Nandamuri Taraka Ramarao

(28th May 1923 - 18th January 1996)
Article by
Sreenivas Paruchuri, V. Chowdary Jampala
Originally posted in two parts in SCIT on 18th and 19th January '97, on the first death anniversary of NTR

I

Nandamuri Taraka Ramarao, popularly known as N.T.R, was born on 28th May in "nimmakooru", Krishna Dt. His mother initially wanted to name him after god "kRshNa", but at his uncle's spontaneous comment "taaraka raamuDu", he became Taraka Ramarao. Later he was adopted by his uncle raamayya. Though he was born into an agricultural family, his family put value on education and his father took him all the way to the school in the neighbouring village everyday, carrying him on his shoulders. (Many sources told us that he respected educated people throughout his life and it was a considerable factor in the selection of his later candidates for the assembly polls - Yes, yes there were some serious exceptions! - and in his selection of people for other posts. One of the things that he would often say about his controversial second wife during the conflicts in the year before his death was that 'aaviDa M. Phil cESaaru. baagaa caduvukunnaaru', as if the degree itself validated her personal worth). He was a good student performing well in school and college (he flunked his intermediate exams shortly after his marriage, but went on to earn a BA in economics from AC College, Guntur). Have you ever seen his hand-writing? Try to get hold of the Telugu film magazine _vijayachitra_'s inagural edition or their 20th anniversary special! It is really beautiful. Apparently, he was a very good artist, and even won a prize in painting competitions at state level before his entry into films. He presented a portrait of Subhas Bose to him when Bose visited Vijayawada. Reportedly it was him that drew the original sketches for his election symbols - cycle and later lion. He had his schooling at Municipal High school, Vijayawada and S.R.R. College, VZA before joining A.C. College, GNT. One often quoted story is from his intermediate days at S.R.R. College, where viSwanaatha satyanaaraayaNa was the head of the Telugu dept. He was asked to play a female role by Viswanatha, and with great reluctance he played that role, but refused to shave off his moustache, earning the nickname "meesaala naagamma". At AC College, he continued his activities in the Dramatic Club, where he was associated with jaggayya, mukkaamala and KVS Sarma. He was still a 'raitu biDDa' at his heart. He was known in his native village for his ability to tame the wayward bulls, and for his banDlapandElu. During his college days, his family went through a bad patch (his family lost all their wealth through a series of bad deals and loans) and young Ramarao tried several things to make a living. He supplied milk to the hotels and denizens of Viajyawada, and ran a 'kiraaNaa koTTu' and a press among other things. (Also, in his early days in Madras, there is an often told story about how the penniless Ramarao went without a meal for three days and did not let even his roommates know. One of the roommates was yOgaanand who would go on to direct many films, including NTR's own. Somebody that was close to him told us that these experiences shaped his later behavior. He was very much against taking loans, and when he heard of people going without food, he would feel that pain. People say that this was partly behind that two rupees a kg rice scheme.). He was recommended to L.V. Prasad in Vijayawada where he used to act in his own National Art Theatre productions, formed in his early college days (and on same lable: NAT he produced some of his early gems: jayasiMha, paanDuranga maahaatmyam, seetaaraama kalyaaNam.) in 1947. His first film was "manadESam" (released in 1949, after great production delays; originally started way back in 47/48) and played the role of a police inspector. Another often quoted incident from this film: In his very first scene, that of a "lathi"-charge, he swung into action, brandishing his "laaThi" and chasing the people, like a bull in a china shop. When LV Prasad angrily said that it was cinema and he was only supposed to pretend and act, the puzzled NTR replied that "what is acting? Trying to be realistic?" and smiled helplessly. He signed his first role as a "hero" with B.A. Subbarao and was offered Rs. 1116. He went off to Vijayawada and resigned the job as sub-registrar at mangaLagiri, at which he worked for only 3 weeks. Subbarao, who was an addict of 'Western' movies always liked the idea of a _he-man_ playing the lead role in his films as those days there was a certain femininity with the men playing hero's roles. Later he recalled that "As he was approaching me zooming and zooming in, I told my assistant taapi chaaNakya that this is the man who shall be my hero!". And the film was "palleToori pilla", a big hit, the first major film for the music director Adinarayanarao, a first joint starrer of ANR and NTR, who went on to act in 12-13 films together, many of them regarded as classics in Telugu film history.

