Kantha Rao
Indian actor (1923–2009)
Tadepalli Lakshmi Kantha Rao (16 November 1923 – 22 March 2009) was an Indian actor and producer known for his works predominantly in Telugu cinema. Regarded as one of the finest method actors, Rao appeared in more than 400 feature films, starring in many, in a variety of genres including mythological, social and folklore. After a success string in folklore and swashbuckling films, he became popularly referred to as Kattula Kantha Rao. He has also acted in a few Hindi, Kannada, Tamil, and Malayalam movies. He has produced about five films under the Hyma Films banner.
In the 1960s, he was one of the primary actors in Telugu cinema, along with N. T. Rama Rao and Akkineni Nageswara Rao. Kantha Rao was known for portraying the roles of Narada, Lord Krishna and Arjuna in mythological films. He played Lakshmana in the blockbuster film Lava Kusa, for which he received Vishehsa Puraskaram in 1963.
Early life
Rao was born into a Telugu Brahmin family to Kesavarao and Seetaramamma at Kodad of Suryapet district in present-day Telangana on 16 November 1923. According to the Hindu calendar, it corresponds to Rudhirodgari Samvatsara Kartika Sudha Ashtami day.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Kantha Rao” is indian actor (1923–2009). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Kantha, Indian and actor, not as a finished interpretation.
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Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 4, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3765138. VIAF identifies the subject as 106760997. The Library of Congress control number is n2009217021. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1923, 2009 and 1963.
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This entry incorporates text from “Kantha Rao” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.