Peesapati Narasimha Murty

Who was Peesapati Narasimha Murty?

Peesapati Narasimha Murty was an eminent Telugu stage actor.

He was born in a Vantaram village near Balijipeta, Vizianagaram district in 1920. He learned the epics well which helped him to render the poems and dialogues appropriate to the scene with clarity and bhava.

He was trained under Kilambi Krishnamacharyulu in 1934 and started his acting career with Rangoon Rowdy in 1938. In 1946, he enacted as Sri Krishna in Pandavodyoga Vijayalu. He won the prize as best Sri Krishna in the “Akhilandhra Pandava Udyoga Vijayalu” competitions held in 1949 at Guntur. Since then acted the role continuously for 40 years. Unlike the other artists who acted as Krishna, he never indulged in long raga aalapana and rendered the padyams with clarity in majestic voice. In between padyams, he created dialogues suitable to that scene that earned appreciation of the audience. Even though he made only short raga, he earned the accolades of the illiterate audience.

He acted throughout the state and all major cities in India. He received many awards including the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1986. Andhra University honoured him with Kala Prapoorna in 1993.