Haranath was born on 2 September 1936 in Raparthi near by Pithapuram and Gollaprolu in East Godavari district,had two younger brothers and a sister,his early schooling was in Madras till pre-university,and he did his B A degree in Kakinada P R College. He was very active in cultural activities,particularly dramas, won many a drama competition.An encounter leads him into films.He was waiting at Vanimahal bus stop in Madras, on the way to pilot training- when he was spotted by Mukkmamala Krishna Murthy,famous film actor,Director & producer and was selected to act as hero in the film Rishyasringa.But his second film Maa Inti Mahalakshmi,was the first film to be released.He was a very popular Tollywood lead actor in the 60's being regarded as a romantic icon. He acted in classic films like Amarasillipi Jakkana, Letha Manasulu, Chitti Chellelu, Aada Janma, Maa Inti Devatha, Bhishma, Pandava Vanavasam, Abhimanyu and several others in lead roles. He was the hero of the first film shot at Saradhi Studios in Hyderabad, Ma Inti Mahalakshmi (1959). He played the role of Lord Sri Rama in the film Seetha Rama Kalyanam, produced by N.T. Rama Rao under the banner, National Art Theatres, in which NTR acted as Ravana. He also played the role of Lord Krishna in the film (1962 film)|Bhishma.and as Sri Rama in Sri Rama Katha (1969). He had acted in about 117 Telugu films, 12 Tamil films, one Hindi and Kannada movie each. He has played in many films opposite Jamuna Juluri His last film was Tandra paparayudu starring Krishnamraju in 1986.produced 1 movie named maa inti devatha released in 1981,acted along with Krishna,Jumuna,Padma priya,Mohanbabu,Satyanarayana,directed by Padmanabham (artist),

He was married and his son Srinivas Varma Buddharaju is a film producer and a daughter Padmaja, is married to Telugu film producer G. V. G. Raju.