Comedian Venu Madhav passes away

Popular comedian Venu Madhav died on Wednesday in Hyderabad after a long illness. He was 51. He breathed his last while undergoing treatment for a kidney ailment at Yashoda Hospital in Secunderabad. He had been under treatment for a long time. He was survived by a wife and two kids. 

Beginning his career in SV Krishna Reddy’s ‘Sampradayam’ in 1996, he ruled the movie industry as a comedian for more than a decade. At one time, he used to feature in every movie produced in the Telugu film industry. He had more than 60 releases in a single year in 2005.

‘Toli Prema’ was a breakthrough. V V Vinayak directed ‘Dil’ brought him to star status as a comedian. Hits like ‘Aadi’, ‘Simhadri’, ‘Chatrapathi’, ‘Sye’, and ‘Lakshmi’ cemented his position further. Some of his popular films were – “Sontham, Nuvve Nuvve, Naaga, Samba, Arya, Gudumba Shankar, Shankar Dada MBBS, Mass, Bunny, Athanokkade, Super, Chhatrapati, Jai Chiranjeeva, Ranam, Pokiri, Kick, Desamuduru, Siddu from Sikakulam, Blade Babji  Babji, Neninthe.”

He won the Nandi award as the Best Comedian for his role in V V Vinayak’s ‘Lakshmi’ (2006). H was seen in nearly 400 movies and had also acted as a lead hero in films such as ‘Hungama’ (debut movie as a hero), ‘Bhukailash’ and ‘Premabhishekam’, which he also produced. 

He had been a longtime supporter of the Telugu Desam Party and campaigned for the party in elections. Born and brought up in Kodada, Venu Madhav began his career as mimicry artiste. Before entering the film industry, he had worked as an office clerk in the TDP office in Hyderabad.

He last appeared in Gunasekhar directed ‘Rudhramadevi’.