“Edi chesina entiodike chellindi”…this is the most common dialogue we often hear from the mouth of anna gari fans or critics. Yes…whatever he did, that used to send waves in the world. It is unfair to talk about him in English, perhaps he is the only person from A.P. who propagated the pride of Telugu community in a great extent across the globe with his charm, with words and deeds. To carry forward the vim and vigor driven by the idol of Andhra Pradesh, Dr. Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao, TeluguOne discloses the life the great leader to the world through its portal, in English. This is just a small description extracted from the era of all time Telugu sensation to pay the tributes.
Born in Nimmakuru, a small village in Gudivada taluk on May 28, 1923, NTR had his early education from a tutor, Valluru Subba Rao, in his native village. His parents, Venkataramamma and Laxmaiah, gave him in adoption to the latter's brother, Ramaiah and his wife Chandramma, who were issueless. He studied up to Classs V in his village as there was no further education there, Ramaiah and his wife took their adopted son to Vijayawada and got him admitted into Class VI in the municipal school. He passed the matriculation examination in 1940 and joined the SRR and CVR College in Vijayawada. While doing his Intermediate course, he supplemented the family income by supplying milk to hotels in Vijayawada on his bicycle.
NTR-a mentor multifaceted
Coming from an ordinary peasant family in a remote village in Krishna district, he worked his way to the top with his hard work and strong determination to reach the goal, come what may.
That was Nandamuri Taraka. Rama Rao, the hero of the masses in his reel life, who later became their hero in real life by unseating the nearly century old and well entrenched Congress, and forming the first ever non-Congress Government in the State.
As a stage performer
At the end of the first year, the students decided to stage a play written by `Kavi Samrat' Viswanadha Satyanarayana, the well-known Telugu poet and writer and the head of the Telugu department of the college.
The play, `Rachamalluni Dautyam', had a strong heroine's character and girls did not take part in stage activities in those days. Satyanarayana ordered Rama Rao to don the robe of the heroine, and the latter took it up, though unwillingly.
That was his first role on the stage and it got him the first prize and also kindled his interest in histrionics. During the college anniversary celebrations the next year, he played the role of Salim in the play `Anarkali' and again bagged the first prize.
Basava Taraka Rama Rao
In May 1942, when he was 20, Rama Rao married Basava Tarakam, the daughter of his maternal uncle. The marriage came in the way of his studies and he failed twice in the Intermediate examination. Unable to stand the teasing by his friends, he made a determined effort and finally passed the examination.
He joined the Andhra Christian College at Guntur for the Bachelor of Arts course in 1945. He formed an amateur drama group, `National Art Theatre', with the help of his friends. The group used to stage plays to raise funds for noble causes.
The first offer to join films came Rama Rao's way, when he was still in college. The famous Telugu director, C. Pullaiah, offered him a role in his film "Keelu Gurram". He, however, turned down the offer, as he first wanted to complete his degree course.
A well-wisher introduced him to the established director, L.V. Prasad, who after a screen test in Madras, offered him a small role in his film `Mana Desam'. Rama Rao, who wanted to take up acting as a full-time career was looking for the role of a hero rejected the offer.
As Sub-Registrar
In the meantime, he appeared for the Madras Service Commission examination for sub-registrar's post. Of the 1,100 candidates who took the test, seven were selected and he was one of them. He took up the job in October 1947 for a salary of Rs.120. On the very first day of reporting for duty, he was shocked to see the staff taking bribes and was disillusioned.
Luckily for him, B.A. Subba Rao, who was making his directorial debut, `Palleturi Pilla', saw Rama Rao's photograph in L.V. Prasad's album and decided that he was the right man for the hero's role in his film. He was offered Rs.1,116 for the hero's role and he accepted the offer and went back home after signing an agreement.
He resigned the sub-registrar's job, three weeks after he took it up and went back to Madras to launch himself in the screen career. He now accepted the role of a police sub- inspector in Prasad's Mana Desam, which was his first film.
