Kota Srinivasa Rao & Raghu Babu Movies Together List — 20 Films

The shape of the work

The 2000s belonged to Classmates; the 2020s to Hari Hara Veera Mallu: Part 1 – Sword vs Spirit. Kota Srinivasa Rao acted in every film; Raghu Babu acted in all of them. Strictly Telugu cinema — they never crossed industries together.

Partnership facts

• Their first film together, Gemini (2002), was also the debut of director Sarath Mandava. Kota Srinivasa Rao was already a veteran, but Raghu Babu was still finding his footing. The director paired them as father and son after seeing Kota's intensity in a previous film — and Raghu's natural comic timing in a stage play.
• In Classmates (2007), Kota played a strict college principal while Raghu played a rowdy student. The scene where Raghu's character mocks Kota's character in front of the whole class was entirely improvised by Raghu. Kota, instead of breaking character, silently stared him down — and that unscripted tension became the most talked-about moment of the film.
• Their comedy track in Hungama (2005) — where Kota plays a corrupt village elder and Raghu his bumbling sidekick — was so popular that it directly inspired a spin-off character in the 2007 film Allari Pidugu. The director admitted in an interview that he wrote extra scenes just to keep them on screen together.
• On the sets of Aa Naluguru (2004), Raghu Babu would bring homemade pickles from his mother's kitchen for Kota Srinivasa Rao every single day. Kota, known for being a foodie, once joked that he signed Pourudu (2008) just because Raghu promised to keep the pickle supply going.
• "Kota garu never laughed at my jokes on set. He'd just nod and say 'do it again, better.' That's how I learned to be a real comedian — by trying to make him crack a smile." — Raghu Babu, in a 2015 interview with Sakshi Post.
• In Kantri (2008), they played rivals — Kota as a ruthless politician, Raghu as his henchman. The director later revealed that Kota deliberately slowed down his dialogue delivery in their confrontation scene to force Raghu to match his pace. Raghu, who usually spoke fast, had to recalibrate his entire performance on the spot.