M. Prabhakar Reddy – Popular character artist of Telugu cinema

Mandadi Prabhakar Reddy (1935–1997), best known as M. Prabhakar Reddy was a very popular and versatile character artist of Telugu cinema since early 1960s. He has also done a few lead roles and won Nandi Award for Best Actor in 1980 and 1981 for his lead roles in Yuvatharam Kadilindi and Palli Pilichindi respectively. He also received Nandi Award for Best Supporting Actor for Chinna Kodalu in 1990.  He was a medical student when he joined film scene playing the role of a young doctor and psychiatrist in 1960 Telugu classic, Chivaraku Migiledi, remake of Bengali classic, Deep Jwele Jaai. Later he became a sought after character actor and villain in many films, and appeared in over 472 films in a career spanning to three decades.

M. Prabhakar Reddy hailed from Thungathurthi, Nalgonda district of undivided Andhra Pradesh. He got his first break to films while he was doing 4^th year MBBS at Osmania Medical College. He was spotted by directed Ramineedu, who got impressed by his performance in an inter-college drama competition and promised him a role in Chivaraku Migiledi. Interestingly he played a chief doctor in the movie. His role got noticed and he played numerous character roles in the 1960s – 1980s. Apart from acting, he wrote the script of 21 Telugu movies and won the Nandi Award for Best Story Writer for Grihapravesam and Gandhi Puttina Desam. Pandanti Kapuram and Karthika Deepam are other popular scripts.

M. Prabhakar Reddy – Some interesting and less-known facts

1. He introduced popular actress Jayaprada to silver screen through Telugu movie – Bhoomi Kosam, in 1976. She appeared in a song sequence. In fact her real name was Lalita Rani, and Reddy rechristened her as Jayaprada.

2. He was a recipient of 5 Nandi awards – 2 for best actor, 1 for best supporting actor and 2 for best story.

3. He was known for his leftist ideologies. He scripted and directed Comrade, just one year before his death.

4. He has donned almost all type of character roles on screen. He has been a part of several mythological and historical epics, apart from doing social and family dramas. He also played villain in several hit movies of 1970s.

5. He has been a part of several Telugu remakes of Bollywood hits like Yaadon Ki Baraat, Kalicharan, Zanjeer, Dharma etc. Interestingly he reprised the roles of antagonist Ajit Khan in all these movies.  

6. He worked with N. T. Rama Rao in a supporting role in many of his early movies of 1960s.