Veteran Telugu actor and former MLA Kota Srinivasa Rao passed away in the early hours of Sunday at his residence in Hyderabad’s Filmnagar. He was 83 and had been battling age related health issues, his family confirmed.
Condolences poured in from political leaders and entertainment industry. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, Telangana CM A. Revanth Reddy, Deputy CM Pawan Kalyan, and members of the film fraternity expressed grief. Jr NTR, producer D Suresh Babu, veteran actor Murali Mohan, and several others also expressed their condolences.
At the funeral, Chiranjeevi paid an emotional floral tribute, laying a wreath of red roses on Rao’s mortal remains and offering prayers before his portrait.
Megastar @KChiruTweets garu pays his last respects to Late Actor #KotaSrinivasaRao garu pic.twitter.com/p6K0e4CoiS
---Advertisement---— Ramesh Bala (@rameshlaus) July 13, 2025
Among others who visited Rao’s home were former Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, Telangana BJP chief N Ramchander Rao, and Andhra BJP president PVN Madhav.
About Kota Srinivasa Rao
Kota Srinivasa Rao left an indelible mark across Telugu, Tamil, Hindi, Kannada, and Malayalam cinema. He made his Telugu film debut with the 1978 release Pranam Khareedu. And appeared in over 750 films, including 30 in Tamil, 10 in Hindi, 8 in Kannada, and one in Malayalam. His final on screen appearance was in Suvarna Sundari (2023).
He was the recipient of nine Nandi Awards, and in 2015, he was honoured with the Padma Shri by then-President Pranab Mukherjee. Apart from acting, Kota had also lent his voice to a few songs in Telugu cinema.
He served as a BJP MLA from Vijayawada East from 1999 to 2004.
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