Today marks the centenary of the stalwart of Telugu cinema, Akkineni Nageswara Rao. In his 75-year cine career, ANR acted in a wide range of characters and genres, which made him a legendary personality. He was born into a family of farmers in 1924. Due to his parents’ poor economic situation, ANR’s education was limited to primary schooling.
ANR began working in theatre and specialized in playing female characters since women were prohibited from acting then. ANR’s career got a huge breakthrough when Ghantasala Balaramayya discovered him at Vijayawada railway station. He offered him the lead role in Sri Seeta Rama Jananam, and there was no looking back after that.
ANR starred in 255 films across Telugu, Hindi, and Tamil languages. His beloved fans fondly refer to him as Natasamrat. Some of the best works of ANR include Devadasu, Premabhishekam, Maya Bazaar, Prema Nagar, Gundamma Katha, Dasara Bullodu, Doctor Chakravarthy, and Mooga Manasulu. ANR played a crucial role in relocating the Telugu cinema industry to Hyderabad from Madras.
To support the industry further, ANR established Annapurna Studios in Hyderabad with the help of then government. Nageswara Rao received numerous accolades, including seven Nandi Awards, five Filmfare Awards South, and a Tamil Nadu State Film Award. He was honored with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan, and Padma Shri for his contributions to art and cinema.
Annapurna Studios has partnered with the Film Heritage Foundation and PVR Inox to re-release some of ANR’s iconic films from September 20th to 22nd. This is a great opportunity for youngsters to revisit the ever-green classics of our beloved icon. The Titan of Telugu cinema was mostly part of tragedy films, dying countless times on screen, but his legacy still lives on, inspiring many.
