Famous Mimic Nerella Venumadhav Passes Away

Renown mimicry artiste Nerella Venumadhav passed away at his house in Hanamkonda on Tuesday morning after a brief illness. He was 85.

Venumadhav, often regarded as father of Indian mimicry, was born in Mattewada in Warangal town in 1932. For his invaluable contribution to popularizing the art, he was awarded the Padma Shri. He also received the Sri Rajalakshmi Foundation award in 1981, the Kala Prapoorna title from the Andhra University in 1978, honorary doctorates from Andhra University, IGNOU and Kakatiya University, and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Telugu Book of Records and Telangana Recordula Pustakam.

He was also nominated as a Member of Legislative Council of Andhra Pradesh by then Chief Minister P V Narasimha Rao in 1971.

Venumadhav also started a diploma course at Telugu University in mimicry, a first in the world.

Venumadhav started his career in 1947 at the age of 16. He performed in Telugu, English, Urdu, Hindi and Tamil. He toured all over the world, and is the first mimic to perform at the United Nations (in New York City). Known for his, um, inimitable style of imitating voices and sounds, Venumadhav blazed a trail in the art. His mimicry of a particular scene in Mackenna's Gold is considered the best even now.

Governor E S L Narasimhan and Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao expressed grief over the demise of Venumadhav. They conveyed their condolences to the bereaved family members. The Chief Minister instructed Chief Secretary S K Joshi to organize a state funeral for the departed artiste.

Deputy Chief Minister Kadiam Srihari, TRS MP K Kavitha, Telangana Congress chief N Uttam Kumar Reddy, former PCC president Ponnala Laxmaiah, CPI Secretary Chada Venkat Reddy and others were among those who expressed their sympathies to Venumadhav's family members.