A career spanning over 25 years as a film hero sounds colossal and is bound to have ups and downs. Nandmuri Balakrishna recently celebrated Silver Jubilee of his career. Apart from his roles as child artist, he acted in seventy Telugu movies since starting his career as a solo hero in 1984. Being the son of legendary NTR, and having already played key roles in eleven movies, his entry as a solo hero was a cakewalk and he needed no introduction to the Telugu audiences. However, his first two movies that were released in 1984, namely Sahasame Jeevitam and Disco King were disappointing, and left such a slur on his image that it took almost a decade and a half to repair the damage. While K,Viswanath failed to endear Balayya to the Class audience through Janani Janma Bhoomi, Kodi Ramakrishna established him as a mass hero through Bhargav Arts film Mangamma gari Manavadu, a runway hit and the popular song Danchave Menatta Kutura echoed in the streets of every village. Balayya suited the role of a village youth so well that he had to live that image for years. His debut year 1984 ended with another super hit film Kathanayakudu produced by Suresh Productions and put him in the top slot of young heroes right next to Chiranjeevi who was emerging as a mega mass hero of the eighties. Also released in the same year, NTR's Brahmam gari Chritra created wonders at Box office and Balayya got his due credit for playing an important role. Balayya's first year was very promising with three out of seven movies being big hits.

Balayya could not keep up the spirit of success in the following year as his first venture with comedy director Late Jandhyala Babai Abbai, a remake of NTR's Vaddante Dabbu failed miserably. His first movie with ANR Bharya Bhartla Bhandham produced by Jagapati Arts was rated as an average film. Pattabhishekam, a Ramakrishna Studios film directed by K.Raghavendra Rao who weaved a new image for NTR, saved grace by collecting close to one crore in the first week and having a decent run. But it failed in meeting the expectations set for the combination to achieve. KRR-Balayya combination never worked well for one reason or other.

1986 can be regarded as the best year for Balayya until 1999. His six consecutive hits elevated him to superstardom and he appeared on the cover page of The Week magazine. His Muddula Krishnniah was the first movie to collect over one crore in the first week and Balyya never looked back on openings. Balayya, Vijaya Santhi's pair became one of the most sought after. Having two Golden Jubilees and three more Silver Jubilees already in three years , one would expect his career to be flourishing Green over the following years. But the next few years brought no luck and he lost momentum. In 1989, his Muddula Mavaiah turned out to be the biggest hit and proved his stamina.

Lorry Driver came in 1990 and little did anyone expect that this hit combination of Balayya and Gopal would one day have the annals of Telugu Film industry rewritten. Rowdy Inspector was another big hit in Balayya's career that came in the next couple of years. Even dubbed version in Hindi was a big hit and ran 100 days in North India.

Balayya always experimented with roles that would inhibit other stars. During his long career he chose a plethora of variety in the characters he played. Sometimes his fans were worried that he wasn't following the trend and his movies were not managed to complete 100-day run. His performances in Sci-Fi Aditya 369 and Folklore Bhairava Dweepam were admired by one and all and reflected in commercial outcome as well. He also ventured a full length mythological film in Sri Krishnarjuna Vijayam that bombed but proved that only Balayya of present day heroes could venture mythological roles. Balayya produced a movie on his own banner and failed as a producer. His lack of management showed with Nippuravva and Bangaru Bullodu being released in the same week and the result is the high-budgeted Nippuravva bombed.

Film pundits thought Balayya deserved a Nandi for his Peddannaiah performance. However Nandamuris don't seem to care for awards as NTR always said "Prajabhimananni Minchina Award Ledu Brother". While not being big on awards front, Balayya's films continued to evoke huge response and command heavy openings over years. He went on to become one of the two biggest crowd pullers of the present day Telugu cinema, the other being Chiranjeevi.

After Peddannayya, nothing significant happened until 1999 for Balayya other than a string of flops. It was one of those times when the industry was in slump hovered by seasonal Blues and the future looked bleak and Balayya's career was in doldrums. Then came his Samarsimha Reddy which was released with deficit. Even the producer thought it would be an average movie at best. But the drizzle culminated into a storm. A thunderbolt was heard in AP and the. Telugu Film Industry was struck by a lightening. Truly speaking this movie created wonders at box office like no other movie. Adavi Ramudu and Premabhishekam come only close. Film nagar was amazed by Balayya's stamina and so was Balayya indeed. After all said and done, this movie changed all equations. All famous producers joined the list of 'who wish to make the next movie with Balayya'. Rama Naidu, Krishna, Ramoji, Murali Mohan, Dasari and so many others showed up at his home with plans.

While Samarasimha Reddy's thunders haven't subsided, who would expect this could be repeated as early as in two years? Honestly, nobody did. But Narasimha Naidu took everybody by surprise. Opened with heavy collections, this movie went on to become industry's biggest hit in terms of revenue. Now that Balayya has carved out an image that appeals to outside of his fan base too, he has a humungous challenge in front of him in terms of living up to the expectations. He won the Cine Goers Association's best actor award for 2001. The more coveted Nandi award was finally bestowed upon Balayya for the year 2002 as he was adjudged the best actor for his performance in Narasimha Naidu. Also, conferred on him was the "Nata Simha" tag and it was a sweet accolade that marked the silver jubilee of his career. However, to be remembered as Natasimha, he will have to hit the screen with atleast one more Samara Simha Reddy or Narasimha Naidu as these characters have benchmarked the roaring lion image.

Ravi Suryadevara
Atlanta, USA
suryadevara@hotmail.com

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