Remembering Balayya: A tribute to an actor who never wanted acting as a career

Balayya entered the cinema world with the movie ‘Ettuku Pai Ettu’ released in 1958. He played quite a lot of roles in his career and many of them were liked very well by his fans and the audience. This versatile actor played roles from Brahma to Mahadev, from Arjuna to Shri Krishna, and even the antagonist sometimes.

By Bhavana  Published on  10 April 2022 2:54 PM IST
Remembering Balayya: A tribute to an actor who never wanted acting as a career

Hyderabad: Veteran actor M. Balayya passed away at his residence on Saturday. The Telugu industry is mourning the death of the 94-year-old actor. Here are a few things for which the actor was popular.

Popular as Lord Shiva

Balayya entered the cinema world with the movie 'Ettuku Pai Ettu' released in 1958. He played quite a lot of roles in his career and many of them were liked very well by his fans and the audience. This versatile actor played roles from Brahma to Mahadev, from Arjuna to Shri Krishna, and even the antagonist sometimes.

He played Lord Shiva in his second film 'Parvathi Kalyanam' and in 'Krishna Prema' which was released in 1961. In 1964, he played Balarama in 'Babruvahana'. It did not end there. He played many religious characters.

An engineer-turned-actor

Balayya was born in Chavupadu. He was an engineer and never dreamed of taking up acting as a career. He pursued engineering in Chennai and started doing theatre in 1958. There was no turning back. He saw nothing but success in life.

An actor-director

Films such as 'Parvati Kalyanam', 'Bhagyadevata', and 'Kumkuma Rekha' established him as an actor. He acted in nearly 300 films and established Amrutha Films in 1970. He acted with NTR in films like 'Irugu-Porugu', 'Babhruvahana', 'Bobbiliyuddham', 'Pandavavanavasamu', 'Vivahabandham', and 'Srikrishnapandaviyam'.

A play penned by him, Nalupu Telupu (Black-white), was later made into 'Chelleli Kapuram' and received the Gold Nandi award from the Andhra Pradesh government. He made his directorial debut with 'Nijam Chebite Nerama' starring Krishnam Rajua and Jaya Prada. He went on to direct films like 'Pasupu Tadu' and 'Police Alludu'.

Celebrities mourn his death

Writer and director Gopi Mohan paid tribute to the actor.

Actor Balakrishna Nandamuri expressed his deepest condolences on the sudden demise of the veteran actor.


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