Veteran actor Dr. Gummadi Venkateswara Rao passed away yesterday (January 26, 2010) at 11:30 p.m. in Hyderabad. He was admitted to the Care Hospital with cardiac problems and succumbed to death due to failure of multiple organs. He was 83 and was survived by five daughters and two sons, all of them settled abroad.
In a career spanning over five decades he teamed up as a co-star with N. T. Rama Rao and Akkineni Nageswara Rao in several films. His portrayal as Dasaratha, Dharmaraja, Balarama, and various other mythological roles won him many laurels. Though younger than NTR, Gummadi played the role of his father and elder brother in several movies. He was the recipient of Andhra Pradesh governments prestigious Raghupathi Venkayya Award and various other awards.
Born at Ravikampadu of Guntur district on July 09, 1927, Gummadi Venkateswara Rao, or more popularly Gummadi, turned an actor in 1942, wherein he played the role of an old man on the stage. He entered the filmdom with
Adrushtadeepudu (1950) and continued on for about 500 films portraying roles ranging through the hero, villain, and the character artiste, and even roles with slight comedic touch such as his guest appearance in
Missamma (1955). Gummadi's excellent portrayal of middle-aged roles, playing even father to artistes that are older than him, such as NTR and ANR, made his name synonymous to a typical a middle-aged man.
His roles in
Thodu Dongalu (1954) and
Maha Manthri Thimmarusu (1962) alongside of NTR brought him appreciable critical acclaim, with the former film winning the President's Award and the latter conferring him the National Award for Best Supporting Actor. His roles in several films were appreciated a lot, but roles in
Maya Bazar (1957),
Maa Inti Mahalakshmi (1959),
Kula Daivam (1960),
Kula Gothralu (1962),
Jyothy (1977),
Nelavanka (1981),
Maro Malupu (1982),
Ekalavya (1982),
Ee Charitra Ye Siraatho? (1982),
Gaaju Bommalu (1983),
Pelli Pusthakam (1991) stand out from the rest and some of them even won him awards. Gummadi won several awards as Best Supporting Actor in his career, the President's Silver Medal and Telugu University's honorary doctorate (in 1963) for essaying the title role in
Maha Manthri Thimmarusu and the Best Actor Award for his role in
Maro Malupu.
Sree Gummadi Venkateswara Rao served as jury member thrice on the National Film Awards, twice on the Nandi Awards Committee (and twice more as Chairperson of the Committee), and was on the Selection Committee for NTR Award and Raghupati Venkayya Award. He wrote his memoirs in filmdom and brought them out as an autobiographical titled "
teepi gurtulu-chEdu j~naapakaalu". When his role needed to be dubbed for
Aayanakiddaru (1995) due to his ill health, the veteran artiste who was very popular for his voice decided to quit acting but he acted again in the title role of
Jagadguru Sree Kasi Nayana Charitra (2008) as the role would match his real age and voice.
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| Gummadi with NTR in Mayabazar (color) |
Telugu mythological classic
Maya Bazar (1957) was recently colored by Goldstone Technologies and the film was screened to some film personalities specially and Gummadi was among the attendees. He did express his happiness to the Press that he was probably living only to see this great project in color, and it's sad that he had to pass away within a week or two after that. We at TeluguCinema.Com pay condolences to the deceased veteran artiste and pray that the family and Telugu film audience will soon cope with the bereavement.
Video: Gummadi speaks about
Maya Bazar (Color)
>> Page 2: Sri Atluri of TC.Com shares his experiences with Gummadi
