May 28, 1923(1923-05-28)
Nimmakuru, Andhra Pradesh, India
Died
January 18, 1996 (aged 72)
Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India
Cause of death
Heart Attack
Other names
NTR
Known for
Cinema, Politics
Successor
Chandrababu Naidu
Political party
Telugu Desam Party
Spouse(s)
Basavarama Taraka Rama Rao, Lakshmi Parvathi (Married in 1994)
Children
sons Jayakrishna, Saikrishna, Harikrishna, Mohankrishna, Balakrishna, Ramakrishna, Jayasankarkrishna, and daughters Lokeswari, Purandeshwari, Bhuvaneswari, Umamaheswari
Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao (Telugu:నందమూరితారకరామారావు)(28 May 1923–18 January 1996), more commonly known as NTR was an Indian film actor, director, producer, and politician.[1][2] He founded the Telugu Desam Party and served three times as Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. His repertoire of films included mythological, social, and folk themes. He was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India in the 1960s, recognising his contribution to Telugu cinema. After his career in movies, NTR became a political activist and a political party leader.
Born in Nimmakuru, ; he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from the Andhra-Christian College in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh. He later received a honorary doctorate from Andhra University.
He also worked as a sub-registrar in Guntur district.
Rao highlighted Andhra Pradesh's distinct cultural identity, distinguishing it from Madras State with which it was often associated.
Career as an actor
NTR was referred to by fans as "Nata Ratna" and "Vishwa Vikhyatha Nata Sarvabhouma" (Emperor of Acting)n in Telugu.
Though widely recognized for playing mythological characters, Rao is considered as one of the greatest actors in Telugu film, and in general in South Indian films. His portrayal of Lord Krishna in Maya Bazaar produced by B. Nagi Reddy, Vijaya Productions, was the turning point in his life. His portrayal of Ravana and avatars of Vishnu, especially Rama and Krishna; mesmerized an entire generation who saw the face of Rao when these gods were mentioned.
Rao had a major contribution to what can be considered the golden age of Telugu film making, between 1950 and 1965. Analysts believe that the Telugu film industry produced some of the best mythological movies from India, while the Tamil and Hindi movie industry produced better socially-oriented films.
Rao was naturally talented and extremely disciplined about various aspects of acting like preparation, punctuality, and dialogue delivery. An important factor that made him a great actor was his ability to deliver extremely lengthy dialogues that were original verses from the Ramayana and the Mahabharata with a fervour and command unmatched by most of his contemporaries. In addition, he generally played multiple roles in the same movie, which increased the number of dialogues and hence the preparation required.
Rao was very versatile. In Tamil Nadu, Sivaji Ganesan was much better known for his acting skill and M. G. Ramachandran 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 Ramachandran's forte.--Pothinakarthik (talk) 12:48, 28 September 2008 (UTC)
Rao played the role of Lord Krishna not only in Telugu movies, but also in Tamil and Kannada movies. While the megastars—Ramachandran, Shivaji Ganesan and Rajkumar vied for the roles of other Mahabharata heroes like Karna, Arjuna and Bhima, there was no denying that he would be the only one to play Lord Krishna and Sivaji[Nadigar Thligam] could only play Lord Shiva. This is probably the greatest tribute to Roa's charismatic cine-genius.
One of his greatest janapadams was "Jadekaveeruni katha" (the story of the universal hero) where he plays the role of Pratap, the prince of Ujjain. He dreams of celestial damsels as his wives, but on revealing the dream to his father, he is banished from the kingdom. The heroic prince then does the impossible — passing the various tests put to him, winning the celestial damsels and bringing them home to his kingdom. Another one of his janapadams was "Gulebakavali katha" (the story of Gulebakavali) where he plays the role of a prince who sets out to the heavens to bring the flower named "Gulebakavali" which was remade from Tamil Vesrion of MGR[Puratchi Thalaivar] in order to cure his poisoned father, even winning Indra's daughter in the process.
Rao stopped playing the role of the prince in films. Instead, he played the role of a poor yet heroic young man against the system in his kingdom. To the lakhs of the denizens in Andhra Pradesh, he became 'one of us'—one who assures the poor that he is there to rescue them from the wicked traitors in the kingdom.
