Kovelamudi Raghavendra Rao (born 23 May 1942) is an Indian filmmaker known primarily 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 ...

, besides a few

Hindi film Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, is primarily produced in Mumbai. The popular term Bollywood is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (former name of Mumbai) and " Hollywood". The industry, producing films in t ...

and

Kannada film Kannada cinema, also known as Sandalwood, or Chandanavana, is the segment of Indian cinema dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Kannada language widely spoken in the state of Karnataka. Kannada cinema is based in Gandhi Nagar ...

s. Over a career spanning more than four decades, he has directed over a hundred films across various genres, including romantic comedies, fantasies, melodramas, action thrillers, biographical dramas, and romances. He has received numerous accolades, including four

Nandi Awards 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 ...

and five

Filmfare Awards South The Filmfare Awards South are annual awards that honour artistic and technical excellence in the Telugu cinema, Tamil cinema, Malayalam cinema and Kannada cinema. They are presented by ''Filmfare'' magazine of The Times Group. When it was intr ...

.CINEmaa Lifetime Achievement Award for Raghavendra Rao – The Hindu
/ref> Raghavendra Rao received the state

Nandi Award for Best Director The Nandi Award for Best Director the Award was first given in 1981. See also * Nandi Awards References {{DEFAULTSORT:Nandi Award For Best Director Director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magaz ...

for his works such as '' Bobbili Brahmanna'' (1984), and ''

Pelli Sandadi ''Pelli Sandadi'' () is a 1996 Indian Telugu language, Telugu-language musical romance film directed by K. Raghavendra Rao. Produced by C. Aswini Dutt, C. Aswani Dutt and Allu Aravind on Sri Raghavendra Movie Corporation banner, the film stars ...

'' (1996). He received the

Filmfare Award for Best Director – Telugu The Filmfare Award for Best Director – Telugu is presented by the ''Filmfare'' magazine as part of its annual Filmfare Awards South for Telugu films. The awards were extended to "Best Director" in 1972. Superlatives * K. Viswanath has the re ...

for the drama film ''Prema Lekhalu'' (1977), the

fantasy film Fantasy films are films that belong to the fantasy genre with fantastic themes, usually Magic (paranormal), magic, supernatural events, mythology, folklore, or exotic fantasy worlds. The Film genre, genre is considered a form of speculative fic ...

Jagadeka Veerudu Athiloka Sundari ''Jagadeka Veerudu Athiloka Sundari'' (), also known by the initialism ''JVAS'', is a 1990 Indian Telugu-language fantasy film directed by K. Raghavendra Rao who co-wrote the script with Jandhyala and Yandamuri Veerendranath. The film stars C ...

'' (1990), and the

romance film Romance films involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion (emotion), passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typically their ...

Allari Priyudu ''Allari Priyudu'' () is a 1993 Indian Telugu-language musical romantic comedy film written and directed by K. Raghavendra Rao. The film stars Rajasekhar, Ramya Krishna and Madhoo. The film was featured at the 25th IFFI Indian panorama mainst ...

'' (1993). Raghavendra Rao is known for his works in hagiographical films such as ''

Annamayya Tallapaka Annamacharya () (09 May 1408 – 23 February 1503), also popularly known as Annamayya, was a Telugu musician, composer, and a Hindu saint. He is the earliest known Indian musician to compose songs called '' samkirtanas.'' His devoti ...

'' (1997), which won two

National Film Awards The National Film Awards are awards for artistic and technical merit given for "Excellence within the Cinema of India, Indian film industry". Established in 1954, it has been administered, along with the International Film Festival of India ...

, and was featured at the 29th IFFI in the mainstream section. Raghavendra Rao also received the Nandi Award for Best Direction, the Filmfare Award for Best Direction for his work in the film. His other hagiographic works such as ''

Sri Manjunatha Manjunath or Manjunatha is another name for the Hindu deity Shiva. It may also refer to: People * B. C. Manjunath, Indian classical musician/percussionist * Master Manjunath (Manjunath Nayaker) (born 1976), an Indian actor and public relations pr ...

'' (2001), ''

Sri Ramadasu ''Sri Ramadasu'' is 2006 Indian Telugu-language biographical film, based on the life of musician saint '' Kancharla Gopanna''. A reboot of V. Nagayya's 1964 film '' Ramadasu''; the film is written and directed by K. Raghavendra Rao. Produced ...

'' (2006), ''

Shirdi Sai ''Shirdi Sai'' is a 2012 Indian Telugu-language biographical film, produced by A.Mahesh Reddy on AMR Sai Krupa Entertainments banner, directed by K. Raghavendra Rao. Starring Nagarjuna as the 19th-20th century spiritual guru Sai Baba of Shirdi ...

'' (2012) and ''

Om Namo Venkatesaya ''Om Namo Venkatesaya'' is a 2017 Indian Telugu-language Hindu devotional biographical film directed by K. Raghavendra Rao and produced by A. Mahesh Reddy on AMR Sai Krupa Entertainments banner. The film stars Nagarjuna as Hathiram Bhavaji, al ...

'' (2017), received several state honours. His mainstream works such as the 1987

social problem film A social problem film is a narrative film that integrates a larger social conflict into the individual conflict between its characters. In the context of the United States and of Hollywood, the genre is defined by fictionalized depictions of s ...

Agni Putrudu ''Agni Putrudu'' () is a 1987 Indian Telugu-language action film, produced by Venkat Akkineni under the Annapurna Studios banner and directed by K. Raghavendra Rao. It stars Akkineni Nageswara Rao, Nagarjuna, Sarada, Rajani and Sivaji Ganesan ...

