Kaikala Satyanarayana is no more

Veteran Tollywood actor Kaikala Satyanarayana is no more. He breathed his last at 4.30am on Friday at his residence in Jubilee Hills after a short illness.

He was 87 years old. He survived his two daughters. The last rites of Satyanarayana will be performed at the Mahaprasthanam crematorium in Jubilee Hills on Saturday.

In his film career spanning more than 60 years, Satyanarayana has acted in more than 750 films in almost all characters – hero, villain, character artist and comedian.

Satyanarayana also had a short stint in politics. He was elected to the 11th Lok Sabha from Machilipatnam on the Telugu Desam Party ticket. But that didn’t last long, as there were elections for the Lok Sabha again in 1998.

He has won several awards, including the 2011 Raghupati Venkaiah Award and the 2017 Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award for Telugu Cinema.

Born on 25 July 1935 in Krishna district, Satyanarayana completed his primary education in Gudlavaleru and intermediate education in Vijayawada. Graduated from Gudivada College.

Kaikala was first noticed by DL Narayana, who offered him a role in his film ‘Supayi Koothuru’ by Changayya in 1959. Although it did not do well at the box office, it was noted for his resemblance to N.T. Rama Rao and so, he was offered sneaky roles for NTR in many movies. NTR offered Satyanarayana a role in his film Apoorva Sahasra Sirakshida Chintamani in 1960, directed by S. D. Lal. Satyanarayana played the role of a prince.

B Vittalacharya was the first to give him a villain role in Kanaka Durga Pooja Mahima. Since then, he has excelled in villain roles.

Satyanarayana founded the production house Rama Films and made films like Kodama Simham (1990), Bangaru Kutumbam (1994) and Muddula Mogudu (1997). The last movie he acted in was in ‘Arundhati’ in 2009.

He had been suffering from age-related issues for some time and breathed his last in the wee hours of Friday.