Pendyala Nageswara Rao Biography
Pendyala Nageswara Rao was a popular drama actor, singer and music director in Telugu Film Industry. His career spanned over 25 years from early 1950s to late 1970s and thus he belonged to the golden era of Telugu music and has become the part of many memorable movies of this time. During this time, he has composed songs for more than 100 Telugu movies.
He was born on March 6, 1917 in Vanukuru near Vijayawada of Andhra Pradesh. Later the family got shifted to Katur. He was born in a family of music exponents. His father Sitaramaiah too was a music exponent. So, he showed interest in music at a younger age. He was closely associated with Mikkilineni Radhakrishna Murthy and both of them learnt acting and singing poems from their guru Kapilavai Ramanatha Sastry. His father was a music exponent and young Rao used to assist him with harmonium for stage shows since the age of 13. From there on, he learnt the techniques of music. As a stage actor, his first appearance was as Jambavathi in Krishna Tulabaram. For the same play, he later played the roles of Rukmini and Narada characters also. Plays like Jonnavithula Seshagiri, Rushyendramani and Lakshmirajyam earned him much appreciation.
Once he was noticed in a stage play by Kadaru Nagabhushanam, who invited him to join his orchestra for the movie - Talli Prema (1941). He went to Chennai and worked as assistant director to Dinakar Rao and S. V. Venkatraman, the music directors of the movie. Thus began his career in music. He also worked as Harmonist under Gali Penchala Narasimha Rao for the movie – Mayalokam. As a music director, Drohi, his debut film was an instant hit. In 1953, he introduced P. Susheela through the movie, Kanna Talli.
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Updated: January 16, 2014