The most notable movies acted by Rao in mythological characters are Maya Bazaar (Sri Krishna), Lava Kusa (Lord Rama), Sri Krishnaarjuna Yuddham (Sri Krishna), Bheeshma (Bheeshma), Bhookailasa(Raavana), Nartanasala (Arjuna also as Bruhannala), Panadava-vanavsam (Bheema), Sri Venkateswara Mahatyam (Lord Venkateswara), Maha Mantri Thimmarusu (Sri Krishna Devarayalu) and Dana Veera Sura Karna (Duryodhana, Sri Krishna, Karna)which created a record in telugu film industry, first film which has crossed one crore collection in Telugu film industry. 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, Devudu Chesina Manushulu, Adavi Ramudu, Vetagadu, Gajadonga, Driver Ramudu, Sardar Paparayudu, Kondaveeti Simham, Justice Chowdary, Bobbili Puli etc. He acted in over 280 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 addition to his purely artistic contributions to the Telugu movies, he built the Rama Krishna Film studios, was very active in moving the Telugu film industry from Madras to Hyderabad. This created the first sophisticated service industry in the agrarian state. He actively campaigned for the construction of a large number of movie theaters in rural locations and was influential in designing and implementing a financial system that funded the production and distribution of movies
Politics
Rao formed the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) on 29 March 1982. While promoting a new film, he was asked a question by a person in the audience 'అయ్యా, మేముమిమ్మల్నిదేవుడులాగాఆదరించాము, కానీమీరుమాకుఏమిచేసారు?' meaning Sir, we have treated you like a God but what have you done for us?.[4] He was so moved by this that he formed TDP, and with a victory in the immediate election, formed the government and ruled the state of Andhra Pradesh for a full term. He went into the elections with the slogan Telugu vari Atma Gauravam which meant "Telugu people's self-respect."
Like his films, the formation of the party and storming into the assembly was very dramatic. TDP came into power within nine months of its formation. Initially ridiculed by the Congress that state politics is not like movie acting among others, TDP was considered a no match for the Indian National 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. Among other reasons why he won the elections was no real alternative to the Congress, lack of development, unemployment etc. Rao himself contested elections from the constituency of Hindupur in Anantapur District and Gudivada in Krishna district.
During the first term as Chief Minister of AP, he got into the costumes of Swami Vivekananda and tried to govern the entire state solely on ideological terms which later proved to be disastrous. On Independence day, August 15, 1984, he was removed from office by the Governor of AP in view of a revolt by his aide and 2nd in command Nadendla Bhaskara Rao. Rao launched his chaitanya ratham (back to the people agitation) on the third day after his open heart surgery and the public agitation he inspired caused the then Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi to dismiss the then Governor Ramlal, and appointed Shankar Dayal Sharma. Nadendla Bhaskara Rao could not prove his majority in the assembly in one month's time. Shankar Dayal Sharma handed power back to NTR. NTR then dissolved the Andhra Pradesh State Assembly and asked for a fresh mandate in 1985.
He returned to power, among the most significant changes he made was to abolish the Legislative Council of the Andhra Pradesh citing the reason that it was a non-performing body which was just a burden on the state exchequer. Rao introduced administrative reforms that strengthened local governance and strengthened the Jilla parishad system. He introduced management reforms that held corrupt government offices accountable to elected representatives. The death of his wife, marathon of activities that started with chaitanya ratham, culminated in large scale administrative reforms left his health in poor shape with a mild stroke and unable to campaign in the next election. Rao lost the subsequent elections held in 1989, but during the same period he gained valuable experience and had people like N. Chandrababu Naidu and Daggubati Venkateswara Rao (both sons-in-law) in his party.
Other contributions of Rao included the educational reforms he brought about in the state, where he overhauled the entire state's education syllabus for schools. He instituted statewide entrance examinations for all disciplines of higher education vis-à-vis Engineering, Medicine, Pharmacy, Law, and MBA to name a few. Students, based on the merit of their ranks obtained in these tests, could join any state college of their choice. These education reforms laid the foundation for the coming high-tech era for Andhra.
Rao created a new commando force for the state and was very successful in combating naxalism both ideologically and militarily. Communal rioting in Hyderabad had been put rest for good during his term. Vizag steel plant which had been struggling since its foundation went online during his tern in no small part due to his active lobbying with the central government.
