ACTORS PROFILES

SUPER STAR KRISHNA
Also known as : Andhra James Bond
Date of Birth: 31-5-1943
Time of birth: 12-10 am.
Father: Ghattamaneni Veera Raghavaiah
Mother: Nagaratnamma
Other family members: Two brothers and two sisters
Hails from: Burripalem, a village near Tenali town
Education: B.Sc, from the Reddy College in Eluru
Children: Two sons Ramesh and Mahesh. Three daughters Padmavathi, Manjula, Priyadarsini.
First film: Krishna's first film 'Tena Manasulu' was released on 31st March 1965.
Number of films done till date: Krishna has so far acted in more than 320 films.
His heroines: Sixty two heroines have acted with Krishna including Vijaya Nirmala and his first heroin Sukanya. The list includes Sridevi, Jaya Prada, Jaya Sudha, Jaya Chitra, Vijaya Santhi, Radhika, Madhavi, Zarina Wahab, Latha, Sripriya and others
Films directed by Krishna: Simhasanam(in Telugu and Hindi), Sankharavam, Kaliyuga Karnudu, Koduku Diddina Kapuram, Rikshavala, Anna Thammudu, Bala Chandrudu, Nagastram, Indra Bhavanam, Alludu Diddina Kapuram, Rakta TarpanamGhattamaneni Sivarama Krishna rose to stardom the minute he entered the film industry. After completing his graduation, Krishna wanted to try his luck in the film industry. His friends always used to tell him he is a very handsome personality and would certainly come up as film artiste. Luck came his way when he saw an advertisement in a newspaper by veteran director Adurthi Subba Rao for new talents for his forthcoming production. Krishna called the local photographer and had himself extensively photographed. With all these photos and the dossier he landed in Madras. He was instantly selected in the interview as one of the two heroes of the film. Krishna has an exceptionally bright complexion and looks more handsome off the screen than on it. Krishna entered the film industry after he was married. Though he did not make much name as an artiste with the audience through the first film 'Tene Manasulu', he earned good will in the film industry as a disciplined and lovable person.
Discipline and amicability are the two most important qualities apart from acting abilities an artiste should have if he wants to come up in the film industry. Krishna is very disciplined and has a helping nature. No producer has ever faced any problem with him. Krishna has some rare qualities. He is very famous for his ability to remember lengthy dialogues. Most of his dialogues get okayed in a single take. While acting In 'Viswanatha Niyakudu', a historical film with lengthy dialogues in sancritised Telugu, the team members were awe-struck at the way he was delivering the dialogues. Krishna has acted in 'Sakshi', a film by another veteran director Bapu for whom it was the first film. Krishna had accepted to act as a timid person in the film, which no other hero would accept, for the fear of loosing his image. Though the film was not financially a success, it earned name for both Bapu and Krishna.
During the shooting of the film'Sakshi', Krishna came in contact with Vijaya Nirmala, who did the female lead. They soon became friends and their friendship grew into love culminating in marriage. Interestingly, both were married and had children through their first marriages. Krishna has accepted Naresh, son of Vijaya Nirmala through her first marriage, as his son.Krishna became an action hero with 'Gudhachari 116' telugu version of the Hollywood film 'Panic in Bangkok'. The film was a big hit and the Andhra audience started calling Krishna fondly as 'Andhra James Bond', though James Bond had nothing to do with 'Panic in Bangkok'. Producers started carving action roles for Krishna and almost all such films were big hits at the box-office. He was later acknowledged as the best cowboy around, with his film 'Mosagallaku Mosagadu', in which he acted as a cowboy. This was a telugu version of the Hollywood film 'MacKenna's Gold' featuring the great Gregory Peck. Krishna wore the same outfit, the Stetson hat and drew the gun fast, fascinating the audience. Later he acted in several cow-boy type films. Though the cow-boy culture was foreign, people accepted the films as the sceneries and the settings were refreshing.
A majority of Krishna's early films were only 'Bond' type films. Krishna brought his brothers Hanumantha Rao and Aadi Seshagiri Rao into the film industry and started a production company 'Padmalaya Pictures' and produced several films. Majority of them were hits and super hits. 'Devudu Chesina Manushulu' which he has produced with N.T,Rama Rao was a the biggest hit of those days. The one film that got Padmalaya Pictures name, fame and unimaginable profits of course was 'Mosagaallaku Mosagaadu'. Major part of the film was shot in the deserts of Rajasthan to give the audience a refreshing backdrop. For shooting the film, Padmalaya hired a special train from Madras to Rajasthan and spent a whale of money on the production. Several stalwarts of the film industry wondered what would be Krishna's fate if the film flopped. It did not. On the other hand Padmalaya earned itself reputation as one of the leading film producing companies of the South.
