K SATYANARAYANA – THE LEGENDARY TELUGU CHARACTER ACTOR PASSES AWAY

Satyanarayana, unarguably one of the best and versatile character actor, villain, and comedian villain, passed away at the ripe age of 87 years.   With him the golden chapter of senior male actors of Telugu industry belonging to 50s and 60s has come to an end.

The early years:  Satyanarayana has debuted in 1959 in Sipai Kuturu in a supporting role.    He got instant recognition and got immensely benefited for his striking resemblance with N T Rama Rao – his height weight sharp nose.   From then onwards in many movies Satyanarayana acted as a double of NTR in movies in which NTR had dual role and both roles had to be shown in one frame.

                                                                                                        

His journey as a Villain:  Though he did not succeed as a hero and in characters with good shades as there was huge competition from Nagayya and Gummadi, he has quickly settled in character with negative shades.   In the beginning he used to play as a side kick or second fiddle to top villains like S V Ranga Rao, Rajanala, R Nageswara Rao, in Janapada movies.   After establishing as a villain in janapada, mythological and historical movies, he also branched into as a lead villain in social movies and crime thrillers of Krishna.   With a tall and hefty figure with broad face he used to carry the role of villain very well.

The Turning Point in the career:  The biggest turning point in the career of Satyanarayana came on the untimely death of legendary actor S V Ranga Rao in his early 50s.  A huge vacuum was created on his sudden death as he used to carry any movie single handedly whosoever was the hero whether NTR or ANR Krishna or Shoban Babu.   SVR was such a colossal actor that no one could be compared with his towering performance and can fill in his giant steps.    But among all other actors if there was someone who could come closer to it and thought as an alternative in that desperate situation it was Satyanarayana.    He was signed up for many of the movies remained unfinished by SVR.   In the initial stages he used to imitate SVR heavily specially in mythological movies, to the point of being irritating but within few years he came out of the shadow of SVR and developed his own style, modulation, dialogue delivery and body language with some traces of SVR.    So from mid 70s there was no looking back in his career.

Proved to be versatile: Though no Telugu/India actor can be compared with versatility of NTR and SVR, but Satyanarayana molded his career in the same way and at the end of the career he proved to be very versatile actor carrying himself with equal ease in Social, Mythological, Historical, Janapad, and action movies in vide range of character as a Villain, Comedian, villain-comedian and character actor as father, brother, father in law and grandfather.   Though never acted as a hero, after NTR and ANR, Satyanarayana had the longest career of over 60 years acted in over 750 movies.    Apart from acting he produced and directed few movies and represented TDP as MP for one term.   

Ajat Shatru:  One of the best quality of Satyanarayana hailed by all is his ability to get on well with co actors and all camps.  Telugu industry was divided among NTR and ANR camps, Krishna and Shobanbabu camps, Balakrishna and Chiranjeevi, Nagarjuna and Venkatesh camps apart from camps on the basis of caste like Kamma, Reddy and Brahmin.   Actors especially heroins, character actors and comedians always were identified with some camp or the other and used to get majority of their opportunities from their respective camps.   But Satyanarayana was a rare exception who maintained cordial relations with all camps and sought after by all Camps.   Mid 70s to late 90s there was hardly any big budget movie with big star was made without Satyanarayana having an important role in it.   Satyanarayana longevity in film career is such that he acted with three generation of actors, NTR & ANR, Krishna and Shoban babu from 60s to 90s, Chiranjeevi, Nag, Venky and Balayya from 90s and 2000s and lastly with Jr. NTR, Ram Charan, Allu Arjun.  There is no parallel to Satyanarayana in Telugu/Indian/world cinema, who has not worked as a hero but survived as character actor for over 60 years and worked in over 750 movies and commanded respects of all his co stars including NTR and ANR, directors, producers and technicians alike

Disservice by I&B Ministry and Government of India: As happened with many actors, directors, producers, music directors from south indian movies, great injustice has been done to Satyanarayana also.    A versatile actor who has acted for over 60 years and in over 750 movies was not considered for even Padmashri.     For over the last two decades there were appeals from many senior actors from Telugu industry including Chiranjeevi that his services to the film industry should be recognized even at fag end of career but the authorities that be in I&B and Governmen of India cannot look beyond the mediocre like Saif Ali Khans and Asha Pareeks for the converted awards.  

Thanks, Satyanarayana for the wholesome entertainment for over 60 years to Telugu movie goers

As long Telugu film industry is there and anything was written about Telugu film industry Satyanarayana will have a special chapter in it and his count will be in the first top 10 actors of Telugu industry.  

Om Shanti

S. Prabhakar

23.12.2022