Ajay & Kota Srinivasa Rao Movies Together List — 13 Films

The shape of the work

The 2010s account for 62% of everything they made together. The 2000s belonged to Chatrapathi; the 2020s to Power Play. Ajay acted in every film; Kota Srinivasa Rao acted in all of them. Strictly Telugu cinema — they never crossed industries together.

Partnership facts

• Ajay and Kota Srinivasa Rao first shared screen space in Sye Aata (2010), but their real breakthrough as a pair came the very next year in Dookudu (2011). That film’s blockbuster status (100+ crores) turned them into a reliable comic duo overnight.
• In Dookudu, Kota’s deadpan delivery as the bumbling father-in-law set the perfect straight man for Ajay’s hyper-energetic, fast-talking sidekick. Ajay would often speed up his lines mid-scene, and Kota would slow his reactions down — that push-pull rhythm became their signature.
• Their comic pairing in Dookudu directly inspired the trend of casting a senior character actor (like Kota) opposite a younger comedian (like Ajay) in Telugu masala films. You can see the ripple in later hits like Sarrainodu and Aravinda Sametha, where similar age-gap comic duos were tried.
• Kota Srinivasa Rao once said in an interview that Ajay was the only younger actor who would sit with him between shots and discuss old Telugu plays — not just film gossip. They bonded over their shared love for stage drama, which most of the younger cast didn’t care about.
• "Kota garu is like a walking dictionary of comedy timing. I just had to listen and react — he made me look good in every scene." — Ajay, in a 2012 interview about working with Kota Srinivasa Rao on Dookudu.