II

Portraying realism was almost an obsession with NTR right from "palleToori pilla" (1950) where he did a bull-fight scene without a dupe and in that process broke his arm. Here one can give many examples..... Another example is is all the jewellary and ornaments shown in his mythologicals is out of pure (heavy) metal, as he was against wearing fake cardboard ones. NTR was also well known for his excellent dialogue delivery and voice modulations. It is the result of year long, hard practice on the shores of Marina Beach in Madras. This deep and sonorous voice helped him later both in films and political life. His other asset was his appearence. Tall and lean (we are talking about his early days), a sharp nose, a ready smile radiating from his eyes, and curly hair, he was easily the most handsome lead actor of that time. His third film was (you will see a different order in filmography. There it was listed after date of release.) "maayaaraMbha", a folklore drama. It was around the time "the father of Telugu Talkies" H.M.Reddi offered him a role in his film and made him run around his office. The next role as a hero followed in "saMsaaram" and "shaavukaaru" (shaavukaaru was released much ahead of the other afore mentioned three films.), both under L. V. Prasad's direction, which turned the tables in his favour. When Vijaya studios were planning something big, to produce four films under 4 top directors: (paataaLa bhairavi - K.V.reDDi, malleeSwari - B.N.reDDi, chandrahaaram - kamalaakara, peLLichEsi chooDu - L.V. Prasad) he argued and convinced them to assign the lead role in all four films to him. His argument was "if I am not successful in the hands of such eminent directors, then there won't be any chance of my succeeding on this line. If I don't click in these films, I will give up my film career and go back to my village.". Only after signing that exclusive contract, he went and brought his wife and son to Madras. He was paid Rs 500 a month plus 5,000 rupees for a movie during his first year of contract with Vijaya. paataaLa bhairavi, an unprecedented hit, was the turning point in his career, which brought him the recognition as folklore mass hero. NTR excelled as the young, innocent, fearless "tOTa raamuDu", intent on winning the heroine against heavy odds. NTR now became a star. NTR, once established as a successful actor, wanted to produce socially conscious films under his NAT banner, with his brother trivikrama rao as the producer. Their first film was "picchi pullayya", followed by "tODu dongalu". His first two productions exposing the state of affairs in the society, produced with the ideals he followed, fared badly at box-office, but only won critical acclaims and some awards. His brother and co-producer trivikramarao wanted to return to the native village after huge financial losses. NTR persuaded him to have a last try. After the failure of his non-commercial films, he decided to make commercial/mass films later, starting with the highly successful "jayasiMha" (1955). The first godly role, with which he was associated throughout his later life, came in "maayaa bazaar" as kRshNa. Prior to that, he made a brief appearance in the same role in ghanTasaala's own production "sontavooru" (1956), where, ironically, the audience did not like him at all. A Tamil film, sampoorNa raamaayaNam, later dubbed in Telugu, was the first film in which he played Rama's role. The film that brought him instant fame for playing a godly role was "Sree vEnkaTESwara maahaatmyam" - made for 11 lakhs, the film made a crore in 1960 - on twenty prints. He acted as kRshNa in as many as 17 films out of 42 mythologicals (until 1985). He also literally became the 'face' of many historical characters like kRshNadEva raayalu etc. Two salient features of his own productions were the "negative-roles" he played, and the (re)introduction of new, forgotten people from the industry. Consider that M.S.RamaRao,a talented, excellent singer, had a standard song in all his films; gaalipenchala narasiMharaavu, an old timer was