Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao, born on 28 May 1923, spent four decades reshaping Telugu cinema from inside and outside the frame. He starred in over 300 films and was referred to as “Viswa Vikhyatha Nata Sarvabhouma,” meaning “universally renowned star of acting.” In 2013, he was voted “Greatest Indian Actor of All Time” in a CNN-IBN national poll conducted on the occasion of the Centenary of Indian Cinema. These are big claims. The films themselves tell a more complicated story.
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The early phase (1949-1956)
NTR debuted in 1949 with ‘Mana Desam’ and got his first lead in ‘Palletoori Pilla’ (1950). Neither film defined him. It was ‘Pathala Bhairavi’ (1951) that changed everything.
The Telugu version of ‘Pathala Bhairavi’ became the first Telugu-language film to have a direct run of 200 days. Directed by K.V. Reddy, the film borrowed from the Arabian Nights but placed itself firmly in a Telugu folk idiom. NTR played Ramudu, a commoner who outsmarts sorcerers and rescues royalty. This characterisation of the hero was very novel for the time. Despite being a commoner, the hero displays amazing command over his own circumstances and in wooing the princess. This characterisation can be seen as the precursor of later hero-centric films.
That template, the low-born, self-made hero who bends fate through will and action, became a template NTR returned to repeatedly. It built his mass appeal. It also limited him.
‘Pathala Bhairavi’ was the first South Indian film showcased at the first India International Film Festival, held in Mumbai on 24 January 1952. His follow-up, ‘Malliswari’ (1951), was featured at the Peking Film Festival in Beijing, China. By the early 1950s, NTR was a cultural export.
However, the early phase also showed a pattern of volume over selectivity. Between 1952 and 1956, he acted in dozens of films, many of them formulaic social dramas and multi-starrers that padded his filmography without advancing his craft.
The mythological turn (1957-1968)
‘Mayabazar’ (1957) is the most discussed NTR film of this period, though it is worth noting that his role was secondary to S.V. Ranga Rao’s Ghatotkacha. NTR’s mythological turn as Krishna in the film went on to define not only his film career, but also the political destiny of the Telugu states, as he capitalised on the very mythological identity consolidated in this film. That insight points to something important. NTR’s god roles were never just acting. They were a form of identity construction.
He played Krishna, Rama, and Shiva repeatedly across dozens of films. The audience responded with devotion rather than entertainment. He gained popularity in the 1960s when he became well known for his portrayals of Hindu deities, especially Krishna, Shiva, and Rama, roles which have made him a “messiah of the masses.”
The critical problem with this phase is that the mythology format rewarded spectacle over psychology. The films relied on elaborate costumes, devotional songs, and the assumed authority of the mythological figure. Acting, in the strict sense, was secondary. NTR was not asked to discover these characters. He was asked to embody what audiences already believed. ‘Lava Kusa’ (1963), in which he played Rama, collected Rs. 10 million in 1963, a staggering figure for the time. Commercial success was guaranteed. Critical risk was absent.
‘Nartanasala’ (1963) was featured at the Afro-Asian Film Festival held in Jakarta, Indonesia, showing that the work travelled internationally. But the format was becoming repetitive. By the mid-1960s, NTR had played the same gods in so many films that the roles risked becoming rituals rather than performances.
‘Daana Veera Soora Karna’ (1977)
No single NTR film invites more attention than this one. Made on a budget of just Rs. 10 lakh, the film went on to gross an estimated Rs. 1.5 to 2 crore. The film’s running time is 4 hours and 17 minutes, with NTR on screen for nearly the entire duration.
NTR wrote the story, wrote the screenplay, produced the film, directed it, and played three distinct characters: Karna, Duryodhana, and Krishna. This is an extraordinary creative and physical feat by any measure. The film earned a rare dual distinction.
The film, where he played three characters of the Hindu epic Mahabharata, namely Karna, Duryodhana, and Krishna, was a commercial success and became the first Telugu film to gross over Rs. 2 crore (20 million).
While many films had been based on the Mahabharata in Telugu, the difference in this film was the characterisation of Duryodhana. NTR projected Duryodhana as a well-educated person who knew dharma and other things much better than anyone.
The limitations of the film are also real. At over four hours, the pacing is uneven. The production values, despite their ambition, could not fully contain the narrative’s scope.
The action-social phase (1973-1982)
Later in his career, NTR transitioned from portraying princely characters in commercial films to roles featuring working-class heroes who challenged societal structures. Films like ‘Adavi Ramudu’ (1977), ‘Driver Ramudu’ (1979), ‘Vetagadu’ (1979), and ‘Justice Chowdary’ (1982) placed him in the role of the outsider who corrects a broken system.
The box office response was significant. ‘Adavi Ramudu’ grossed Rs. 3.25 crore, ‘Vetagadu’ grossed Rs. 3 crore, and ‘Driver Ramudu’ grossed Rs. 2.5 crore. These were among the biggest hits of the Telugu 1970s.
Academic criticism of this phase is worth examining. In ‘Adavi Ramudu’, the star-protagonist’s incidental linkage with authority worked because NTR the star was recognised as someone capable of guiding the narrative, not because of his story-level linkages with pre-modern forms of authority. In short, his star persona carried ideological weight the scripts themselves did not always earn. The mass audiences who saw NTR punish corrupt landlords were not watching fiction cleanly. They were projecting onto a figure whose divine associations made such authority seem natural and inevitable.
As director
NTR’s directorial work is underappreciated. He received a National Film Award for directing ‘Varakatnam’ (1970). He also directed ‘Daana Veera Soora Karna’ and ‘Srimadvirat Veerabrahmendra Swami Charitra’ (1984), a biographical film based on the life of Pothuluri Veerabrahmam, which earned Rs. 6.6 crore at the box office.
As a director, he showed a consistent interest in figures who stand outside mainstream power, saints, outlaws, mythic warriors. His directorial instinct was broadly consistent with his acting persona.
The declining years
By the late 1980s and early 1990s, NTR’s film output slowed and his political career consumed him. The films he did make, like ‘Brahmashi Viswamitra’ (1991) and ‘Major Chandrakanth’ (1993), were not commercially or critically significant. His last film was ‘Srinatha Kavi Sarvabhowmudu’, a biographical film on the Telugu poet Srinatha, released in 1993.
The broader limitation of his cinema, viewed honestly, was the sheer volume of work produced without discrimination. His filmography consists of 254 films as actor, writer, or producer between 1949 and 1994. Not all of it was good. Large portions were commercial product made quickly. The mythological phase, while historically significant, produced many films of low ambition. The action phase was formulaic as often as it was resonant.
What remains undeniable is the scale of his cultural imprint. He turned Telugu cinema’s mythological imagination into political capital. He built a star persona rooted not in vanity but in a specific Telugu cultural identity. And in specific films, particularly ‘Pathala Bhairavi’, ‘Mayabazar’, and ‘Daana Veera Soora Karna’, he delivered work that earned its place in any serious history of Indian cinema.