Name: Ghattamaneni Sivarama Krishna

Also known as : Andhra James Bond
Date of Birth: 31-5-1943
Time of birth: 12-10 am.
Father: Ghattamaneni Veera Raghavaiah
Mother: Nagaratnamma 
Other family members: Two brothers and two sisters
Hails from: Burripalem, a village near Tenali town 

Education: B.Sc, from the Reddy College in Eluru
Children: Two sons Ramesh and Mahesh. Three daughters Padmavathi, Manjula, Priyadarsini. 
First film: Krishna's first film 'Tena Manasulu' was released on 31st March 1965.

Number of films done till date: Krishna has so far acted in more than 320 films. 

His heroines: Sixty two heroines have acted with Krishna including Vijaya Nirmala and his first heroin Sukanya. The list includes Sridevi, Jaya Prada, Jaya Sudha, Jaya Chitra, Vijaya Santhi, Radhika, Madhavi, Zarina Wahab, Latha, Sripriya and others

Films directed by Krishna: Simhasanam(in Telugu and Hindi), Sankharavam, Kaliyuga Karnudu, Koduku Diddina Kapuram, Rikshavala, Anna Thammudu, Bala Chandrudu, Nagastram, Indra Bhavanam, Alludu Diddina Kapuram, Rakta Tarpanam 

 

Ghattamaneni Sivarama Krishna rose to stardom the minute he entered the film industry. After completing his graduation, Krishna wanted to try his luck in the film industry. His friends always used to tell him he is a very handsome personality and would certainly come up as film artiste. Luck came his way when he saw an advertisement in a newspaper by veteran director Adurthi Subba Rao for new talents for his forthcoming production. Krishna called the local photographer and had himself extensively photographed. With all these photos and the dossier he landed in Madras. He was instantly selected in the interview as one of the two heroes of the film. Krishna has an exceptionally bright complexion and looks more handsome off the screen than on it. Krishna entered the film industry after he was married. Though he did not make much name as an artiste with the audience through the first film 'Tene Manasulu', he earned good will in the film industry as a disciplined and lovable person. 

 

Discipline and amicability are the two most important qualities apart from acting abilities an artiste should have if he wants to come up in the film industry. Krishna is very disciplined and has a helping nature. No producer has ever faced any problem with him.  Krishna has some rare qualities. He is very famous for his ability to remember lengthy dialogues. Most of his dialogues get okayed in a single take. While acting In 'Viswanatha Niyakudu', a historical film with lengthy dialogues in sancritised Telugu, the team members were awe-struck at the way he was delivering the dialogues. Krishna has acted in 'Sakshi', a film by another veteran director Bapu for whom it was the first film. Krishna had accepted to act as a timid person in the film, which no other hero would accept, for the fear of loosing his image. Though the film was not financially a success, it earned name for both Bapu and Krishna. 

 

During the shooting of the film'Sakshi', Krishna came in contact with Vijaya Nirmala, who did the female lead. They soon became friends and their friendship grew into love culminating in marriage. Interestingly, both were married and had children through their first marriages. Krishna has accepted Naresh, son of Vijaya Nirmala through her first marriage, as his son.

 

Krishna became an action hero with 'Gudhachari 116' telugu version of the Hollywood film 'Panic in Bangkok'. The film was a big hit and the Andhra audience started calling Krishna fondly as 'Andhra James Bond', though James Bond had nothing to do with 'Panic in Bangkok'. Producers started carving action roles for Krishna and almost all such films were big hits at the box-office. He was later acknowledged as the best cowboy around, with his film 'Mosagallaku Mosagadu', in which he acted as a cowboy. This was a telugu version of the Hollywood film 'MacKenna's Gold' featuring the great Gregory Peck. Krishna wore the same outfit, the Stetson hat and drew the gun fast, fascinating the audience. Later he acted in several cow-boy type films. Though the cow-boy culture was foreign, people accepted the films as the sceneries and the settings were refreshing.

 

A majority of Krishna's early films were only 'Bond' type films. Krishna brought his brothers Hanumantha Rao and Aadi Seshagiri Rao into the film industry and started a production company 'Padmalaya Pictures' and produced several films. Majority of them were hits and super hits. 'Devudu Chesina Manushulu' which he has produced with N.T,Rama Rao was a the biggest hit of those days. The one film that got Padmalaya Pictures name, fame and unimaginable profits of course was 'Mosagaallaku Mosagaadu'. Major part of the film was shot in the deserts of Rajasthan to give the audience a refreshing backdrop. For shooting the film, Padmalaya hired a special train from Madras to Rajasthan and spent a whale of money on the production. Several stalwarts of the film industry wondered what would be Krishna's fate if the film flopped. It did not. On the other hand Padmalaya earned itself reputation as one of the leading film producing companies of the South. 

 

Another prestigious film of this production company was 'Alluri Sitarama Raju'. This is the story of a freedom fighter who fought against the British for the freedom of his mother land. Krishna had done a thorough research of the history and spent hours studying the character of the legendry revolutionary. He visited ''Manyam'' the native place of Seetharama Raju, met some his contemporaries of those days, tried to learn his mannerisms and all the minute details about the martyr. He once again spent money like water to recreate the entire setting for recreating the days of the British. Contrary to the fears of film pundits, the film was a super hit. It also earned Krishna kudos, laurels and of course awards. This film ran for over 200 days and was financially a very big success. In the second run, when the film was released after a gap of five years it ran for 100 days.This incidentally was the film that got the great poet Sri Sri a national award for his song ''Telugu Veera Levara.'' Lot of producers from Telugu film industry including NTR planned to make this film. N.T. Rama Rao even had the script made. But only Krishna could execute and succeed.  After this film, Krishna planned to produce a film on ''Chatrapathi Sivaji''. He could not somehow make it till today.

 

Apart producing films he has also started Padmalaya films, a distributing company that distributed several films. As a part of the efforts of the Government to shift the film industry to Hyderabad from Madras, he was offered land to construct a studio at Hyderabad. He has constructed Padmalaya Studios in Hyderabad and produced and directed 'Simhaasanam' from his native soil. The film was made in both Hindi and Telugu. Krishna has acted in the Telugu version while Jeetendra did the lead role in the Hindi version. The film was financially successful though not a super hit like his earlier films. 

 

Krishna surprised every one by announcing production of Devadas. The earlier Devadas of Akkineni Nageswara Rao was deemed as one of the all time great movies in which, Nageswara Rao gave a memorable performance. Even the great Dilip Kumar, who acted the role later admitted that he could not act as good as Nageswara Rao.  Several people tried to dissuade Krishna from going ahead with the venture. Krishna all the same went ahead and produced the film in which he acted as Devadas. Some refused to accept him as Devadas while others appreciated him. This film was financially a success.

 

Krishna has also directed several films apart from acting. Simhasnam produced in 70MM in Telugu and Hindi was his first film. Later he directed several films and introduced his sons Ramesh Babu and Mahesh Babu as actors through his film Mugguru Kodukulu.  Though Ramesh was not a big hit with the audience, Krishna's younger son Mahesh is the latest craze of the Telugu film Industry.