Another prestigious film of this production company was 'Alluri Sitarama Raju'. This is the story of a freedom fighter who fought against the British for the freedom of his mother land. Krishna had done a thorough research of the history and spent hours studying the character of the legendry revolutionary. He visited ''Manyam'' the native place of Seetharama Raju, met some his contemporaries of those days, tried to learn his mannerisms and all the minute details about the martyr. He once again spent money like water to recreate the entire setting for recreating the days of the British. Contrary to the fears of film pundits, the film was a super hit. It also earned Krishna kudos, laurels and of course awards. This film ran for over 200 days and was financially a very big success. In the second run, when the film was released after a gap of five years it ran for 100 days.This incidentally was the film that got the great poet Sri Sri a national award for his song ''Telugu Veera Levara.'' Lot of producers from Telugu film industry including NTR planned to make this film. N.T. Rama Rao even had the script made. But only Krishna could execute and succeed. After this film, Krishna planned to produce a film on ''Chatrapathi Sivaji''. He could not somehow make it till today.Apart producing films he has also started Padmalaya films, a distributing company that distributed several films. As a part of the efforts of the Government to shift the film industry to Hyderabad from Madras, he was offered land to construct a studio at Hyderabad. He has constructed Padmalaya Studios in Hyderabad and produced and directed 'Simhaasanam' from his native soil. The film was made in both Hindi and Telugu. Krishna has acted in the Telugu version while Jeetendra did the lead role in the Hindi version. The film was financially successful though not a super hit like his earlier films.
Krishna surprised every one by announcing production of Devadas. The earlier Devadas of Akkineni Nageswara Rao was deemed as one of the all time great movies in which, Nageswara Rao gave a memorable performance. Even the great Dilip Kumar, who acted the role later admitted that he could not act as good as Nageswara Rao. Several people tried to dissuade Krishna from going ahead with the venture. Krishna all the same went ahead and produced the film in which he acted as Devadas. Some refused to accept him as Devadas while others appreciated him. This film was financially a success.
Krishna has also directed several films apart from acting. Simhasnam produced in 70MM in Telugu and Hindi was his first film. Later he directed several films and introduced his sons Ramesh Babu and Mahesh Babu as actors through his film Mugguru Kodukulu. Though Ramesh was not a big hit with the audience, Krishna's younger son Mahesh is the latest craze of the Telugu film Industry.FILMOGRAPHY
1962 
kulagOtrAlu .... debut
padanDi munduku
1965 
tEnemanasulu .... first as a hero
1966 
kannemanasulu
gUDhachAri 116
1967 
sAkshi
avEkaLLu
manchikuTunbam
marapurAni katha
lakshmInivAsam
SrI SrI SrI maryAdarAmanna
1968 
amayakuDu
manchimitrulu
vintakApuram
sarkAr express
asAdhyuDu
unDammA boTTu peDatA
nEnanTE nEnE
1969 
vichitrakuTunbam
jagat kilADIlu
jariginakatha
Takkaridonga chakkanichukka
mahAbaluDu
1970 
akhanDuDu
mAnAnna nirdOshi
ammakOsam
renDu kuTumbAla katha
akkAcellelu
1971 
James Bond 777
paTTukunTE laxa .... Assistant Raju
mOsagALLaku mOsagADu
1972 
gUDupuThANi
panDanTi kApuraM
kattula rattayya
1973 
dEvuDu cEsina manushulu
vintakatha
mAyadAri malligADu
miinA
1974 
dEvadAsu
allUri siitA rAma rAju
rAdhamma peLli
1975 
kotta kApuraM
gAjula kishTayya
ciikaTi velugulu
raktasanbandhAlu
1976 
pADipanTalu
dEvuDE gelicADu
SrI rAjESvarI vilAs Coffee Club
kuruxEtraM .... Arjuna
1977 
janma janmala bandhaM
dongalaku donga
sAvAsagALLu
iinATi bandhaM EnATidO
1978 
muggurU muggurE
indradhanussu
annadammula savAl
paTnavAsaM
dongaladOpiDi
cal mOhana rangA
kumArarAjA
EjenT gOpi
dongalavETa
simhagarjana
1979 
kepTen kRshNa
hEmAhEmiilu
viyyAlavAri kayyAlu
mUDu puvvulu Aru kAyalu
muttaiduva
manDE gunDelu
kotta alluDu
iddarU asAdhyulE ‚
tODu dongalu
burripAlem bullODu
1980 
bangAru bhUmi
gharAnA donga
cuTTAlunnAru jAgratta
mAmA alluLLa savAl
rAm rAbarT rahiim
1981 
antam kAdidi Arambham
Uriki monagADu
guruSishyulu
bhOgabhAgyAlu
rahasya gUDhacAri
1982 
kRshNAvatAram
iinADu
kRishNArjunulu
shamshEr Sankar
Ekalavya
1983 
kirAyi kOTigADu
aDavi siMhAlu
mundaDugu
rAmarAjyamlObhiimarAju
Sakti .... double role
chaTTaaniki vEyi kaLLu .... double role
1984 
dongalu bAbOy dongalu
pulijUdam
1985 
kanchu kAgaDA
paccani kApuram
palnATi siMham
mahAmanishi .... triple role
vajrAyudham
agniparvatam
1986 
jayam manade
1987 
simhaasanam
makuTam lEni mahArAju
1989 
koDukulu didddina kaapuram
1993 
vaarasuDu
1994 
yamaliila
Number One
1995 
Real Hero
Super moguDu
Subhamastu .... guest
teluguvIra lEvarA
Amma Donga
1996 
saampradaayam
puTTinTi gauravaM
jagadEka vIruDu
renDu kuTumbAla katha .... double role
1998 
Encounter
adirindi guroo
bobbili dora