Tatineni Chalapathi Rao (22 December 1920 – 22 February 1994) was an Indian music composer who worked in Telugu cinema. His career spanned more than three decades from early 1950s, till 1980s. He was the cousin of

T. Prakash Rao Tatineni Prakash Rao (24 November 1924 – 1 July 1992) was an Indian film director and screenwriter who worked in Telugu cinema, Telugu, Hindi cinema, Hindi, and Tamil cinema, Tamil films. In a career spanning nearly four decades, he directed ov ...

Early life

Born to Dronavilli Manikyamma and Rattayya in the village of

Vuyyuru Vuyyuru is a town in Krishna district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is a Nagar panchayat and the headquarters of Vuyyuru Mandal. It is emerging as neighbourhood of Vijayawada, India situated 30 km away.List of Neighborhoods in Vijay ...

in the

Krishna district Krishna district is district in the coastal Andhra Region in Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, with Machilipatnam as its administrative headquarters. It is the coastal district of Andhra Pradesh. Machilipatnam is the most populated city in the di ...

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 ...

on 22 December 1920, but he was adopted by Tatineni Koteswara Rao and his wife Kotamma. He was the cousin of

Career

His first film as music director was the Telugu film ''Puttillu'' in 1953 jointly with another music director, Mohan Das. His first independent work was for the Tamil film '' Amara Deepam'' (1956). Thereafter until 1984 he scored music for around 125 films mostly 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 some in

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nati ...

. He created many popular songs for films starring

Akkineni Nageswara Rao Akkineni Nageswara Rao (20 September 1923 – 22 January 2014), widely known as ANR, was an Indian actor and producer, known for his works majorly in Telugu cinema. He starred in many landmark films in his seventy five-year career, and became on ...

. Through the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, Chalapathi Rao and Nageswara Rao gave innumerable hits. Notable among them are ''

Illarikam ''Illarikam'' () is a 1959 Indian Telugu-language comedy drama film directed by T. Prakash Rao. It stars Akkineni Nageswara Rao and Jamuna, with music composed by T. Chalapathi Rao. It was produced by A. V. Subba Rao under the Prasad Art Pict ...

'' (1959), ''Punarjanma'' (1963), ''Manushulu Mamatalu'' (1965), ''

Navaratri Navaratri is an annual Hindu festival observed in the honour of the goddess Durga. It spans over nine nights (and ten days), first in the month of Chaitra (March/April of the Gregorian calendar), and again in the month of Sharada. It is ob ...

'' (1966), ''

Dharma Daata ''Dharma Daata'' is a 1970 Indian Telugu-language drama film, produced by Tammareddy Krishna Murthy under the Ravindra Art Pictures banner and directed by A. Sanjeevi. It stars Akkineni Nageswara Rao and Kanchana, with music composed by T. Chal ...

'' (1970) and ''

Srimanthudu ''Srimanthudu'' () is a 2015 Indian Telugu-language action drama film written and directed by Koratala Siva. The film is produced by Mythri Movie Makers and G. Mahesh Babu Entertainment. The film stars Mahesh Babu, Shruti Haasan, Jagapati ...

'' (1971); together with some real chartbusters in 1972 which include ''Datta Putrudu'', ''Manchi Rojulu Vachhayi'' and ''Raithu'' ''Kutumbam''. To the end the pair continued to create music for films including ''Kanna Koduku'' (1973), ''Palletoori Baava'' (1973), ''Aalu Magalu'' (1977) and ''Sri Rama Raksha'' (1978). T. Chalapathi Rao's hit scores with other Telugu heroes including ''Manchi Rojulu Vachchayi'', ''Amma Nanna'', ''Manchi Manasu'' and ''Kamalamma Kamatam'' with

Krishnam Raju Uppalapati Venkata Krishnam Raju (20 January 1940 – 11 September 2022) was an Indian actor and politician. He was known for his works in Telugu cinema and was widely known as "''Rebel Star''" for his rebellious acting style. He was also the ...

, ''

Lakshadhikari ''Lakshadhikari'' () is a 1963 Indian Telugu-language thriller film directed by V. Madhusudhana Rao. The film stars N. T. Rama Rao and Krishna Kumari, with V. Nagayya, Gummadi, Relangi, Ramana Reddy, Mikkilineni, K. V. S. Sarma, Suryaka ...

'', ''Ramuni Minchina Ramudu'', ''Kalavaari Kodalu'' with

N. T. Rama Rao Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao (28 May 1923 – 18 January 1996), often referred to by his initials NTR, was an Indian actor, filmmaker and politician who served as List of Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh, Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh fo ...

and films such as ''Goodhachari 116'', ''Asadhyudu'' with

Krishna Krishna (; sa, कृष्ण ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme god in his own right. He is the god of protection, compassion, tenderness, and love; and is one ...

. The last film he scored music for was ''Janam Manam'' in 1984.

Personal life

He was married to Annapurna with whom he did not have children and later married Dr Jamuna with whom he had two sons and a daughter.

Filmography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rao, T. Chalapathi 1920 births 1994 deaths Telugu film score composers Tamil film score composers People from Krishna district 20th-century Indian composers Film musicians from Andhra Pradesh