Hyderabad: Prominent Telugu film director Kodi Ramakrishna, who has worked in many languages passed away yesterday. He was 69. The funeral would take place today.
Telugu film personalities including Chiranjeevi, Balakrishna and Pawan Kalyan expressed their grief over his and paid tributes to him. Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao said Ramakrishna’s death is a great loss to the Telugu film industry.
Ramakrishna made his debut in 1992 with ‘Intlo Ramaiah– Veedhilo Krishnaiah‘ starring Chiranjeevi. He went on to direct more than 100 films Ramakrishna has worked in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi films throughout his career spanning three decades, and he was a winning combination for Chiranjeevi, Balakrishna and many other leading actors.
The ace director delivered several blockbusters with Balakrishna, including ‘Mangamma gari Manavadu‘, ‘Muddula Mavayya‘ and ‘Muvva Gopaludu‘. Ramakrishna’s film ‘Ankusam‘ with Rajasekhar in the lead was a big hit.
The movie was remade in Hindi as ‘Pratibandh‘ which marked Chiranjeevit’s debut in Hindi films. He created a niche for himself with extensive use of special effects, revolving around spiritual and supernatural powers and films, including ‘Ammoru‘, ‘Devi’, ‘Deviputrudu‘ and ‘Anji‘, were hugely popular.
Ramakrishna’s ‘Arundhati‘ in which popular south Indian heroine Anushka Shetty played the lead role had catapulted her to super stardom. Ramakrishna also acted in a few films, mainly appearing in brief roles in his movies.
Ramakrishna was under the critical condition and was hospitalised at AIG Hospital, Gachibowli, in Hyderabad. He was taken to the hospital after he complained of breathlessness.