Hyderabad: Popular actor and acting instructor Devadas Kanakala passed away on Friday evening at a private hospital in Hyderabad. He was 74.
Born in the village of Kanakalapeta, near Yanam, on July 30, 1945, Devadas was a first generation actor, who was trained at the Pune Film Institute. His father, Kanakala Papayya Naidu, was an MLA from Yanam under the then French gover-nment.is this correct?
After graduating from the film institute, Devadas started his own acting institute and trained actors of the calibre of Chiranjeevi, Rajanikanth, Rajendra Prasad, Subhalekha Sudhakar, Bhanu Chander, Raghuvaran, and Nasser.
He also acted in many films - Gorintaku, Siri Siri Muvva, Manchu Pallaki and Gang Leader. His last film was Bharat Ane Nenu, which released last year. He made a name in Telugu cinema by providing the industry many fine actors trained at his institute.
His son Rajiv Kanakala and daughter-in-law Suma are popular film stars and have made their mark in Telugu cinema. Devadas's wife passed away a couple of years ago, which was a big setback for him; from then on he confined himself to his home. He had not been feeling well for some days and was admitted to a private hospital where he breathed his last on Friday evening.
His son Rajiv announced the sad news. After hearing the news, many people from the industry went to the hospital to pay their respects and condole with the family.
