Kota Srinivasa Rao is one of the well-known versatile actors of Telugu Cinema. The amazing histrionics he possesses is one of the biggest assets he has. He can excel in any sort of role ranging from comedy, anger, sentiment, seriousness, villainy and what not! Kota’s amazing flexibility in delivering dialogues at any Telugu slang is another positive he has- which took him to greater heights in the arena of Character actors in Telugu Films.
Born on July 10th 1947, Kota has been a stage actor for a longest period of 20 years. It was when the director-producer Kranthi Kumar discovered his talent and offered him a role in Pranam Khareedhu (1978). But it was Yadgiri role which he played in 'Prathighatana' few years later which brought him tremendous fame. He played a politician who hails from Telangana region with amazing perfection in the film. Just when Kota was getting noticed as a great actor with negative shades, it was Jandhyala’s turn to unleash a different dimension in Kota’s versatility!
Jandhyala took Kota for a funniest role ever in Telugu Cinema- that of Lakshmipathy, a stingy village guy who can go to any length to being economical. This film paved way for the most hilarious partner who joined Kota, who was none other than Brahmanandam as Aragundu. This duo continued to generate laughter and brilliant even till date. Kota continued to act in comedy roles along with negative shaded roles hand in hand. His unique body language, facial expressions and comedy timing brought him unstoppable admiration all over Telugu household.
While Kota continued his wonderful association with Jandhyala in mostly comedy films, he acted in serious roles with a tinge of comedy in Ram Gopal Varma’s 'Gaayam' and Venkatesh starrer 'Shatruvu'. One can never forget the line “Khandisthunnam” which Kota’s character Gurunarayana utters in different variations in Gaayam! It is even said that Shatruvu was a hit partly because of Kota’s unique acting and punch dialogues! Kota’s comedy legacy continued with another great comedian Babu Mohan as well.
E.V.V.Satyanarayana and Kota’s combination is worth mentioning here. There have been some wonderful films in their association, which has a plethora of characters. Ranging from an evil father in law in 'Aame' , Funny police officer in Hello Brother to a funniest Photo Studio owner in 'Ayanaki Iddaru', Kota’s magnum opus was unleashed during this era! Kota has got some wonderful films with another comedy director of 90s- S.V.Krishna Reddy.
Kota still enthralls the audience with memorable characters he play, and his one liners got special value in Trivikam Srinivas films such as 'Athadu'. He delivered most memorable performance in Sumanth starrer 'Satyam' which released in 2005 as well. Kota’s acting in 'Aa Naluguru' deserves another mention. These are just few examples of the acting genius he is.
iQlikmovies wishes the fantastic actor Kota Srinivasa Rao a very happy birthday and sincerely hope he delivers more memorable performances in the coming year!