'Babai' Chalapathi Rao's death marks the end of an era in Telugu cinema

Like many actors of that time in the 60s, veteran Telugu actor Chalapathi Rao, who passed away on Saturday (December 24) night, too had wanted to follow in the footsteps of NT Rama Rao and Akkineni Nageshwara Rao and become a leading hero in Telugu movies. Instead, he went on to act in over 600 films portraying villainous, comic and character roles.

Fondly known as ‘Babai’, the death of the 78-year-old veteran actor has plunged the Telugu film industry in gloom. His son Ravi Babu is also an actor, director, and producer in Tollywood.

Born in 1944 in Andhra Pradesh, Chalapathi Rao arrived in Madras in the 60s with stars in his eyes. “I wanted to become a star like NTR or ANR, if possible to replace either of them or both of them. That was my ambition at that time, so I finally landed in Madras with stars in eyes to become a big star,” he said in an interview once.

But the film industry was an “ocean” and there was a lot of competition. There were other actors besides NTR and ANR like Shoban babu Garu, Krishnagaru, Chalam, Ramakrishna etc., trying to make a mark in the movies, so Chalapathi started off his career as a villain. His debut film was ‘Goodchari 116’ in 1966 but he considered his first big break as ‘Kathanayakudu’ with NTR which he did in 1968. He donned the villain persona and continued playing the fearsome bad guy for many years.

In his film journey, he was supported and encouraged a lot by NTR. He went on to act in numerous films alongside NTR like ‘Tatamma Kala’ (1974), ‘Adivi Ramudu’ (1977), ‘Yama Gola’ (1977), ‘Annadammula Anubandham’ (1975) and many more.

Also read: Kaikala Satyanarayana: Few could match his versatility on screen

After doing many villainous roles in films fronted by Krishna, Chiranjeevi and Venkatesh, he veered off the track and did the role of Nagarjuna’s father in the film ‘Ninne Pelladutha’. This was a huge success and since then he moved on to do father roles since he received a lot of positive feedback for this kind of a role. Earlier, people, especially women were wary of talking to him, he would say in his interviews. He played father to Nagarjuna, Srikanth, Suman, Rajendra Prasad, Balakrishna etc., and worked with three generations of actors. He also played Nithiin’s witty father in Dil (2003).

Chalapathi Rao is also remembered for playing five roles in one film ‘Daana Veera Soora Karana’ under the direction of senior NTR in which Sr NTR himself played 3 roles besides, producing, directing and editing the film.

He is well-known for his films such as ‘Yamagola’, ‘Yugapurushudu’, ‘Justice Chaudhary’, ‘Bobbili Puli’, and ‘Allari’. Rao had starred in films such as ‘Sakshi’ (1966), ‘Driver Ramudu’ (1979), ‘Vajram’ (1995), and even the Bollywood film ‘Kick’ (2009). Chalapthi Rao was considered to be a very lively person on the film sets.

He also became a producer and did films in Tollywood with Nandamuri Balakrishna and other actors besides producing a few Telugu tele-serials. There were a few controversies surrounding him including a lewd comment he had made about women in 2017 but he apologised soon after.

Chalapthi Rao was very close to veteran Telugu actor Kaikala Satyanarayana who had passed away on December 23. Their deaths mark the closing of a chapter in Telugu cinema.

Also read: Veteran Telugu actor Kaikala Satyanarayana passes away

Condolences pour in

“It is very sad that so many of our people are going away,” producer D Suresh who visited the bereaved family said. Actor and Jana Sena party chief Pawan Kalyan in statement condoled Chalapathi Rao’s death.

“Chalapathi Rao’s death is a huge loss. I will pray that his soul finds peace. Chalapathi garu was a unique actor who pulled off roles as both a villain and a character artist. He bankrolled good films as a producer as well,” said Pawan.

“It is unfortunate that senior actors who have been representatives of an entire generation in the Telugu film industry are leaving us,” he added.