Kota Srinivasa Rao & Mohan Babu Movies Together List — 9 Films

The shape of the work

The 1990s belonged to Sri Ramulayya; the 2010s to Doosukeltha. Mohan Babu actor in some, producer in others.

Partnership facts

• Their first film together, Veedevadandi Babu (1997), was a gamble. Mohan Babu was already a star, but Kota Srinivasa Rao was mostly known for villain roles. The director, A. Kodandarami Reddy, bet on their contrasting energies — Mohan Babu's loud, flamboyant style against Kota's deadpan menace. It worked just enough to get them a second film.
• In Sri Ramulayya (1999), Kota Srinivasa Rao played the antagonist to Mohan Babu's hero. But here's the trick: Kota deliberately underplayed every scene. He told a fan magazine later that he knew Mohan Babu would dominate the frame anyway, so he chose to be still and let his eyes do the work. That silence made their confrontations feel like a real power struggle.
• Kondaveeti Simhasanam (2002) was a disaster — 3.3/10 on IMDb. But it accidentally launched a trend. The film's over-the-top family feud plot was so bad it became a cult joke. A decade later, a YouTube channel called 'Telugu Film Nostalgia' started a series mocking it, which directly inspired the 'so-bad-it's-good' review culture for old Telugu films online.
• Off-screen, they barely spoke. On the sets of Suryam (2004), crew members recall that Mohan Babu and Kota Srinivasa Rao would sit at opposite ends of the lunch table. No bad blood — just two very different personalities. Mohan Babu was loud and social; Kota was quiet and kept to himself. They'd exchange only the lines they had to.
• Kota Srinivasa Rao once said in a 2006 interview: 'Mohan Babu is like a fire on screen. I am the smoke. Fire gets all the attention, but without smoke, the fire looks incomplete.' He was talking about their pairing in Political Rowdy (2005).