Tollywood senior actor, popular villain, character artist Chalapathi Rao passed away on 24th December. Many Tollywood bigwigs paid homage to mortal remains of Chalapathi Rao but Nandamuri Balakrishna didn't visited at that time. Balayya was participating in song shoot for Veera Simha Reddy and it was a tight schedule that he was unable to make it to pay a visit. He issued a statement that Chalapathi Rao is very close to his family. He has acted with his father NTR Garu and with NBK in many films. He expressed deep sorrow and offered condolences to his family in his official statement.
Today on Chalapathi Rao's 11th day ceremony, Balayya personally went and paid homage to him. He condoled Chalapathi Rao's son Ravi Babu and other family members. He spent much time with them and shared his experiences with the veteran actor. Chalapathi Rao's acting career was spanned more than six decades and acted in hundreds of films. He was last seen in Nagarjuna starrer Bangarraju which was released for last Sankranthi. He was 78 years old. He has two daughters and son Ravi Babu, a popular filmmaker in Tollywood.