He was born on 26 October 1926 in Tenali, Guntur district, Madras State to Venkatramaiah, Padmavathi.
Because Chalam was adopted by his grand father his surname got changed to Gudipati.
[5] His younger sister Usha Rani was the chairman of Telugu division of National Book Trust, New Delhi.
[1] Popular Telugu writer Malladi Venkata Krishna Murthy is also inspired by his writings.
Prominent character in his novels are Detective Yugandhar, and his assistant Raju, and Inspector Swarajya Rao.