Tollywood has been mourning about the death of its all time favorite actress on screen Anjali Devi when another bad news struck the industry. The death of the legendary tollywood actor Akkineni Nageswara Rao on 22nd of January 2014 is going to be really tough for the industry. He was diagnosed with intestinal cancer and had recently been through an operation for the same. He is known to be a hero not only because of his on screen acting skills but also for the heroic way he fought the disease and left the industry at the age of 91. As told by his son Nagarjuna the famous Tollywood actor that Akkineni Nageswara Rao was smiling and chatting with his family till his condition worsens around 1.30 am on Wednesday then he was taken to Care Hospital at Banjara Hills. There he was attended by the specialists and the doctors for around an hour till his body started giving up. As per the reports he was unable to battle anymore and his last breath was at 2.45am. Immediately his body was shifted to his residence from there it was carried to Annapurna Studio at 9 in the morning.
The Story
Born on September 20th in the year of 1924, Akkineni Nageswara Rao’s acting carrier rolled for around seventy five long years. He delivered a lot of hits in around 256 films and has been one of the strong pillars contributing towards Tollywood industry. In the year of 1988 he was honored with the Padma Bhushan and before that he received awards like the Padma Sree and Raghupati Venkaiah. Other than this he backed the Filmfare award thrice and had also won the Nandi award for his films like Bangaru Kutumbam and Megha Sandesam.
Akkineni Nageswara Rao also known as ANR in the tollywood industry was the first actor to play a double role in Tollywood and he had a lot of onstage performance where he was casted in female roles.
The actor said in a press conference that he wanted to cross the bench mark of 96 years which was set by his mother; with the love of his fans and their blessings he wanted to live till 100 years after his triumph over the critical cardiac attack.
Contribution
Other than contributing to the cinemas by delivering good movies, ANR and NTR known as Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao together wheeled the Tollywood industry in its shift from Madras to Hyderabad and form two strong pillars of success for the industry. They aim to uplift the level of Tollywood and bring it in competition to Bollywood.
In spite of battling with this fatal disease ANR will be respected for shooting for his last film Manam with two generations of his family his son Nagarjuna, and his grandson Naga Chaitanya. Though there were several reports of his poor health during the shoot but he still continued with the film.
We all salute to the smile and the strength with which he covered his journey. There’s no doubt that his contributions will be remembered and his presence will always be missed in the industry.