Mannava Balayya (9 April 1930 – 9 April 2022) was an Indian actor, writer, director, and producer known for his work in

Telugu cinema Telugu cinema, also known as Tollywood, is the segment of Cinema of India, Indian cinema dedicated to the production of Film, motion pictures in the Telugu language, widely spoken in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Based in Film N ...

. He appeared in 300 films during his career.

Early life and career

Mannava Balayya was born in Chavupadu,

Amaravathi Amaravati ( , Telugu: ) is the capital city of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is located in Guntur district on the right bank of the Krishna River, southwest of Vijayawada. The city derives its name from the nearby historic site of ...

mandalam,

Guntur Guntur (), natively spelt as Gunturu, is a city in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Andhra Pradesh and the administrative headquarters of Guntur district. The city is part of the Andhra Pradesh Capital Region and is lo ...

district to

Mannava Mannava is a surname for some families in Andhra Pradesh, southern India. It is a Telugu family name and also the name of a small place Guntur. Historically, surnames evolved as a way to sort people into groups — by occupation, place of origin, ...

Annapurnamma and Guravayya Chowdary. He studied Engineering

B.E. A Bachelor of Engineering (BEng) or a Bachelor of Science in Engineering (BSE) is an undergraduate academic degree awarded to a college graduate majoring in an engineering discipline at a higher education institution. In the United Kingdom, a Bac ...

(mechanical) at Guindy Engineering College in

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

. Inspired by the drama during his college days, Balayya ventured into movies with guidance from

Tapi Chanakya Tapi Chanakya (1925–1973) was an Indian film director and writer. He is son of the famous writer Tapi Dharma Rao Naidu. He has worked as Radio Telegraphist for the Indian Army The Indian Army (IA) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Land warfare, ...

. He made his debut as an actor with ''Ethuku Pai Ethu'', a social film directed by

and made by Sarathi Studios. Films such as ''Parvati Kalyanam'' established him as an actor. He acted in nearly three hundred films and established Amrutha Films in 1970. He penned a play, ''Nalupu Telupu'', later made into '' Chelleli Kapuram'', for which he received the Gold

Nandi Award The Nandi Awards are annual awards presented by the Government of Andhra Pradesh to recognise excellence in Telugu cinema, theatre, and television, as well as lifetime achievements in Indian cinema. The awards are named after the monolithic s ...

from the

Andhra Pradesh Government The Government of Andhra Pradesh, abbreviated as GoAP, is the state government and the administrative body responsible for the governance of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Amaravati is the capital of the state and houses the state executi ...

. He also penned films, including ''

Neramu Siksha ''Neramu Siksha'' () is a 1973 Indian Telugu-language film directed by K. Viswanath who co-wrote the film with M. Balayya. The film is an adaptation of Fyodor Dostoevsky's ''Crime and Punishment'' (1866). The film received positive reviews fr ...

'' and '' Annadammula Katha''. He was awarded the

Raghupathi Venkaiah Award The Raghupathi Venkaiah Award is an award issued by the Indian state government of Andhra Pradesh to recognise lifetime achievements in Telugu cinema. The award was introduced in 1981 in honour of Raghupathi Venkaiah Naidu, one of India's film p ...

in 2012.

Filmography

This is partial filmography of M. Balayya. Please help by expanding it.

Actor

Producer

Director

Story writer

Awards

* Nandi Award for Second Best Story Writer – Oorukichchina Maata (1981)(in

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of South India ** Telugu literature, is the body of works written in the Telugu language. * Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Tel ...

)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Balaiah, Mannava 1930 births 2022 deaths Indian male film actors Male actors in Telugu cinema People from Guntur district Telugu screenwriters Telugu film directors Telugu film producers Male actors from Andhra Pradesh Film producers from Andhra Pradesh Film directors from Andhra Pradesh 20th-century Indian male actors 21st-century Indian male actors Screenwriters from Andhra Pradesh