Veteran Telugu Actor-Producer Narayana Rao Passes Away

Veteran actor-producer Gullepalli Venkata Narayana Rao ( GV Narayana Rao) passed away at the age of 73 in Hyderabad, reportedly due to prolonged health complications. 

The senior actor, who had been battling health issues for some time, breathed his last on Wednesday evening. Born in 1953 in Guntakal, GV Narayana Rao came from a family deeply rooted in the film industry. He was the son of distributor G. Prasad Rao of Navayuga Studios in Hyderabad and the Managing Director of Sarathi Studios.

He spent his early life in Guntakal. From a young age, he developed an interest in arts and received training in various art forms. He learned Bharatanatyam under



Gidugu Visalakshi, Kuchipudi under Nataraja Ramakrishna, and acting under A.R. Krishna. 

During his student days, he acted in plays like 'Mohammad Bin Tughlaq', 'Prataparudriyam', and 'Manchu Tera'. During that time, prominent personalities like Kota Srinivasa Rao, Nuthan Prasad, and Devadas Kanakala were his theatre colleagues.

He later went on to complete a Diploma in Theatre Arts from Natya Vidyalaya, Hyderabad in 1973, before joining the very first batch of the Madras Film Institute that same year, where he formed a close friendship with Rajinikanth, who went on to become a superstar in Tamil films and complete another Diploma in Film Acting in 1975.