Raghavendra Rao thanks everyone for birthday wishes

Legendary director

Raghavendra Rao

is celebrating his 78th birthday today and various celebrities have extended their wishes to him.

Mahesh Babu who debuted as the lead actor in a K Raghavendra Rao directorial extended his best wishes to the director. Sharing a picture with him from the sets of

Rajakumarudu

, he wrote, “Happy birthday, mamayya @Ragavendraraoba. Will always cherish the experience of working with an ingenious director like you... Wishing you the best of health and happiness always!” (sic) Industry stalwarts like Puri Jagannadh, Harish Shankar etc also wished the director who thanked everyone for their wishes. “As I celebrate my birthday today, I am filled with gratitude for my parents who were the cause for my existence, my entire family, and friends for supporting me over the years. I thank all the actors, producers, distributors & exhibitors who’ve believed in me from the beginning. And lastly, the biggest source of support is all of you - the audience - who have been blessing me and sending best wishes over the years.Thank you so much!” he wrote.

The director made his debut movie in the year 1975 with ‘Babu’ which starred

Shoban Babu

in lead role. However, he scored his first blockbuster with late NTR’s Adavi Ramudu. Later he went on to direct hit films like

Jagadeka Veerudu Athiloka Sundhari

, Bobbili Brahmanna, Allari Priyudu, Annamayya, Sri Ramadasu etc. He also launched star heroes like Mahesh Babu and Allu Arjun. He is titled as the Darshekendra of Tollywood.