The 80th birthday of noted actor and writer Gollapudi Maruti Rao is being organised by Visakha Rasagna Vedika at AMCOSA auditorium near Zilla Parishad on Sunday.
Announcing this at a media conference here on Friday, Visakha Rasagna Vedika president Gandikota Raghurama Rao said that it was an honour for the people of Visakhapatnam to felicitate the multifaceted personality. While he was popular as an actor not many know about his contribution to literature.
Mr. Maruti Rao had penned his first story ‘Ashajeevi’ in 1954, made his debut as a film writer with ‘Dr. Chakravarthi’ in 1964 and his first film as an actor was ‘Intlo Ramayya Veedhilo Krishnayya (1982)’. He has acted in over 270 films and penned 15 novels and a number of short stories and plays.
The views of about 90 well-known personalities were elicited and they were published on the title: ‘Gollapudi asithiparvam’ to mark the 80th birthday celebrations of Mr. Maruti Rao. The literary programme, to begin at 9.30 a.m. on that day, would be preceded by ‘Dasavataralu’, a performance by the children of Hidden Sprouts Special School, on the occasion of Sri Rama Navami.Dr. Raghurama Rao said that the literary programme on the title: ‘Sahiti Marutiyam’ would feature literary talks by K. Ramachandhra Murthy, Kandimalla Sambasiva RAo, Peri Ravi Kumar, Vennelakanti, Dwibashyam Rajeswara Rao, Bulusu Prabhakara Sarma and G. Balasrinivasa Murthy. Dr. D.V. Surya Rao would moderate the programme.
At the felicitation programme to be organised later in the evening, Director General of Fire Services, K. Satyanarayana, would participate as chief guest. Dr. S.V. Adinarayana, S. Vijay Kumar, Mavuri Venkata Ramana and V. Harshavardhan would participate as guests.The play ‘Kallu’, written by Gollapudi Maruti Rao, would be staged by artistes of Matrusri Kalaniketan after the felicitation programme. Noted writer Meda Mastan Reddy and Maruti Rao’s brother Gourisankar were present at the media conference.