He recruited worldwide medical talent and improved higher end medical capabilities of the capital city and founded a medical university in Vijayawada. He reformed the administration of Tirupathi and converted it into a modern tourist attraction. He did away with the feudal munusobu and karanam system to empower elected leaders of the local government. The state government introduced entrance exams for vedic subjects and opened up priest positions in temple to non-inherited candidates.
He built the largest bus station in Asia, commissioned the largest Budha statue in the world at the time to high light the Budhist heritage and history of Andhra. He adorned TankBund with the statues of great Telugus of the past creating a sense of heritage. He guaranteed one light bulb per house hold to give educational opportunities to the lowest economic class of rural Andhra. This led to a rise in electric consumption that resulted in Andhra going from a net electricity exporter to an importer despite production gains. He reformed water distribution system from the major water reservoirs in the state by giving farmer organizations (raitu sangam) a say in planning.
The Telugu Desam Party operations were significantly computerized and a systematic local party structure was built and this resulted in the establishment of a stable second political party that survived his death. Rao introduced the concept of strong states with strong centre in his discussions about state power with Mrs. Gandhi and ushered in a new era of empowered local governments, within the framework of India. The long held belief that strong states imply a weak and collapsing country is no more a political dogma that governs center state relations in India. He also lobbied and won the amendment of Hindu inheritance laws to give women equal inheritance rights.
He introduced the first social net program in India with Rs2/kg rice scheme. While Andhra Pradesh was one of the largest producers of rice in the world, its rural agricultural labor often went to bed hungry due to a food disribution system that was centrally controlled and often corrupt and in-efficient. This program was narrowly targeted at families with monthly income of Rs500 ($12 per month or 40 cents a day) or less and played a key role in reducing government induced hunger in the rice bowl of the world. This social net program was later extended to include free food for primary school children in government schools for the same income group and that scheme encouraged the single biggest drop in child labor and increase in primary school enrollment. The despicable scourge of pre-teen children working for their daily food next to cattle and machinery started receding thanks to this program.
All the major state subsidies like free bachelors degree education, free rail tickets for railway employees, free telephones for telecom employees, free electricity for electricity employees, free medical care for medical employees, free loans for bank employees, free housing for govt employees were until that date targeted at the rich and the new social net programs aimed at the poorest and the most hard working of the poor were a big political success.
It is noteworthy that though he did not know Hindi, he gave a speech in Hindi for forty-five minutes in a packed stadium in Haryana. He later revealed that he had memorized the speech phonetically. Devi Lal, a Deputy Prime Minister of India was shocked to learn this.
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 the National Front with parties like Janata Dal , Bharatiya Janata Party, CPI and CPM as an alternative to the Congress.
Rao's second marriage was to Lakshmi Parvathi. He stormed back to power in 1994 when he promised he would offer rice at Rs. 2/kg and to make Andhra Pradesh an "Alcohol-Free" state. True to his word he kept his promises only to burden the state exchequer.
In 1995, in response to growing influence of Lakshmi Parvathi in Rao's political decision making, his son-in-law Nara Chandrababu Naidu convinced most of the Telugu Desam MLA's to elect him as their leader making him the chief minister in place of Rao. Both the INR 2/kg Rice and the Alcohol Prohibition policies were gradually softened and withdrawn during the rule of his successors.
The loss of power and the subsequent events can be summed up as the start of anti-climax in Rao's life. He died on 18 January 1996.
Personal life
Rao was survived by eight sons and four daughters. Among his sons Nandamuri Balakrishna is a popular film actor in Telugu. His daughter Bhuvaneswari, who is also the wife of N. Chandrababu Naidu, is the Vice-Chairperson of Heritage Foods one of South India's largest dairy company and Purandareswari, is a Minister For Human Resources Development in the Indian Central Government. Daggubati Venkateswara Rao is a member of AP Assembly. He has several grand sons and daughters, the well known amongst them are NTR Jr.,Nara Lokesh , Nara Brahmani, Nandamuri Kalyan Ram,.
He married Basavatarakam.
Rao's sons are: Ramakrishna Jayakrishna, Sai krishna, Harikrishna, Mohankrishna, Balakrishna, Ramakrishna, Jayashankarkrishna,
Rao's daughters are: Lokehswari, Bhuvaneswari wife of Nara Chandrababu Naidu, Purandareswari wife of Daggubati Venkateswara Rao, Uma Maheswari
