One of the most celebrated Indian film personalities, Gollapudi Maruthi Rao, hailing from Andhra Pradesh, passed away today (December 12) in Chennai at a private hospital. He was 80. Known to be an actor having starred in prominently in Telugu and Tamil films, Gollapudi Maruthi Rao had also ventured into screenwriting and direction as well.

To his credit, the late veteran has directed only one film - the Telugu venture, Prema Pusthakam, 1993, released in July 1993, which incidentally was the first project actor Ajith Kumar had signed up for despite his Tamil romantic film, Amaravathi, coming out a month earlier in June 1993. Maruthi Rao's son, Gollapudi Srinivas, was making his directorial debut with Prema Pusthakam, but passed away after a giant wave struck him while shooting a scene at the Vizag harbor. Eventually, Maruthi Rao went on to complete the film and encouraged debutant directors every year with the Gollapudi Srinivas Awards.

Gollapudi Maruthi Rao made appearances in several Tamil films among which include Kamal Haasan’s Hey Ram and Aalavandhan, Prakash Raj’s Dhoni, the Anushka-Arya starrer Inji Iduppazhagi, notable Telugu movies like Challenge, Leader, Abhilasha and was last seen in the Aadi-Shraddha Srinath film, Jodi, earlier this year. He has also impressed fans with his performances as a theatre artist and as a playwright having written numerous stage plays.