Anaparthi Nagaraju, who played the role of Lava in the NT Rama Rao-starring mythological drama Lava Kusa (1963), has passed away. Popularly known as Lava Kusa Nagaraju, the veteran actor died of respiratory complications at his residence in Gandhi Nagar, Hyderabad, today. He was 71 and acted in over 50 films.

Nagaraju's performance along with Viyyuri Subrahmanyam, who played Kusa in the film, received plaudits from across the nation.

A bilingual in Telugu and Tamil, Lava Kusa was directed by CS Rao and his father C Pullaiah. The Telugu version won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Telugu for that year. The film completed a 175-day run in 18 centres and ran for 75 weeks in the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh.