Saturday, March 7, 2009

NTR LIFE HISTORY

N. T. Rama Rao

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Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao

In one of his roles as Lord Krishna
Born 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,anna,viswa vikhyata nata sarva bhauma
Known for Cinema, Politics
Successor Chandrababu Naidu
Political party Telugu Desam Party
Spouse(s) Basavarama Taraka Rama Rao (Deceased), Lakshmi Parvathi (1993-1996)
Children sons Jayakrishna, Saikrishna, Harikrishna, Mohankrishna, Balakrishna, Ramakrishna, Jayasankarkrishna, and daughters Lokeswari, Purandeshwari, Bhuvaneswari, Umamaheswari

Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao (Telugu: నందమూరి తారక రామా రావు)(28 May 1923–18 January 1996), more commonly known as NTR was an Indian film actor, director, producer, and politician.[1][2] He is the founder of Telugu Desam Party and served twice as Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. His genre of films included mythological, social, and folk themes. He was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India in the 1960s, recognizing his contribution to Telugu cinema. After his career in movies, NTR became a political activist and a political party leader.

He was born in Nimmakuru, Krishna District, Andhra Pradesh; 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.

Dr.Rao highlighted Andhra Pradesh's distinct cultural identity, distinguishing it from Madras State with which it was often associated.

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Career as an actor

NTR was referred to by fans as "Viswa Vikhyatha Nata Sarvabhouma" (Universally Known Emperor of Acting) in Telugu and the God of Telugu cinema.[3]

Though widely recognized for playing mythological characters, Shri Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao is considered as one of the greatest actors in Telugu film industry, 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 Dr.Rao when these gods were mentioned.

Dr. Nandamuri Taraka Rama 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 Tamil and Telugu film industry produced some of the best mythological movies from India, while the Tamil and malayalam movie industry produced socially-oriented films.

Dr. Rama 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 fervor and command unmatched by most of his contemporaries. Generally, he played multiple roles in the same movie, which increased the number of dialogues and hence required preparation time.

Dr. Rama 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 and even do commercial Janapadham (where the adventurous prince saves the damsel in distress) films.

Shri Nandamuri Taraka Rama 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,Prem Naseer 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. This is probably the greatest tribute to NTR's charismatic cine-genius.

One of his greatest janapadams was "Jagadekaveeruni 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" in order to cure his poisoned father, even winning Indra's daughter in the process.

Shri Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao stopped playing the role of the prince in films, and Instead played the roles of a poor yet heroic young man against the system in his kingdom. To the millions 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 a pauper (Raju-Peda), as 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, and was very active in shifting 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

Dr.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, మేము మిమ్మల్ని దేవుడు లాగా ఆదరించాము, కానీ మీరు మాకు ఏమి చేసారు?' 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 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."

Though his schemes attracted lot of mass publicity and targeted low level income groups, they never worked out good for the State nor the groups he targeted, for example when NTR was replaced by Chandra Babu naidu the State was so handicapped that it could not pay the State school teachers there monthly salary, due to misjudged governance, by Baning Consumption of alcohol.

In his rule he also passed the law which gives equal rights to Daughters along with Sons for the inheritance of the Ancestral property. which has been praised by many as the best political change he ever brought.

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. Dr.Rao himself contested elections from the constituency of Hindupur in Anantapur District and Gudivada in Krishna district.

On Independence day, August 15, 1984, he was removed from office by the then Governor of AP in view of a revolt by his aide and 2nd in command Nadendla Bhaskara Rao. Dr.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 Mr.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. Dr.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. Dr.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 by Dr.Rao included, the educational reforms brought about in the state, where he Dr.Rao created a new commando force for the state that was successful in combating 'naxalism' (terrorism) both ideologically and militarily. During his tenure, communal riots in Hyderabad were put rest for good; Vizag steel plant, which had been struggling since its start, went online in no small part due to his active lobbying with the central government.

He recruited worldwide medical talent and improved high-end medical capabilities of the capital city, and additionally 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 'munasob' and 'karanam' system to empower elected leaders of the local government.

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 'Tank Bund' with the statues of great litetaries, warriors and kings of the past, thus 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. Consequently, Andhra Pradesh became an importer from a net electricity exporter, despite electric consumption production gains. He reformed water distribution system from the major water reservoirs in the state by giving farmer groups(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 center 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 rights in inheritance.

He introduced the first social scheme in India with Rs2/kg rice program. While Andhra Pradesh was one of the largest producers of rice in India, its rural agricultural labor often went to bed hungry due to a food distribution system that was centrally controlled and often corrupt and in-efficient. This program was narrowly targeted at families with monthly income of Rs500 or less($12 per month or 40 cents a day) 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 telecommunication 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, the then Deputy Prime Minister of India was shocked to learn this.

Although 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.

Dr.Rao's second marriage was with Mrs.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 "Alcohol-Free". True to his word he kept his promises.

In 1995, his son-in-law Nara Chandrababu Naidu, in response to growing influence of Lakshmi Parvathi in Dr.Rao's political decision making, convinced most of the TDP MLA's to elect him as their leader thus, making him the chief minister to replace Dr.Rao. Both the INR 2/kg Rice, and the Alcohol Prohibition policies were gradually softened and withdrawn during the rule of his successors.

He died on 18 January 1996.

Personal life

Dr.Rao was survived by eight sons and four daughters. His sons are

Ramakrishna, Jayakrishna, Sai krishna, Harikrishna, Mohankrishna, Balakrishna, Jayashankarkrishna,

Rao's daughters are: Lokehswari, Bhuvaneswari wife of Nara Chandrababu Naidu, Purandareswari wife of Daggubati Venkateswara Rao, Uma Maheswari. Among his sons Nandamuri Balakrishna is a famous film actor in Telugu film industry. His daughter Mrs.Bhuvaneswari, wife of N. Chandrababu Naidu, is the Vice-Chairperson of Heritage Foods one of South India's largest dairy companies and Purandareswari, is a minister of Human Resources Development in the Indian Central Government. Daggubati Venkateswara Rao is a member of AP Assembly. He has several grand sons and grand daughters, the popular amongst them are NTR Jr.,Nara Lokesh , Nara Brahmani, Nandamuri Kalyan Ram, Nandamuri TarakaRatna.

He married Basavatarakam and Lakshmi Parvathi.

Filmography—as actor

Main article: N T Rama Rao filmography

Selected Filmography

[edit] Filmography—as producer

NTR produced movies initially under NAT (National Arts Theater) banner. Later he produced movies under Rama Krishna Studios banner

-- Films under NAT banner

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