Star Profiles
Gummadi passed away: A tribute
By NaChaKi
Jan 26, 2010 - 6:20:27 PM

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 government’s 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.

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

Gummadi & Jamuna in 'Jai Veerabhetala' (unreleased film; Still Courtesy: Ravi Kondala Rao's book "Black & White")

Two people in TeluguCinema.Com team, Sri and NaChaKi , share their experiences with the veteran artiste Sree Gummadi Venkateswara Rao who passed away on Jan. 26, 2010.

Sri writes...
I saw Gummadi gaaru for the first time when I was a kid, when he attended my sister's marriage along with Akkineni Nageswara Rao gaaru. But I was too young to know well about film stars back then, and so I just saw them and went away to play with my cousins. When I was a schoolgoing kid, I happened to go to a premiere show in Annapurna Studios. There, I saw Gummadi gaaru shooting for the doctor's role he portrayed in Premabhishekam. When I approached him, he asked me what I was studying, how I was faring in studies, and other general stuff and even offered me some biscuits and milk. Another memorable experience was to watch the premiere of Richard Attenboro's film Gandhi in 1982 at Maheswari talkies, Hyderabad; some of the cast of Bahudoorapu Baatasaari, including Gummadi gaaru, Suhasini, and Late Raja attended the premiere. (It may be remembered that Gummadi gaaru also met the Gandhi actor Ben Kingsley at Delhi in the latter's hotel room, and was astounded by the number of Gandhi photographs he saw there, depicting Gandhi in various postures and expressions, all of which Ben Kingsley was using in order to help him live in the role of the Father of the Nation!)

About 25 years later, I met Gummadi gaaru at TANA Convention of 2007 in Washington, D.C., USA, when he came along with his grandson Veeru Vuppala. I introduced myself to him, as NTR's daughter and current Union Cabinet Minister Purandareshwari was referring to him "babai" in her conversation, and asked if he could spare a little time for a detailed chat. He asked me to come to the hotel room the next day as he was really tired that day. The next morning, I went to the rehearsals of the skit coming up that evening, where Gummadi gaaru was also spending some time watching the artistes practice. He spoke very little due to his health issues and because he had trouble with his voice too. I was attending the events for the rest of the afternoon anyway. Since then, I used to call up on him from time to time and chat over the phone, enquiring about his health and other things. I spoke to him only a couple of days back, about the colorized version of the classic film Maya Bazar. He expressed his eagerness to watch the film on the big screen, but sadly, fate had a different thing in store for him!

Gummadi gaaru was always a soft-spoken, family person. Even on the screen, we feel like we are seeing a person in our own family, a father/uncle or grandfather. He stopped taking up his "trademark" roles of a nearly bed-ridden, badly-shaven father by the time I started watching films regularly. When I went back and watched his older films such as Ardhangi (1955), Maha Manthri Thimmarusu, Marmayogi (1964), etc., I was awed at the versatility he exhibited! He could easily pass for a cut-throat villain in Marmayogi, or the judge that avenges the death of his family members by killing the culprits in Nenuu Manishine! (1971), or the hero of Thodu Dongalu! But again, who could have done a better job as the soft and learned minister in Maha Manthri Thimmarusu, or as Balarama in Maya Bazar!? He might have initially tried to follow the American actor Paul Muni but soon developed his own inimitable style! Working with veteran actors and stars wasn't tough for Gummadi gaaru since he always gave space to others and never dominated on the screen; his acting was always subdued and encouraged others to deliver some more!

Though he was younger than both NTR and ANR, he acted as the father of either of them in several films! It was the film Ardhangi that made him choose character acting, leaving the leading hero part to NTR, ANR, or others. Writer Late Gopichand, who introduced him to the screen with the film Priyuraalu, later adviced him to take up character roles rather than running for the leading roles. He soon made his indelible mark on such roles! While doing the film Ayanakiddaru, he had a surgery to his throat that rendered his voice so weak that he could not dub his own voice. (Nuthan Prasad dubbed for him in this film thus.) As he always felt that an actor should sport one's own voice, he decided to quit acting. Only recently, he acted in a film titled Jagadguru Sree Kasinayana Charitra (2008) and that became his last film.

>>Page 3: NaChaKi of TC.Com shares his experiences with Gummadi

NaChaKi writes...
I joined TeluguCinema.Com team in 2000 after coming to the USA, and I visited India in 2001 for the first time after that. Like any other young chap, I was happy to get a chance to meet some film personalities. While I interviewed some of them, I met some of them for the sake of it. Gummadi gaaru was one such artiste that I wanted to meet - I really wanted to see if he'd be just the same "our own family member" kind of person off the screen. I called him for an appointment and he asked me to meet him the next day. I got his address from the telephone directory enquiry with the help of his phone number, as I was timid to ask him for his address after taking the appointment. Film Nagar was an area that I wasn't very familiar with back then, and I actually enquired my way even to the Jubilee Hills Checkpost. I called Gummadi gaaru from there and asked him how I should reach his place. While he was directing me, I had to admit that I didn't know some popular landmarks in the locality! He was puzzled and even seemed annoyed and handed the phone to someone else in his house and that person directed me further. (It was a time before mobile phones and so I had to take all directions from a public telephone booth at one time and then proceed to that address.) When I finally went there, I was both surprised and happy to see another artiste Sree Kaikala Satyanarayana gaaru at Gummadi's house!

While it was still new for me to meet a veteran artiste, it was a double feast to watch two veterans sit and chat away happily. I learnt that the two met regularly too and it felt nice to be a part of their conversation and listen to the "good ol' times" without even having to ask any questions! I spent a good one hour there and Satyanarayana gaaru left. Gummadi gaaru talked to me, and I soon realized that he wasn't annoyed at all on the phone and was only intrigued that I was not a senior journalist or something but just a young student venturing into the Telugu Cinema domain of the then-new WWW media. He was talking very nice and that "my own family member" feel returned in a few minutes of conversation. He asked me why I wanted to meet him in particular, and I told him I wanted to also get his interview for TeluguCinema.Com. He asked me a few more questions about the presence of Telugu Cinema information in the online world and interestingly listened as I told him how TeluguCinema.Com started off as one of the first Telugu film websites and catered to its visitors in India, USA, and other countries. However, he said his voice wouldn't help him speak for long (as he was already talking for a long time then) and so he cannot give an interview. Instead, he handed me his book " teepi gurtulu-chEdu j~naapakaalu" and asked me to get it photocopied, directing me patiently to the nearest shop. I got the book photocopied, interacted with him some more, and left finally, thanking him profusely. That was the last I met him. I did see him at a few events in Hyderabad during my subsequent visits to India but never did I have a chance to meet him again, though I used to greet him when I had a chance.

I was only watching his video on colorizing the classic film Maya Bazar a couple of days back and sadly recollected how much he had gone down over the years. When I saw ANR mentioning, in another video, that only a few artistes that worked for the classic are still around... I just hoped that these artistes will live through to see the 60th year of Maya Bazar or even the diamond jubilee! The feeling as the news of his death sank in is something that most Telugu filmgoers can connect to. May his soul rest in peace and his family recover from the bereavement!