanam crematorium in Jubilee Hills on Saturday.
In his film career spanning over 60 years, Satyanarayana acted in over 750 films in almost all the characters – hero, villain, character artiste and comedian.
Satyanarayana also had a brief stint in politics. He got elected to 11th Lok Sabha from Machilipatnam on Telugu Desam Party ticket. But it did not last long, as there were elections to Lok Sabha again in 1998.
He had received several awards, including the 2011 Raghupati Venkaiah award and 2017 Filmfare lifetime achievement award for Telugu cinema.
Born on July 25, 1935 in Krishna district, Satyanarayana completed his primary education in Gudlavalleru and intermediate education in Vijayawada. He graduated from Gudivada college.
Kaikala was first noticed by D. L. Narayana, who offered him a role in his film “Supayi Koothuru” directed by Changayya in 1959. Though it did not do well at the box office, he was noticed for his resemblance to N T Rama Rao and so, he was offered dupe roles for NTR in many films. NTR offered Satyanarayana a role in his film “Apoorva Sahasra Siraccheda Chintamani” in 1960, directed by S. D. Lal. Satyanarayana played the role of a prince.
It was B Vittalacharya who first gave him villain role in Kanaka Durga Pooja Mahima. Since then, he excelled in villain roles.
Satyanarayana established Rama Films production house and made films such as Kodama Simham (1990), Bangaru Kutumbam (1994) and Muddula Mogudu (1997). The last film he had acted was in “Arundhati” made in 2009.
He had been ailing from age-related issues for quite some time and he breathed his last in the early hours of Friday.