Akkineni Nageshwara Rao- The name can never be forgotten by any Telugu person for the indispensable contribution he made to the World of Cinema. He gave some phenomenal films and acting extravaganza to the audience, along with showing everyone about how to live life to the fullest. He continued acting till his last days and entertained every Telugu person with his unique acting in Manam this year. On the eve of the Nata Samrat's Birth Anniversary, iQlikmovies brings you some of the interesting stories about the legendary personality.
Let us go back to 1950s era when ANR was yet to make his impact on Telugu Cinema Industry..
The entire Telugu Film Industry was aghast to knowr when ANR was cast as Sr.NTR’s younger brother in Samsaram (29-12-1950) by director L.V.Prasad. The surprise was because by then, ANR earned himself a good name as a folklore hero with hit films like Balaraju, Keelugurram and so on. Though ANR’s first screen appearance in Dharmapatni (10-01-1941) was a social drama, his appearance was confined to just a group of kids in a song. Hence that minimal appearance cannot be counted as a performance.
His first film as a hero was Sri Seetharama Jananam (1-12-1944) and after that all his films were folklore based! In this situation, there was a preconceived notion that ANR would not be suitable for Social Drama films. It was when ANR got more determined. He used to re-think about his appearance and questioned himself “What…Am I not suitable for social drama oriented roles?”. He even used to wear casual clothing and practice histrionics and body language in front of the mirror- thereby building his confidence! It was when he got the first chance to act in a social drama film Samsaram.
For that role, ANR worked very hard in the mentorship of director L.V.Prasad. Being an actor himself, L.V.Prasad used to enact a scene to ANR and explain how to present the expressions. ANR understood the nuances needed and performed very well in the film. His character in the film was of a rural youngster with loads of energy. Watching ANR act in the film, L.V.Prasad used to feel happy and encouragingly say, “Tassadiyya moothadhu mari kaastha penchavayya!” (“You increased the value of the character much more, goodness me!”) behind the camera!
Cut from there…three years later ANR acted in Devadas (1953) and turned to be an undisputable actor in Social Drama films forever!
