Krishna

Krishna Ghattamaneni (Born Siva Rama Krishna Ghattamaneni) Popularly Known as Superstar Krishna is an Indian film actor, director and producer known for his works in Telugu Cinema. He acted in more than 350 films, as one of the leading actors in his career spanning over five decades in the 70's and 80's. In 2008, he got an honorary doctorate from Andhra University. In 2009, the Government of India honoured him with the Padma Bhushan for his contributions to Indian Cinema. He was elected as a Member of Parliament for the Congress party in 1989. In 1997, he received the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award – South.

In the early years of his film career, he was starred in films like Saakshi which won critical acclaim at the Tashkent film festival in 1968. In 1972, He was starred in Pandanti Kapuram, which garnered the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Telugu for that year. He played roles across different genres includes mythological, drama, social, cowboy, western classic, folklore, action and historical.

He is credited with producing many technological firsts in Telugu film Industry like the first Eastman color film Eenadu (1982), the first Cinemascope film (Alluri Seetharama Raju), first 70mm film (Simhasanam), first DTS film (Telugu Veera Levara) (1988) and introducing cowboy and James Bond styles to the Telugu screen.

He has directed 17 feature films and produced many films under Padmalaya Film Studio, a production house owned by him. Krishna collaborated with several ace directors of the time like Adurthi Subba Rao, V. Madhusudhana Rao, K. Viswanath, Bapu, Dasari Narayana Rao and K. Raghavendra Rao. He also has the record of pairing up with same actress for more than 48 films with Vijayanirmala and 47 films with Jayaprada.^. In December 2012, at the age of 69, Krishna announced his retirement from movies and politics.