Pioneer of the 'Madras Movie' phenomenon, director and producer Tatineni Rama Rao passes away at 83 One of the most respected filmmakers of the '80s, director Tatineni Rama Rao breathed his last today. He passed away after a long battle with an age-related illness at a private medical college in Chennai. He is mostly known for remaking films from one language into another, and a majority of his Hindi remakes were highly successful. Born in the year 1938 in Kapileswarapuram, Rama Rao began his career as an assistant director and became a director with the remake of a Tamil film 'Navarathri' into Telugu under the same name. He then went on to make some original stories, but mostly focused on remakes throughout his career. Some of his most successful ventures were Jeevana Tarangalu, Yamagola and Brahmachari. He made his Hindi debut with the film 'Lok Parlok', which is a remake of his own film 'Yamagola', and rose to fame with 'Judaai'. Throughout his career, he primarily focused on remaking popular Tamil films into Hindi and Telugu, and was instrumental in the formation of the 'Madras Movie' phenomenon. He has worked with many legendary actors including Nandamuri Taraka Ramarao, Akkineni Nageswara Rao, Amitabh Bachchan, Sridevi, Rekha, Jeetendra, Rajnikanth, Mithun Chakraborthy, and many more. Infact, Rajnikanth made his debut into Hindi with the film 'Andhaa Kaanoon', which is a remake of 'Sattam Oru Iruttarai'. He has seen a successful film career for almost four decades, in which he not only directed films but also was the producer of a few films in Hindi, Telugu, and Tamil. His last venture in the Telugu film industry was the 2004 Ravi Teja film Venky, which he produced. Tatineni Rama Rao is survived by his wife Tatineni Jayashree and children Chamundeswari, Naga Suseela, and Ajay Kumar.