When it comes to late 70s and early 80s, K.Raghavendra Rao and Dasari Narayana Rao ruled the roost of tollywood. Both the directors got good opportunities equally to direct star heroes movies. And they tasted super successes. If K.Raghavendra Rao offered blockbusters like, ‘Adavi Ramudu’, ‘Vetagadu’, ‘Kondaveeti Simham’ etc., Dasari Narayana Rao leveled the scores with similar range of blockbusters like ‘Bobbili Puli’, ‘Sardar Paparayudu, ‘Premabhishekam’ etc. Thus, both the directors enjoyed the status of Super Stardom equally.
However, things were changed in subsequent days. Dasari Narayana Rao has reportedly grown a lot of arrogance due to success. Subsequently, Dasari felt himself as superior even than big stars like NTR and ANR. Unfortunately, he couldn't sustain the grip on directorial skills later. He could not make use of opportunities with star heroes. His one and only movie with Chiranjeevi was ‘Lankeswarudu’ and the project has bit the dust miserably. Later, he gave a few super hits like 'Orey Rickshaw,' ‘Osey Ramulamma,’ ‘Surigadu' etc. But, they were quite limited in number. No star hero has given a chance for Dasari in subsequent days.
On the other hand, K.Raghavendra Rao was humble and modest towards work and never ever exhibited the arrogance on his success. Meanwhile, he gave many more super hits and industry hits even in 90s and the new millennium. Even today, he is directing a movie with big hero like Nagarjuna as ‘Shirdi Sai.’ That is the difference between K.Raghavendra Rao and Dasari.