Veteran film director Tatineni Rama Rao breathed his last at a medical college in Chennai on Wednesday. He was 84 and is survived by his wife Jayashree, daughters Chamundeswari, Naga Suseela and son Ajay.

Born in Kapileswarapuram, Andhra Pradesh, in 1938, T Rama Rao forayed into the industry as an assistant director to his cousin and director Tatineni Prakash Rao. He also worked as an associate to K Pratyagatma, before making his directorial debut with the Telugu film Navarathri (1966) starring Akkineni Nageswara Rao and Savithri.

He directed NT Rama Rao in the fantasy-comedy Yamagola (1977), which celebrated a silver jubilee (175 days) run in six centres and also ran for over 40 weeks in Hyderabad and Vijayawada. He remade the film in Hindi as Lok Parlok (1979) and recreated the success at the box office.

In a career spanning over five decades, Rama Rao has directed 70 films in Telugu and Hindi, before bidding adieu to the industry with the Govinda-starrer Hindi comedy-drama Beti No.1 (2000). He launched a production house named Lakshmi Productions (Madras) (P) LTD and produced over a dozen films in Telugu, Tamil and Hindi.

During his journey, Rama Rao worked with celebrated actors like Akkineni Nageswara Rao, NT Rama Rao, Sobhan Babu, Amitabh Bachchan, Rajinikanth, Dharmendra, Rishi Kapoor and Jeetendra.

Veteran actor Anupam Kher mourned the death of Rama Rao and called him a compassionate and commanding personality with a great sense of humour.

Actor Nandamuri Balakrishna remembered Rama Rao's association with his father NT Rama Rao and expressed his condolences to the bereaved family members.

Actors and directors, several of whom were associated with Rama Rao, have also come together to pay tributes to the departed director.

T Rama Rao's funeral will be held on Wednesday evening.