'', and the 1988 romantic action ''

Aakhari Poratam ''Aakhari Poratam'' () is a 1988 Indian Telugu-language romantic action film written and directed by K. Raghavendra Rao based on the novel of the same name by Yandamuri Veerendranath. Produced by C. Aswini Dutt, it starred Nagarjuna, Sridevi ...

'', were featured at the 11th and 12th IFFI respectively in the mainstream section. In 1992, he directed the

melodrama A melodrama is a Drama, dramatic work in which plot, typically sensationalized for a strong emotional appeal, takes precedence over detailed characterization. Melodrama is "an exaggerated version of drama". Melodramas typically concentrate on ...

Gharana Mogudu ''Gharana Mogudu'' () is a 1992 Indian Telugu-language masala film directed by K. Raghavendra Rao. The film stars Chiranjeevi, Nagma and Vani Viswanath with Rao Gopal Rao and Kaikala Satyanarayana in supporting roles. The music was composed ...

'' featured at the 24th IFFI in the mainstream section. It became the first

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

to gross over at the box office. Next, he directed the instant hit ''

'' (1993), featured at the 25th IFFI in the mainstream section.

Personal life

Raghavendra Rao was born on 23 May 1942 to veteran director K. S. Prakash Rao and Koteswaramma. He is also the father of actor turned filmmaker Prakash Kovelamudi. Raghavendra Rao was an executive member in the

Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) is an independent government trust in India managed by the Government of Andhra Pradesh. The trust primarily oversees the operations and finances of the richest and the most visited religious center Venkatesw ...

Board from 2015 to 2019.

Awards and honors

;

* NTR National Award - 2015 *B. N. Reddy National Award for lifetime contribution to Telugu cinema (2009) *

Best Director Best Director is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organizations, festivals, and people's awards. It may refer to: Film awards * AACTA Award for Best Direction * Academy Award for Best Director * As ...

– ''

'' (1997) * Best Choreographer – ''

'' (1996) *

– ''

'' (1996) *

– ''

'' (1993) *

– '' Bobbili Brahmanna'' (1984) ;Filmfare Awards South *

– ''Prema Lekhalu'' (1977) *Best Director – ''

'' (1990) *Best Director – ''Allari Priyudu'' (1993) *Best Director – ''Annamayya'' (1997) *

Lifetime Achievement Award Lifetime achievement awards are awarded by various organizations, to recognize contributions over the whole of a career, rather than or in addition to single contributions. Such awards, and organizations presenting them, include: A * A.C. ...

(2002) ;

IIFA Awards The International Indian Film Academy Awards (IIFA) is an annual awards ceremony for Hindi cinema. Produced by Wizcraft International Entertainment Pvt. Ltd, the winners of the awards are decided by fans, who vote online for their favourite ac ...

*Outstanding contribution to Indian cinema (2017) ; SIIMA Awards *

(2014) ;

CineMAA Awards The CineMAA Awards are presented annually by the Maa TV Group to honour artistic and technical excellence of professionals in Telugu cinema. The awards were introduced in 2004. The CineMAA Awards are voted for by both the public and a committee ...

*Lifetime Contribution Award – (2012) *Best Film (Jury) – ''

'' – (2013) ;Other Awards *Allu Rama Lingaiah Award (2016)

Filmography

Director

Actor

Supervisor of direction

Associate director

Producer

Presenter

Choreographer

Television

*2002: ''Santhi Nivasam'' (

ETV ETV may stand for: Television * Educational television, the use of television in education * Enhanced TV, an interactive television application specification Africa * e.tv, South Africa * ETV (Ethiopia), Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation * ETV G ...

) *2010: ''Arundathi'' (

ETV Kannada Colors Kannada (previously known as ETV Kannada), is an Indian Kannada language general entertainment channel, owned by JioStar, a joint venture between Viacom18 and Disney India. It primarily telecasts programs such as serials, reality shows ...

) *2013: ''Mangammagari Manavaralu'' (

Zee telugu Zee Telugu is an Indian Telugu-language general entertainment pay television channel in India. It was launched on 12 September 2004 as '' Alpha TV Telugu''. and was rebranded as ''Zee Telugu'' on 18 May 2005. The channel is owned by Zee Entert ...

) *2014: ''Soundrya Lahari'' (

) *2016: ''Koyilamma'' (

MAA TV Star Maa is an Indian Telugu-language general entertainment pay television channel owned by JioStar, a joint venture between Viacom18 and Disney India. It primarily telecasts programmes such as serials, reality shows and Telugu films. History ...

) *2017: ''Sye Sye Sayyare'' (

) *2017: ''Agnisakshi'' (

Star MAA Star Maa is an Indian Telugu language, Telugu-language general entertainment pay television channel owned by JioStar, a joint venture between Viacom18 and Disney India. It primarily telecasts programmes such as serials, reality shows and Telugu ...

) *2018: ''Siri Siri Muvvalu '' (

) *2020: ''C/o Anasuya'' (

) *2021: ''Krishna Tulasi'' (

)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rao, K. Raghavendra Living people Telugu film directors Kannada film directors 21st-century Indian people Filmfare Awards South winners Nandi Award winners Hindi-language film directors Telugu film producers Hindi film producers Indian film choreographers Film people from Krishna district Film people from Andhra Pradesh Dancers from Andhra Pradesh 20th-century Indian people Film producers from Andhra Pradesh Film directors from Andhra Pradesh Screenwriters from Andhra Pradesh 1941 births South Indian International Movie Awards winners IIFA Utsavam winners