Veteran actor Krishna Ghattamaneni Krishna, fondly referred to as Superstar Krishna and also the father of southern superstar Mahesh Babu died on Tuesday at a city-based private super-specialty hospital where he was undergoing treatment following a cardiac arrest. He was 80, reports PTI.
He was admitted to the hospital in the early hours of Monday and was being treated by a multi-disciplinary team of doctors following the cardiac arrest. The actor passed away at 4 am on Tuesday, hospital sources said.
The senior actor and Padma Bhushan recipient had acted in 350 films and was one of the top actors of his time. He is still remembered for his iconic portrayal of Alluri Seetharama Raju. He also produced and directed the first 70 MM film in Telugu titled ‘Simhasanam’. The 1986 Indian Telugu-language epic historical film written, directed, edited, and produced by him, also starred Jaya Prada, Radha, and Mandakini. The film was simultaneously made in Hindi as Singhasan and was based on a folklore tale.
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His journey as the leading man began with the 1965 film ‘Thene Manasulu’. The late actor was also instrumental in introducing the style of cowboy movies in Telugu cinema including ‘Mosagallaku Mosagadu’. The 1971 Indian Telugu-language Western action film directed by K. S. R. Das was inspired by Western films such as For a Few Dollars More (1965), The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966), and Mackenna's Gold (1969).
He was also part of several spy action thrillers such as Gudachari 116, Agent Gopi, and James Bond 777.
He shared screen space with superstars of the era including Akkineni Nageswara Rao and N T Rama Rao in films like Akka Chellalu and Devudu Chesina Manushulu. He worked with Vijaya Nirmala and Jayaprada in more than 40 films each.
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Soon after this death, Condolences started pouring in from film personalities across the country. TPCC president, A. Revanth Reddy hailed him as a hero who brought dynamism into Telugu films introducing Hollywood-kind portrayals.
