Singeetham Srinivasa Rao, Indian Filmmaker Behind ‘Pushpaka Vimana,’ ‘Michael Madana Kama Rajan’ and ‘Aditya 369’ Dies at 95 — SkimNews
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- Singeetham Srinivasa Rao died Oct. 3 in Chennai at age 95 following a period of ill health
- Rao made roughly 60 features across Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, and Hindi, moving between farce, fantasy, mythology, and science fiction
- "Pushpaka Vimana" (1987), a dialogue-free comedy written and co-produced by Rao and starring Kamal Haasan, won the Indian National Film Award for best popular film; the lack of dialogue allowed actors to be drawn from across India
- "Mayuri" (1985), starring dancer Sudha Chandran in a dramatization of her own comeback after losing a leg, collected a record 14 Nandi Awards from Andhra Pradesh
- "Sing Geetham" reached cinemas in June 2025, marking Rao's first directorial effort in a decade
- Rao trained under director K.V. Reddy, assisting on the 1957 Telugu classic "Mayabazar" before debuting as a director himself with "Neethi Nijayithi" in 1972
- The Film Federation of India presented Rao with its Life Achievement Award in 2011, and he also won the National Film Award for best Tamil feature for "Dikkatra Parvathi" (1974)
Why it matters: Rao's death closes a six-decade chapter of Indian cinema that spanned four language industries, and his final film 'Sing Geetham' arriving in June 2025 — his first directorial effort in a decade — underscores how creatively active he remained into his 90s. The Kamal Haasan collaborations, including the dialogue-free 'Pushpaka Vimana,' remain benchmarks of experimental mainstream filmmaking in Tamil cinema.
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