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Kota Srinivasa Rao Wiki, Age, Wife, Family, Biography & More

April 8, 20240

 

Kota Srinivasa Rao is an Indian actor and former politician. He served as a member of the Andhra Pradesh legislative assembly from 1999 to 2004. He has acted in over 750 films in several languages like Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada.

Wiki/Biography

Kota Srinivasa Rao was born on Thursday, 10 July 1947 (age 75 years; as of 2022) in Kankipadu, Madras Presidency, British India (now Andhra Pradesh, India). His zodiac sign is Cancer. After completing his schooling in Andhra Pradesh, he pursued a bachelor’s degree in science in Andhra Pradesh. He participated in several plays during his college days.

Physical Appearance

Height (approx.): 5′ 9″

Hair Colour: Salt and Pepper

Eye Colour: Dark Brown

Family

Kota Srinivasa Rao was born into a Telugu Brahmin family in Andhra Pradesh.

Parents & Siblings

His father, Seetha Rama Anjaneyulu, was a doctor. His younger brother, Kota Sankara Rao, is an actor and a banker.

Srinivasa Rao with his younger brother Kota Sankara Rao

His brother Kota Narasimha Rao (deceased) was an artist. He has four sisters. One of his sisters’ names is Annapurna.

A picture of Kota Narsimha Rao

A photo of Kota Srinivasa Rao with his brother and sisters

Wife & Children

His wife’s name is Rukmani Rao. His son, Kota Venkata Anjaneya Prasad, was an actor, who passed away in Hyderabad on 20 June 2010 after an accident. He has two daughters named Pavani Srinivasa Rao and Pallavi Srinivasa Rao.

A photo of Kota Srinivasa Rao with his son

Kota Srinivasa Rao’s daughter Pavani

Religion

Kota Srinivasa Rao follows Hinduism.

Address

Kota Srinivasa Rao resides at House number 10-D, Road No. 8, Film Nagar, Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad, Telangana – 500096.

Career

Banker

After completing his formal education, Kota Srinivasa Rao joined the State Bank of India in Andhra Pradesh. He, however, left the bank after working there for a few years to pursue a career in acting.

Actor

Telugu

Kota Srinivasa Rao made his acting debut in the Telugu film industry in 1978 with the film Pranam Khareedu.

In 1985, he played the role of a politician named Yadagiri in the film Pratighatana and received a Nandi Award for his acting. He landed the role of a villain named Guru Narayan in the 1993 film Gaayam.

Kota Srinivasa Rao in a still from the film Gaayam

He won an award for the 1994 film Teerpu. He received a Nandi Award for playing the role of a character named Major Harishchandra Prasad in the 1996 film Little Soldiers. He landed the role of a health minister named Samba Sivudu in the 1998 film Ganesh. He played the role of a villain in the 2001 film Chinna and bagged a Nandi Award for it. In the same year, he appeared as Samba Sivam a.k.a. Leakage Sambayya in the film Student No: 1. In 2002, he appeared as Narayana in the film Prudhvi Narayana and received the Nandi Award for it. He bagged the role of Kotayya in the 2004 film Aa Naluguru and won the Nandi Award.

Kota Srinivasa Rao in a still from Aa Naluguru

He played the role of a character named Veeraraju in the 2006 film Pellaina Kothalo. He appeared as a villain named Mallesh Goud in the 2011 film Dookudu. He received an award for playing the role of a character named Subrahmanyam in the 2012 film Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum.

Srinivasa in a still from Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum

In 2017, he acted in several films including Balakrishnudu, Jawaan, and Gunturodu. In 2019, he played the role of a character named Oori Pedda in the film Oorantha Anukuntunnaru.

Tamil

Kota Srinivasa Rao made his debut in the Tamil film industry with the 2003 film Saamy in which he played the role of a villain named Perumal Pichai.

Kota Srinivasa Rao in a still from the film Saamy

In 2004, he appeared in several Tamil films including Aai, Jaisurya, and Jore. In 2010, he played the role of a character named Ayyanarappan in the film Kanagavel Kaaka. In 2014, he appeared in several Tamil films including Malini 22 Palayamkottai, Damaal Dumeel, and Aranmanai. In 2018, he made a cameo appearance as Ilaiya Perumal (Perumal Pichai) in Saamy 2.

Kota in a still from Saamy 2

Malayalam

In 2011, he appeared as a character named Yogesh Thivari in the film The Train.

Kannada

In 2003, he landed a role in Raktha Kanneeru. He played the role of Pampathy in the 2005 film Namma Basava. In 2023, he appeared in Kabzaa.

Dakhini

In 2006, Srinivasa Rao appeared in a Hyderabadi-language comedy film titled Hyderabad Nawabs.