A new genre of Telugu Cinema- filled with NTR fever 
He had an obsession for trying to be realistic in his films. In his first film as hero in `Palleturi Pilla', Rama Rao refused the services of a duplicate to do the risky bullfight scene, much against the wishes of the director. After some time, he lost grip on the noose and the enraged bull lifted him, swung him around and threw him to the ground. He suffered a wrist fracture and was hospitalised for several weeks. The bullfight contributed to the success of the film and it became a mega hit, running for 100 days at seven theatres in Andhra region.
It was the folklore, `Patala Bhairavi', which was the turning point in his career. The first godly role he played was that of Lord Krishna in `Maya Bazaar'. However, it was his role in `Sri Venkateswara Mahatyam', released in 1960 that gave him a new identity. The deification of Rama Rao began and his residence in Madras became a shrine for pilgrims, who would visit him after a trip to Tirupati. NTR fans used to wait in long queues outside his house for a darshan of their `living-god'. They used to apprise him of their problems back home in their villages and he listened to them patiently before rushing to the studio in the morning.
Though there is little commentary available, analysts believe that the Telugu film industry produced some of the best mythological movies in the entire India movie making history, while the Tamil and Hindi movie industry produced better socially oriented films.
NTR was naturally talented and extremely disciplined with various aspects of acting like preparation, punctuality, dialogue delivery etc. The single most important factor that makes him a great actor was his ability to deliver dialogues, which were extremely lengthy that were original verses from Ramayana and Mahabharatha, with a fervour and command very few unlike his contemporaries, with certain exceptions like S. V. Ranga Rao. This despite the fact that he generally used to play multiple roles in the same movie, hence increasing the amount of the dialogues and preparation required, which only increased his determination.
The greatness of Rama rao was that he was very versatile. Down south, in Tamilnadu, Shivaji Ganesan was much more known for his acting skill and talent. Whereas MGR was much more known for his commercial movies. NTR struck a balance between both kinds of cinema. He used to perform roles in mythological movies like those only Shivaji could perform and even do commercial 'Janapadham'(where the adventurous prince saves the damsel in distress)films which were MGR's forte. But he did not get as many awards from the government of India because of his conflict with the central government on his political ideas. He was neglected.
The most notable movies acted by NTR in mythological characters are
Maya Bazaar (Sri Krishna),
Lava Kusa (Lord Rama),
Sri Krishnaarjuna Yuddham (Sri Krishna),
Bheeshma (Bheeshma),
Bhookailas(Raavana),
Nartanasala (Arjuna also as Bruhannala),
Panadava-vanavsam (Bheema),
Sri Venkateswara Mahatyam (Lord Venkateswara),
Maha Mantri Thimmarusu (Sri Krishna Devaralyalu)
and Dana Veera Sura Karna (Duryodhana, Sri Krishna, Karna).
Apart from these he played a variety of roles in folklore characters like Jagadeka Veeruni Katha, Pathala Bhairavi etc. On the social front he played roles in the movies Malliswari, Kanyasulkam, Gundamma Katha, Missamma, Raktha Sambandham, Ramudu Bheemudu, Adavi Ramudu, Vetagadu, Gajadonga, Driver Ramudu, Sardar Paparayudu, Kondaveeti Simham, Justice Chaudhary, Bobbili Puli etc. He acted in over two hundred and eighty movies in the lead role.
He also donned the roles of an elderly teacher (Badi Pantulu) becoming a model to his pupils, as a prince and pauper(Raju-Peda), a down to earth servant dedicated to his master (Aatma Bhanduvu). In later years of his acting life there were not many great directors to bring the best out of his talents, however he excelled beyond comparison in every role he played.
In all, he acted in 292 films in a career spanning 33 years between 1949 and 1982. Of these, 274 are in Telugu, 15 in Tamil and three in Hindi. This apart, several of his Telugu films were dubbed into Tamil.
| Here are some of the best movies he acted in. | |
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As producer
Shrinatha Kavi Sarvabhowma (1993)
Samrat Ashok (1992)
The leader inside blown out with the motto of Andhrula Atma Gauravam
After making it big in the filmdom, he was deeply moved by the plight of the poor and gave a patient hearing to their problems, when they called on him at his residence in Madras. This had, perhaps, had an effect on his life several years later. After his `shashtipoorthi' celebrations, he quit films and set up a political party to end the hegemony of the Congress Party in the State and usher in value-based politics.