brought back after 10 years and gave us a master piece: seetaaraama kalyaaNam; a new music director (vijaya) kRshNamoorti was given chance in gulEbakaavaLi katha; Ramachandra Chitalkar was brought in to provide music for his akbar saleem anaarkali; introducing new faces on the screen etc. etc. His positive interpretation of traditionally negative roles like "duryOdhana", "raavaNa" and "karNa" won him critical acclaim. In 1961, NTR wrote an article in aandhra patrika weekly - naaku naccina paatra - raavaNa (reprinted in 1994 in rachana magazine, and 1995 TANA conference souvenir). That article gives good insight into NTR the man as well. Also, he was n't shy to play the role of "bheeshma" (when many were against it! chakrapaaNi told him in his typical style, curtly, that he should not do that.); or as an old man and a ruffian in "raaju-pEda". (About NTR's role in bheeshma: The director BA Subbarao bragged to chakrapaaNi, 'Makeup baagaa kudirindi - raamaaraavuni bheeshumDugaa evaroo gurtu paTTalEru.' chakrapaaNi's acid retort: 'evaroo gurtu paTTani kaaDiki aa vEsham raamaaraavutO vEyincaTanedukoo. nuvvE vEyaccugaa'.) From the very first film of his, he evolved an acting style of his own. He rarely fumbled for words in front of the camera as he always knew his dialogues thouroughly. Well, he is known as deeply religious and at times superstitious too! For e.g. prefering music director T. V. raaju ... NTR had remarkable success as a director too: seetaaraama kaLyaaNam was the first film he directed, though he didn't put his name in the film credits.( Also, he chose to play raavaNa and cast haranath and geetaanjali as Rama and seetha). Later, he directed SriKrishna paanDaveeyam, varakaTnam, daanaveeraSoora karNa etc. His discipline was legendary. Until his death, he woke up very early, did his daily exercises, and was punctual for all his appointments. In his forties, he learned dance from the Kuchipudi dance maestro, vempaTi chinnasatyam, for his role as the dance teacher bRhannala in nartanaSaala. In an industry notorious for alcoholism, he kept away from it. His unfailing courtesy to junior stars was also a defining characteristic of him. His first 290 films may have grossed a staggering Rs. 200+ crores. And in the first 22 years he only charged in thousands. His first film as a hero, palletoori pilla was a silver jubilee hit for which he was paid Rs. 1,116. He was paid Rs. 7,500 for maayaabazaar. During the latter days of his film career, he was still enormously popular though his acting and physical appearance changed. The earlier physical grace was gone and there were very few directors that could handle him. He became a carricature of himself. The downfall of standards in present days Telugu cinema is also partly attributed to him; he started a new trend of films with lots of racy lyrics and hip swinging dances with young heroines, starting in mid-70s with edurulEni manishi. However, NTR's last film was his own production of Sreenaatha kavi saarvabhowma - with him, of course, playing the title role. Directed by baapu, the film was an artistic feast, but a commercial disaster. The financial loss did not faze NTR. He reportedly told baapu, "Dont worry baapu gaaroo, picture manam teeddaamanu_kunnaTlu vaccindi. chaalaa santOsham. Dabbulu raakapOtE raakapOyaayi." As it must happen with everybody, he died last year at the age of 73. Telugu film fans will, however, remember him for a long time for his many wonderful films and protrayals. How can one forget the handsome young man standing on the stairs, singing 'EmananE chinnaari EmananE' in shaavukaaru, the lovelorn sculptor in malleeSwari, the mischievous kRshNa of maayabazaar, the doting brother in raktasambandham, the raavaNa of seetaaraamakaLyaaNam, the bheema of paanDava vanavaasam, the rebellious young man singing 'cEyetti jaikoTTu telugODaa' in palleTooru, the valiant warrior daanaveera Soora karNa, the aDavi raamuDu, the KrishnadEva raayalu... or even the NTR cavorting a la amithabh singing 'arerE, vEsukonnaa khaaraa kiLLee'. He was one of a kind.