Pithapuram Nageswara Rao (5 May 1930 – 5 March 1996) was an Indian

playback singer A playback singer, also known as a ghost singer, is a singer whose singing is pre-recorded for use in films. Playback singers record songs for soundtracks, and actors or actresses lip-sync the songs for cameras; the actual singer does not app ...

who worked in the early period of

Telugu cinema Telugu cinema, also known as Tollywood, is the segment of Indian cinema dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Telugu language, widely spoken in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Telugu cinema is based in Film Nagar, Hy ...

. He sang thousands of songs, mostly of a comedic nature, in the 1950s and 1960s along with

Madhavapeddi Satyam Madhavapeddi Satyam (11 March 1922 – 18 December 2000) was an Indian playback singer and actor who predominantly worked in Telugu cinema. He entered films as a singer-actor in Y. V. Rao's Tamil-Hindi bilingual movie ''Ramadas'' in the year 194 ...

and others. He also sang for a couple of movies in

Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

Brief life sketch

Nageswara Rao was born on 5 May 1930 to Viswanadham and Appayyamma in

Pithapuram Pithapuram, historically known as Pittapore, is a town and a municipality in the Kakinada district in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. The town also forms a part of Godavari Urban Development Authority. The town is home to one of the eighteen ...

East Godavari East Godavari is a district in the Coastal Andhra region of Andhra Pradesh, India. Its district headquarters is at Rajahmundry. As of 2011 Census of India, census 2011, it became the most populous district of the state with a population of 5,151,54 ...

district,

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. His surname is "Patharlagadda"; but known since childhood with his birthplace Pithapuram. His father was a good drama actor. He also developed an interest in acting during his school days. He not only acts but also used to sing from behind the screen to other less capable artists. He wanted to try his luck in cinema and ran away from home to

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

. He got a chance to sing in ''Mangala Sutram'' (1946) at the age of 16 years. He later sang in '' Chandralekha'' (1948) of

Gemini Studios Gemini Studios was an Indian film studio based in Madras, Tamil Nadu. It was launched when S. S. Vasan, a businessman of many ventures (including the ownership of Ananda Vikatan) bought Motion Picture Producers' Combines from Krishnaswamy Subr ...

, and since established in the field. He sang some thousands of songs mostly for Comedy characters. ''Ayyayyo Jebulo Dabbulu Poyene'' (

Kula Gothralu ''Kula Gotralu'' () is a 1961 Indian Telugu-language drama film written and directed by K. Pratyagatma. It stars Akkineni Nageswara Rao and Krishna Kumari, with music composed by S. Rajeswara Rao. Acharya Aatreya wrote the dialogues for the f ...

, 1962), ''Maa Oollo Oka Paduchundi'' (

Ave Kallu ''Ave Kallu'' () is a 1967 Indian Telugu-language mystery thriller film directed by A. C. Tirulokchandar and produced by AVM Productions, starring Krishna and Kanchana. It was simultaneously made in Tamil as '' Athey Kangal'', with Kanchana re ...

, 1967) He last time sang in ''

Bommarillu ''Bommarillu'' () () is a 2006 Indian Telugu-language romantic comedy film directed and co-written by Bhaskar in his directorial debut, and produced by Dil Raju. The film stars Siddharth, Genelia, Prakash Raj and Jayasudha. The film primarily ...

'' (1978) as ''Challani Ramayya Chakkani Seetamma''. He died on 5 March 1996.

Filmography

These are some of the important songs he has voiced:

External links

*
Photograph and Filmography at Early Tollywood.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rao, Pithapuram Nageswara Telugu playback singers 1930 births 1996 deaths People from East Godavari district 20th-century Indian singers Singers from Andhra Pradesh Film musicians from Andhra Pradesh