Promoting a new movie, he was asked a question by a person in the audience who asked "ayya, memu mimmalni devudu laga adarincamu, kani meeru maku emi chesaru?"; literally translated from telugu meant "Sir, we have treated you like a God but what have you done for us ?". He was so moved by this that he formed TDP and came into power within 9 months of its formation.
How could he become a CM within 1 year?
NTR, as he was fondly called, launched the Telugu Desam Party in March 1982and on January 5, 1983, to be precise - the fledgling party dealt a crushing blow to the Congress. He was successful in weaning the Telugus from their unflinching loyalty to Indira Gandhi.
Among other reasons why he won the elections was no real alternative to the Congress, lack of development, unemployment etc. The wayward functioning of the Congress in the State and the Andhras' anger over the way the Chief Minister, T. Anjaiah, was insulted in public by Rajiv Gandhi, who was then only the AICC secretary-general, at the Hyderabad airport changed the mood of the public which started looking for an alternative to the Congress. NTR fulfilled that need by espousing the cause of `aarukotla Andhrula atma gauravam' (self-respect of six-crore Andhras). He was very well supported by Ramoji Rao who gave wide publicity through the Telugu daily Eenadu. NTR himself contested elections from the constituency of Gudivada in Krishna District.
Initially ridiculed by the Congress that state politics is not like movie acting among others, TDP was considered a no match for the congress, with the local representatives unheard of, the complete burden rested on the shoulders of NTR, and true to his charisma he won the elections with a landslide majority.
Soon after taking over as Chief Minister, NTR kept many of his election promises, which many had then dismissed as populist and earned a place for himself in the heart of Telugus. After his advent, the Telugus elsewhere got their exclusive identity, breaking away from the original tag of `Madrasis'. While emphasising the importance of Telugu, he, however, held out the assurance that the TDP would also encourage and protect the languages and culture of people from other States.
He believed that only strong States could make a strong Centre. He convinced the then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, in this regard which made her change her earlier stance that strong States would mean a weak Centre, says S. Venkat Narayan in his biography of NTR.
Among the most significant change he made was to abolish the Legislative Council of the State of Andhra Pradesh citing the reason that it was a non-performing body which just a burden on the state exchequer. Among the lesser known were the educational reforms he brought about in the state, where he overhauled the entire state education syllabus for schools. These educational reforms were a stepping stone that rose Andhra Pradesh from unknown to top in the Software Industry in the world. NTR lost the subsequent elections held in 1989 mainly to do with his political inexperience and a strong central government lead by Rajiv Gandhi among others. But during the same period he gained valuable experience and had people like N Chandrababu Naidu, Daggubati Venkateswara Rao (both sons-in-Law) in his party.
Even though he lost the 1989 elections, he shot to fame at the national level and was capable of uniting many regional parties. He formed a Third Front with parties like Janata Dal as an alternative to Congress. He offered no competition against PV Narasimha Rao when he was chosen to be the Prime Minister of India, citing that he was proud that an Andhrudu (Andhrite) would hold the highest office in the country.
It is believed that he could have become the Prime Minister of India, as the third-front won the national elections and was struggling to find a leader who was acceptable to all the parties.
NTR stormed back to power in 1994 when he promised he would offer rice at Rs. 2/kg and to make AP an "Alcohol Free" state. True to his word he kept his promises only to burden the state exchequer. Apart from introducing the cheap rice scheme of selling the grain at Rs.2 a kilogram for poor people with a monthly income of Rs.500 or less, he fought with the Centre to amend the Hindu Succession Act to ensure equal property rights to women. He introduced educational reforms and laid the foundation for the Telugu Ganga project to provide drinking water to Madras city apart from irrigating the dry lands of Rayalaseema.
Never before Never again
A person like NTR who rose like a big wave by lifting the spirits of Telugus high will remain as unique in the history of Andhra Pradesh. Tired of the fight long way, he said his veedkolu to his Telugu tammullu and chellellu on Jan18, 1996.
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