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Biography:
Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao, aka NTR was the Telugu megastar, producer,
director and politician. He was born in farming family in Nimmakuru,
Gudiwada district on 28th of May 1923. He studied in Vijayawada
where he started acting in and directing college plays, often playing
female roles. He attracted attention for his role Prince Salim in
Muddu Krishna's Anarkali. He staged plays along with Kongara
Jaggaiah at Andhra Christian College, Guntur (like Chesina Papam,
1946) and at the amateur National Arts Theater group, which he set
up in 1946. It was also an effective fund-raiser for draught and
famine relief in the AP in early 50's. With the film Todu Dongalu,
the company bacame N.A.T film, run by his brother N Trivikrama Rao
in 1954. NTR worked briefly as a clerk in Registrar's office at
Guntur in 1947.
He film debut
was Mana Desam that was
directed by LV Prasad in which he played a small role. His first
heroic character was done in BA Subba Rao's Palletoori Pilla.
He broke through with LV Prasad's Shavukar
and had a two-year contract with the Vijaya studios (hits include
Pathala Bhairavi, Malleswari
and Pelli Chesi Choodu),
making him as the top star of Telugu cinema along with Akkineni
Nageswara Rao.
His
first mythological film was Mayabazaar, playing Lord Krishna,
a role he played in 17 films (typically in those by K Kameswara
Rao) and often invoked his political career. His 'living God' personal
took of with P Pullaiah's hit 'Sri Venkateswara Mahatyam',
playing the deity of Tirupati temple. He cultivated this identification,
even publicly receiving devotees from Tirumala in front of his Madras
house.
He
often directed himself in mythologicals playing multiple roles,
e g Daana Veera Sura Karna and Sri Rama Pattabhishekam.
Later on he started with melodrama (e.g. Palleturu) and folk
fantasies. He later modulated, often via younger actresses like
Sridevi, into vigilante characters facing a corrupt society adapting
the Prakash Mehra-type movie into Telugu (Yughandar, Vetagadu,
Bobbili Puli etc).
He
set up the populist regional Telugu Desam Party in 1982, which unseated
Congress in AP for the first time since Independence. He was the
chief minister of the state until 1989 when his party was defeated.
Civil liberties activist K Bala Goal has extensively analyzed NTR's
reign as the chief minister, linking NTR's films with his populist
politics representing a Telugu regional bourgeoisie. NTR returned
to film making in 1990 to direct and act in Brahmarshi Vishwamitra,
an unsuccessful campaign film for the 1991 general elections.
NTR is an icon
in Andhra Pradesh and will be remembered by everybody in Telugu
community forever.
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