Veteran Actor Balayya No More

Veteran actor, writer, producer and director Mannava Balayya is no more. Balayya was 92 year old. He passed away today morning in Hyderabad with age related ailments. Balayya had acted in over 300 films in various important roles including Nagarjuna’s Manmadhudu and Venkatesh’s Malliswari. He carved out a niche for himself with character roles. He was awarded with the Raghupathi Venkaiah Award for the year 2012.

Balayya was born in Chavapadu village in Amaravati mandal of Guntur district on 9th April, 1930. He had studied Mechanical Engineering from Guindy Engineering College, Chennai. Inspired by drama during his college days, he forayed into films. He debuted as an actor with Ethuku Pai Ethu. Films such as Parvati Kalyanam, Bhagyadevata, Kumkuma Rekha established him as an actor.

Besides acting in so many prominent films, Balayya had launched his own production banner Amrutha films in 1970 and produced Sobhan Babu’s Chelleli Kapuram, Superstar Krishna’s Neramu-Siksha (directed by K Viswanath). He even directed and produced Chiranjeevi’s Oorukichchina Maata. He won Nandi award for his writing for Oorukichchina Maata. He won Nandi award as a producer for Chelleli Kapuram. He went onto direct films like Police Alludu, Nijam Chepthe Nerama, Pasupu Tadu. He introduced his son Tulasi Ram Prasad as hero who acted in a couple of films.