Kodi Ramakrishna, legendary Telugu director, passes away

Kodi Ramakrishna, who directed Telugu, Kannada, Tamil, Malayalam and Hindi films, passed away at a hospital in Hyderabad on Friday. The director was under the critical condition and was hospitalised at AIG Hospital, Gachibowli, in Hyderabad. Ramakrishna was taken to the hospital after he complained of breathlessness.

In 2012, Ramakrishna received the state Raghupathi Venkaiah Award for his contribution to Telugu cinema. Mahesh Babu took Twitter and wrote, "Extremely saddened by the news of director Kodi Ramakrishna garu's demise. His contribution to Telugu Cinema is unparalleled, our industry will never forget his work. My thoughts & prayers are with his closed ones... May his soul rest in peace!"

Ramakrishna, 69, died due to ill health, the sources said. The funeral would take place on Saturday.

Born at Palakollu in West Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh, Ramakrishna made his debut in 1992 with 'Intlo Ramaiah- Veedhilo Krishnaiah' starring Chiranjeevi.

He went on to direct more than 100 films in varied genres in a career spanning about three decades.

Ramakrishna's film 'Ankusam' with Rajasekhar in the lead was a big hit.

The movie was remade in Hindi as 'Pratibandh' which marked Chiranjeevit's debut in Hindi films.

He created a niche for himself with extensive use of special effects, revolving around spiritual and supernatural powers and films, including 'Ammoru', 'Devi', 'Deviputrudu' and 'Anji', were hugely popular.

Ramakrishna's 'Arundhati' in which popular south Indian heroine Anushka Shetty played the lead role had catapulted her to super stardom.

Ramakrishna also acted in a few films, mainly appearing in brief roles in his movies.

Chiranjeevi, Balakrishna, Pawan Kalyan and a number of other Telugu film personalities expressed grief on the death and paid tributes to him, recalling his brilliance as a director.

The ace director delivered several blockbusters with Balakrishna, including 'Mangamma gari Manavadu', 'Muddula Mavayya' and 'Muvva Gopaludu'.