Recording the history of Nellore

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Noted Telugu cinema villain Rajanala from Nellore

Rajanala Kaleswara Rao Naidu popularly known as Rajanala hails from Kavali in SPSR Nellore district. He was well known for his negative roles in Telugu films during the 1950s and 1960s. The grand old man of Telugu cinema, H M Reddy, introduced Rajanala through his film Prathigna (1953). Before coming to Cinema, he won several awards and accolades for his acting in Theatre.

Rajanala had a well proportioned body and his iconic acting was mostly through the movement of his eyes. He used to depict the cruelty of a villain through his appearance and widening of his eyes to various levels. His villain’s laugh (vikataattahaasam) was very famous.

He acted in over 100 telugu films as villain. He was such a dominant villain on screen that he used to get remuneration equal to a any Telugu lead actor of the time. In his last days, his leg had to be amputated because of diabetes.

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