Veteran Telugu actor Chalapathi Rao passed away at his residence in Hyderabad, family sources said on Sunday.

The 78-year-old actor died on Saturday night. He acted in over 600 films portraying various characters.

Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao expressed condolences on the demise of Chalapathi Rao. He said the death of Chalapathi Rao, who worked with three generations of actors as an actor and producer, was a big loss to the film industry.

The actor's son Ravi Babu is also an actor, director, and producer in the Telugu film industry.

“It is very sad that so many of our people are going away,” producer D Suresh, who visited the bereaved family, said.

Actor and Jana Sena party chief Pawan Kalyan, in a statement, also expressed sorrow at Chalapathi Rao’s death.

Chalapathi Rao acted in several Telugu movies as a supporting actor and villain in the films of NT Rama Rao, Krishna, Akkineni Nagarjuna, Chiranjeevi and Venkatesh. He is well-known for films such as Yamagola, Yugapurushudu, Justice Chaudhary, Bobbili Puli, Ninne Pelladata and Allari.