Hindi

He landed a role in the 1987 film Pratighaat. In 2005, he played the role of a character named Selver Mani in the film Sarkar, starring Amitabh Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan. In 2009, he bagged a role in Ek: The Power of One. He appeared as Rajidi Nagamani Reddy in the 2010 film series Rakta Charitra. In the 2016 film Baaghi, he played the role of Dasanna, sharing the screen with Tiger Shroff.

Voice Actor

Apart from acting, Kota Srinivasa Rao has lent his voice to dub several Tamil films like Gentleman (1993), Oke Okkadu (1999), Priyaralu Pilichindi (2000), Majaa (2005), and Sivaji: The Boss (2007) in Telugu.

Politician

While pursuing a career in acting, Kota Srinivasa Rao joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He contested the 1999 Andhra Pradesh Assembly elections on BJP’s ticket from the Vijayawada East constituency. In the elections, he registered a victory over Ilapuram Venkaiah, an Indian National Congress (INC) candidate, by a margin of 6,076 votes. Despite winning the 1999 elections, the BJP did not give him a ticket to contest the 2004 Andhra Pradesh assembly polls as many senior BJP leaders were against him getting a ticket because he rarely visited his constituency. While talking about it, a senior BJP leader said,

Mr. Srinivasa Rao could not spend much of his time in the constituency during the past four years as he stayed in Hyderabad most of the time. Therefore, we want someone who is aware of local problems and will be available to people any time.”

Thereafter, he took retirement from politics.

Controversies

Taking a jibe at Anasuya’s dressing

While giving an interview on a YouTube channel in October 2021, Kota Srinivasa Rao was asked to give his opinion on Jabardasth, a Telugu comedy show. While giving his opinion on the show, Kota targeted Anasuya Bharadwaj, the show’s host, and said that he did not like the way she dressed in the show. He further said that the audience would still like her if she wore a saree. Talking about it, he said,

What is there in it? Anasuya garu is there, she is a good actor, a good dancer with a good personality and good expression and everything. But look at her in that programme, the way she dresses, I don’t like the way she is dressing. She is beautiful, the audience would look at her even otherwise. She can be normal, the audience will watch even if she wears a saree. Roja (judge) is also in the same programme, are they [the audience] not watching her in saree?”

After his remarks, Anasuya took to Twitter to express her displeasure and indirectly slammed Kota over his remarks, saying that he “glorified drinking alcohol, wore shabby clothes, and ill-treated and shamed women on screen.”

Making unwarranted comments

Kota Srinivasa Rao has often attracted controversies for making unwanted comments about South Indian actors. In May 2022, in an interview, he said that he did not see any potential in Ram Charan, and that he had become an actor only because of his father Chiranjeevi. Talking about it, he said,

Charan comes only after Jr NTR, Mahesh Babu, and Allu Arjun. Because he is megastar Chiranjeevi’s son, he has risen to this level.”

Later, when Kota was asked about Chiranjeevi’s promise to construct a hospital for the needy, Kota questioned Chiranjeevi’s intent and claimed that Chiranjeevi has never donated money to poor South Indian film artists or supported them in any way. Kota further said that Chiranjeevi was making a hospital to uplift his image in the public. Talking about it, in an interview, he said,

Who would go to that hospital? He should first help the poor artists get some work, then he can go to the hospital by himself. There are several budding and senior actors who are spoiling their careers without proper employment and are getting addicted to bad habits due to the lack of income. He had never given a penny to any film worker in his entire life. and how all of a sudden Chiranjeevi wants to be in the good books by constructing the hospital?”

Awards

Civilian Honours
  • Padma Shri (2015)

    A picture of Kota Srinivasa Rao receiving Padma Shri from President Pranab Mukherjee

Nandi Awards
  • Special Jury Award – Pratighatana (1985)
  • Best Villain – Gaayam (1993)
  • Best Villain – Teerpu (1994)
  • Best Character Actor – Little Soldiers (1996)
  • Best Villain – Ganesh (1998)
  • Best Villain – Chinna (2000)
  • Best Supporting Actor – Prudhvi Narayana (2002)
  • Best Character Actor – Aa Naluguru (2004)
  • Best Character Actor – Pellaina Kothalo (2006)

    A picture of awards received by Kota Srinivasa Rao

SIIMA Awards
  • South Indian International Movie Award – Best Supporting Actor – Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum (2012)
Other honours
  • Allu Ramalingaiah Puraskaram

Facts/Trivia

  • In an interview, he revealed that he wanted to become a doctor.
  • Kota Srinivasa Rao used to consume alcoholic beverages. According to several sources, he many times came to sets of the films drunk. In an interview, he said that he used to go to sets after consuming alcohol only after taking permission from the director of the film.
  • In 2023, fake news about his death began circulating on social media claiming that Kota Srinivasa Rao was killed in a road accident in Hyderabad. However, Kota addressed the public and renounced the news of his death and urged his fans to not believe in such news. Talking about it, in an interview, he said,

    I was busy with preparations for the Ugadi festival tomorrow when I received a series of phone calls and 10 policemen came to my residence for security.”