Chennai. Veteran director-producer T. Rama Rao, who became synonymous with actor Jeetendra’s blockbuster films in the 1980s, passed away in the early hours of Wednesday in Chennai. He was 83 years old. Rama Rao directed 70 films in Telugu and Hindi apart from blockbusters in Tamil. Rama Rao, a resident of T. Nagar, Chennai, died at around 12.30 am due to age-related illness. His last rites will be performed on Wednesday at 4 pm at the Kannammapet crematorium. He is survived by wife Tatineni Jayashree and children Chamundeshwari, Naga Sushila and Ajay. Beginning his directorial journey with ‘Navratri’ in 1969, Rama Rao worked with several top Telugu stars, including NTR, ANR, Shoban Babu, Krishna, Balakrishna, Sridevi, Jayaprada and Jayasudha. Rama Rao directed Telugu films like ‘Navaratri’, ‘Jeevan Tarangu’, ‘Brahmachari’, ‘Alumgalu’, ‘Yamagola’, ‘President Gari Abbay’, ‘Illalu’, ‘Pandani Jeevatham’ and ‘Pachani Kapuram’.
One of the southern directors to have also worked in Bollywood, Rama Rao entered the Hindi film industry in 1979 and teamed up with leading actors like Amitabh Bachchan, Jeetendra, Dharmendra, Sanjay Dutt, Anil Kapoor, Govinda and Mithun Chakraborty. He is credited with introducing superstar Rajinikanth to Hindi cinema with ‘Andha Kanoon’. He has written in Hindi ‘Separation’, ‘Jeevan Dhara’, ‘One mistake’, ‘Andha Kanoon’, ‘Inquilab’, ‘Pukar of Justice’, ‘Watan Ke Rakhwale’, ‘Dosti Dushmi’, ‘Nache Mayuri’, ‘ John also made many superhit films like Janardan’, ‘Ravan Raj’, ‘Muqabla’, ‘Hathkadi’ and ‘Jung’. Rama Rao started the ‘Madras Movie’ trend in which Hindi films produced by southern production houses emerged as successful commercial propositions in the traditional Hindi film markets.
Several film personalities condoled the demise of the veteran director. Anupam Kher tweeted, “Deeply saddened to learn about the passing away of Shri T Rama Rao ji, a veteran filmmaker and a dear friend. I had the privilege of working with him in Last Rasta and Samsara. He was kind. My condolences to his family! om Shanti!”
Deeply saddened to know about the demise of veteran filmmaker & a dear friend Shri #TRAmaRao ji. I had the privilege of working with him in #AakhriRaasta and #sansaar, He was compassionate, commanding & had a great sense of humour. My condolences to his family! Om Shanti! pic.twitter.com/k66KwN8ymT
— Anupam Kher (@AnupamPKher) April 20, 2022
Rama Rao has also received several awards for his outstanding contribution to the Indian film industry. He also made Tamil films under the banner of Sri Lakshmi Productions and produced films with prominent Tamil actors such as Vikram, Vijay, Jayam Ravi and Vishal. He is also known for the superhit Tamil films ‘Dhil’, ‘Yuva’, ‘Arul’, ‘Something Something Unakum Enakum’ and ‘Malaikotai’.