Akkineni Nageswara Rao, born 20 September 1924 at Ramapuram,Gudivada Taluk,Krishna District), also known as ANR,is a Telugu cinema actor from Gudivada, Andhra Pradesh. Nageswara Rao has worked in several genres of films in his 69-year acting career, including mythological, social, and drama films. Nageswara Rao has been active in the Telugu film industry since 1941(ten years after the birth of Telugu cinema) and he is considered as the one of the veteran actors in Telugu cinema.
Early life and background
Akkineni Nageswara Rao was born in a poor farmer's family on 20 September 1924 at Ramapuram, Krishna District.He has stated on record in several interviews that his education was limited to primary schooling due to his parents' poor economic conditions. Nageswara Rao took to acting at a very early age. He started acting in street plays at the age of nine.
Indian plays in those days used to have all male casts and male leads often played female roles (as evidenced in the first Indian feature film, Raja Harishchandra). In his early days as an actor, Nageswara Rao used to enact such female roles on stage. He acted more than 260 movies in his career.
Film career
Nageswara Rao's first Telugu film was Dharmapatni, a 1941 Telugu film, wherein he played the role of one of the hero's childhood friends. He later continued his career as a part time stage actor and acted in several Telugu plays such as Ashoka Jyothy, Sathyanveshana and Telugu Talli. On one such occasion, when he was travelling back from a play in Tenali, he was spotted on the Vijayawada railway station by Ghantasala Balaramaiah, a Telugu filmmaker of those days, and was immediately offered a role in his upcoming movie Seeta Rama Jananam. He was later cast in this movie in the role of Lord Rama.
In his career spanning 69 years in the Telugu film industry, he has played the lead role in over 256 Telugu films and 26 Tamil films. Several of these films turned out to be financial and critical successes.
Among other things, Nageswara Rao is credited for influencing Telugu film producers and creating a base for Telugu films in Hyderabad.
The Telugu film industry in its early days worked out of Madras (now Chennai) in Tamil Nadu.The new state of Andhra Pradesh was carved out from the Madras Presidency on 1 November 1956 and several leaders opined that in order to create a separate identity for the Telugu film industry, it had to be based out of Hyderabad, the then capital of Andhra Pradesh. ANR was one of the actors of that period who insisted on creating a base for Telugu films in Hyderabad and established his own production studio, Annapurna Studios, to facilitate this.
Prominent films
ANR has acted in several landmark Telugu films. Some of his prominent films that have been financial and critical successes are Tenali Rama Krishna, Kalidasu, Devadasu, MayaBazaar, Missamma, Dr. Chakravarthi, Ardhangi, Muga Manasulu, Dasara Bullodu, Prem Nagar and Premabhishekam. The film Premabhishekam directed by Dasari Narayana Rao is one of the biggest hits in Tollywood. It had an amazing 533 days run in Hyderabad City, which is still the highest run in a city for any Telugu movie. Premabhishekam is the only Telugu film to have run for 365+ days continuously.
Awards and honors
He has received the Dada Saheb Phalke Award, Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan Award, Padma Sri Award, Kalimamani, Raghupati Venkayya Award. He has won seven Filmfare Best Telugu Actor awards, for Devadasu (1953), Jayabheri (1959), Mahakavi Kalidasu (1960), Mooga Manasulu (1964), Antastulu (1965), Sudigundaalu (1967) and Dharma Daata (1970). He has received five Nandi Awards, for Doctor Chakravarthy (1964), Antastulu (1965), Sudigundaalu (1967), Meghasandesam (1982) and Bangaru Kutumbam (1994). He has also received the Kalidasu award granted by the MP Government at a national level.At one point he was also appointed as an adviser to the State Film Development Corporation.
Akkineni Nageswara Rao
Akkineni Nageswara Rao
Akkineni Nageswara Rao
Akkineni Nageswara Rao
Akkineni Nageswara Rao
Akkineni Nageswara Rao
Akkineni Nageswara Rao
Akkineni Nageswara Rao
Akkineni Nageswara Rao
Akkineni Nageswara Rao
Akkineni Nageswara Rao
Akkineni Nageswara Rao
Akkineni Nageswara Rao
Akkineni Nageswara Rao
Akkineni Nageswara Rao
Akkineni Nageswara Rao
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