Veteran Telugu actor Chalapathi Rao dies at 78

Rao acted in several Telugu movies as a supporting actor or in the role of a villain

Actor Chalapathi Rao. Credit: Twitter/UrsVamsiShekar

Veteran actor Chalapathi Rao passed away on Saturday night. He was 78, family sources said on Sunday. He acted in over 600 films portraying various characters, industry sources said. His son Ravi Babu is also an actor, director, and producer in Tollywood.

"It is very sad that so many of our people are going away," producer D Suresh who visited the bereaved family said.

Rao acted in several Telugu movies as a supporting actor and villain in the films of NT Rama Rao, Krishna, Akkineni Nagarjuna, Chiranjeevi and Venkatesh, Actor and Jana Sena party chief Pawan Kalyan in a statement condoled Chalapathi Rao's death.

He is well-known for his films such as Yamagola, Yugapurushudu, Justice Chaudhary, Bobbili Puli, Ninne Pelladata, and Allari.