Mudabidri Venkat Rao Vasudeva Rao ( 1919 – 22 March 2002) was an Indian actor. He entered the film world as a child actor in 1928. He won the Best Actor Award at the 23rd National Film Awards for his role of Choma in the '' Chomana Dudi'' (1975), a film based on Shivarama Karanth's novel of the same name.

Biography

Rao was one of six children of his school-teacher father, who struggled to make ends meet for his family. In 1928, as a nine-year-old, Rao, and two of his brothers, were sent to

Gubbi Veeranna Gubbi Hampanna Veeranna (1891 – 1972) was an Indian theatre director. He was one of the pioneers and most prolific contributors to Kannada theatre. He established the drama company, ''Gubbi Sree Channabasaveshwara Nataka Company'', which play ...

's theatre company to help financially support the family. Rao performed child roles in plays such as ''Shree Krishna Parijata'', and often performed for the erstwhile

Maharaja Maharaja (also spelled Maharajah or Maharaj; ; feminine: Maharani) is a royal title in Indian subcontinent, Indian subcontinent of Sanskrit origin. In modern India and Medieval India, medieval northern India, the title was equivalent to a pri ...

Krishna Raja Wadiyar IV, under whose patronage the company functioned, at the Jaganmohan Palace in

Mysore Mysore ( ), officially Mysuru (), is a city in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. It is the headquarters of Mysore district and Mysore division. As the traditional seat of the Wadiyar dynasty, the city functioned as the capital of the ...

. Rao worked for the company despite many others leaving for cinema, and tutored future theatre and film personalities such as B. V. Karanth. Rao was offered the lead role '' Chomana Dudi'' (1975) by Shivaram Karanth, which he accepted. Recalling his experience on the film in an interview for ''

Deccan Herald ''Deccan Herald'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper published from the Indian state of Karnataka. It was founded by businessman K. N. Guruswamy and launched on 17 June 1948. It is published by The Printers Mysore, a privately hel ...

'' in 1999, he stated: "I would lock myself up in a room everyday and for hours together I would practice. Finally, I got a hang of my role." Rao played a

dalit Dalit ( from meaning "broken/scattered") is a term used for untouchables and outcasts, who represented the lowest stratum of the castes in the Indian subcontinent. They are also called Harijans. Dalits were excluded from the fourfold var ...

waging a futile struggle to own a piece of land. For his performance, he was awarded the National Film Award for Best Actor at the 23rd National Film Awards. Rao returned to stage acting, with infrequent film appearances, most notably

Mrinal Sen Mrinal Sen ( ; 14 May 1923 – 30 December 2018) was a Bengali film director and screenwriter known for his work primarily in Cinema of West Bengal, Bengali, and a few Hindi cinema, Hindi and Telugu cinema, Telugu language films. Regarded as on ...

's '' Oka Oori Katha'' (1977) and Shyam Benegal's '' Kondura'' (1978) among others. He would then go on appear in over 200 films, mostly in Kannada, and also in

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

, Telugu and

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

languages. However, post ''Chomana Dudi'', he mostly played minor roles. He died on 22 March 2002 in

Bangalore Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

, aged 82. The Chief Minister of his home State of

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

, S. M. Krishna, noted: "Sri Vasudeva Rao with his vast experience in professional theatre companies used to instil life into his roles. He had immortalised the fictitious "Choma" of Shivarama Karanth through his lively performance. In his death the Kannada film industry and the field of professional drama have lost a doyen."

Selected filmography

* '' Chomana Dudi'' (1975) * '' Oka Oori Katha'' (1977) (Telugu) * '' Kondura'' (1978) (Hindi) * '' Aparichita'' (1978) * ''Kappu Kola'' (1980)...Shankar Rao * ''Dharma Dari Thappithu'' (1982)...Narasayya * '' Nayakan'' (1987) (Tamil) * '' Ondagi Balu'' (1989) * '' Bagh Bahadur'' (1989) (Bengali) * ''

Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...

'' (1995) (Tamil) * '' Dweepa'' (2002)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rao, M. V. Vasudeva Indian male film actors People from Dakshina Kannada district Tulu male actors Best Actor National Film Award winners 2002 deaths Male actors from Karnataka 20th-century Indian male actors 1910s births Indian male child actors