Tributes paid to Telugu director Dasari Narayana Rao

Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, veteran director K Viswanath, Telugu star Pawan Kalyan and others today paid homage to Telugu filmmaker Dasari Narayana Rao.

Naidu, accompanied by some of his cabinet colleagues, flew down from Vijayawada to pay tributes to Rao, who passed away yesterday.

"Narayana Rao's death is a loss not only to the film industry but also to all Telugu people," Naidu said.

Recalling that he had association with Narayana Rao since his younger days, Naidu said the departed film-maker and his family members treated him like their own.

Viswanath and a number of top Telugu actors, including Venkatesh, Pawan Kalyan, junior NTR and also a large number of fans visited Rao's residence at Jubilee Hills here to pay their last respects.

Narayana Rao, who directed super-hit movies with legendary actors like NT Rama Rao and Akkineni Nageswara Rao, passed away at a private hospital here yesterday at the age of 75.

He was suffering from health problems related to food pipe, kidney and others.

The veteran filmmaker was also a politician and served as a minister during the UPA-2 regime.

The Telangana government has announced that Rao's funeral would be conducted with state honours.

Rao, a versatile personality who directed about 150 films and worked for hundreds of others as a dialogue writer, lyricist and actor, was admitted to hospital couple of months ago, but was soon discharged.

He began his career as a theatre artiste and went on to work in films. Rao directed his first film in the early 1970s.

He won many prestigious awards, including the National Award, the Filmfare and received honours from the Andhra Pradesh government.