Kovelamudi Bapayya is an Indian film director. He has directed about 80 films in

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

and

Hindi Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

languages. He is the cousin of noted director

K. Raghavendra Rao Kovelamudi Raghavendra Rao (born 23 May 1942) is an Indian film director, screenwriter, and producer known for his works predominantly in Telugu cinema besides having directed a few Hindi films. He has garnered four state Nandi Awards and fiv ...

and nephew of director and producer K. S. Prakash Rao.

Early life

Kovelamudi Bapayya was born in Hyderabad. He is also known as K. Bapayya. Bapayya lost both his parents at a very young age. He was raised by his paternal uncle K. S. Prakash Rao, who was a popular filmmaker. He is a first cousin of

, also a filmmaker. He also has two daughters, Padma and Chamundeswari. Bapayya studied in Vijayawada and Chennai.

Career

Bapayya began his film career by working under

K. B. Tilak Korlipara Balagangadhara Tilak (14 January 1926 – 23 September 2010), popularly known as K. B. Tilak, was an Indian independence movement, Indian independence activist, film director and producer. Early life He was born at Denduluru in West ...

as an apprentice for the films '' Muddu Bidda'' (1956), ''M. L. A.'' (1957), and ''Attaa Okinti Kodale'' (1958). He then worked for Suresh Productions with

Tapi Chanakya Tapi Chanakya (1925–1973), professionally known as Chanakya, was an Indian film director and writer. He is son of the famous writer Tapi Dharma Rao Naidu. He has worked as Radio Telegraphist for the Indian Army. Filmography # Palletoori Pilla ...

for the production's debut film '' Ramudu Bheemudu'' in 1964. Bapayya made his directorial debut in the Tollywood film industry with the feature film ''Drohi'' in 1970. He was given the offer to direct the film by producer D. Rama Naidu. The film had Vanisri and Kongara Jaggaya playing the lead characters. The film that truly earned Bapayya name and fame in the Telugu film industry was the drama feature film '' Soggadu'' (1975). The Telugu film hit the silver screens on 19 December 1975 and was released again on 1 January 1976. It starred Sobhan Babu, Jayachitra and Jayasudha In the lead roles. The movie won two Filmfare awards. The drama film ran in 17 cinema halls in the then united Andhra Pradesh for one hundred days. Bapayya made his directorial debut in the Bollywood film industry with the Hindi movie ''Dildaar'' (1977). Dildaar was a remake of Bapayya's Soggadu. The Bollywood film hit the big screens on 13 April 1977. It starred Jeetendra, Rekha and Nazneen in lead roles. Bapayya remained active in the film industry till the mid 1990s. Towards the end of his career, Bapayya started focusing on making Bollywood films. One of his blockbusters from the 1990s was ''Pyar Hua Chori Chori'' (1991). The romance film hit the theatre halls on 7 June 1991. The film starred Mithun Chakraborty, Gautami, Shikha Swaroop, Shafi Inamdaari, Shakti Kapoor and Anupam Kher. It was Gautami's Hindi debut and a remake of the Malayalam flick Chithram. He also directed ''Parda Hai Parda'' (1992) which is remembered as Chunkey Pandey's solo hit and South Indian actress Meena's debut in the Bollywood film industry. The movie hit the screens on 10 July 1992. Bapayya was known to collaborate with Jeetendra and Mithun Chakraborty in the Bollywood industry.

Filmography

References

External links

* Year of birth missing (living people) Telugu film directors Hindi-language film directors Living people Film directors from Andhra Pradesh People from Krishna district 20th-century Indian film directors {{India-film-director-stub