Gulte Special: Legendary Kota Celebrates His Birthday!

Kota Sreenivasa Rao is one of the gifted actors working Indian Cinema. Very few actors can perform both villainism and comedy on screen. Kota is such a rare gem. He also mixes villainism with comedy with ease. This legendary actor turns 74 today.

In a career spanning over four decades, Kota acted in more than 750 films. His versatility brought him wide fame and made him get offers from other industries as well. Generally, Telugu filmmakers bring supporting actors or villains from other states. But Kota is one such actor who went from Tollywood and shined in other industries too.

Kota made his acting debut with the 1978 movie Pranam Khareedu. It was Jandhyala who explored the comical angle in him and gave him some memorable roles. Kota also aces in most of the Telugu dialects. He is especially known for his impeccable grip on the Telangana accent. People still remember his scintillating performance as Minister Kasayya in the film Prathighatana.

He made us laugh with his roles of a miser Laxmipathi in Aha Na Pellanta, Aladdin in Money, Inspector Tadi Mattayya in Hello Brother, and Pothuraju in Mama Garu. He killed it as a comical villain in Venkatesh’s Ganesh. We cannot forget his memorable performance in Gaayam as well.

Kota also moved us emotionally with his performances in the films Bommarillu and Aadavari Maatalaku Ardhale Verule. There will be a never-ending list if we talk about his iconic characters. In Hindi, Kota acted in movies like Sarkar, Darling, Raktha Charithra, and Baaghi. He made his Tamil debut with the super hit film Saami and went on to act in many successful movies like Thirupaachi, Ko, Saguni, Aranmanai, and Saamy 2.

In his career, Kota won nine Nandi Awards, for his performances as a villain and a supporting actor. In 2015, the Government of India honoured him by presenting Padma Shri. Of late, Kota is not being active in films due to his age issues. But he makes a mark with whatever the role he plays in his films. We wish him a very happy birthday and hope to see him in many iconic roles in the coming days as well.