Veteran Telugu actor and former legislator Kota Srinivasa Rao died in Hyderabad early on 13 July at the age of 83. Family members said the Padma Shri awardee had been battling age-related ailments and passed away at about 4 a.m. Over nearly four decades, Rao appeared in more than 750 films across Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Hindi, earning a reputation for seamlessly shifting between villainous, comic and character roles. He received nine Nandi Awards and India’s fourth-highest civilian honour, the Padma Shri, in 2015. Beyond the screen, Rao served as a Bharatiya Janata Party MLA for Vijayawada East from 1999 to 2004. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu led tributes, calling the actor’s death an “irreparable loss” to Telugu cinema and theatre.