Generally it is said that an actor should be capable of adorning any type of role, but not every actor is capable of justifying the role. Only some actors are capable of doing some role, like mythological characters in particular. Moreover if it is a character which demands authority, aggression such as Raavana and Keechaka, the actor should have lot of exclusive qualities. Great physical attributes such as height, commanding voice, and the actor should not be paled down when acting in scenes involving other actors. For this the actor should have a level in acting profession along with amazing acting skills. To elaborate, if Raavana’s character excels in Ramayana, then only Lord Rama’s character will be shown in great light. This formula equally applies to mythological as well as folklore films.
During the era in which Telugu Cinema had more mythological films, actors like Vemuri Gaggayya used to excel in negative roles. Later, such roles were adorned predominantly by S.V.Ranga Rao. It necessarily became a norm to cast S.V.Ranga Rao for negative roles that required authoritative voice, heavily built physical appearance and rigid nature. In one particular situation, Sr. NTR- who was acting previously in social drama films enthralled the audience with his performance as Lord Krishna in Mayabazaar. Naturally, NTR’s attention went towards Raavana character. Even after prominent director K.V.Reddy warned him not to act in negative roles, especially when audience were admiring him in divine roles, Sr.NTR did not listen. He acted as Raavana in Bhukailas and even in his own production Sita Rama Kalayam and gained people’s appreciation.
Sr.NTR did not stop there. His attention went to Duryodhana’s character next. He glamorized the Suyodhana character in Sri Krishna Pandaveeyam and acted in a royal way. S.V.Ranga Rao apparently was very fond of that role and he even wanted to make a film “Raraaju” with Duryodhana as the main character. But he died with that unfulfilled wish. Sr.NTR continued with his spree of acting in negative shaded characters. While acting in divine roles such as Lord Krishna, Rama, Venkateshwara Swamy, Sr.NTR adeptly acted with equal ease even in negatively shaded roles such as Duryodhana, Raavana, Keechaka and so on. He even went to the level of giving a star value to Duryodhana’s role by glamorizing it in Daana Veera Soora Karna - thereby becoming a trendsetter! To be more precise, most of the negative roles S.V.Ranga Rao adorned such as Raavana, Duryodhana, Keechaka and also roles such as Yama, Harish Chandra, Akbar and finally even Srinadhudu were adorned by Sr.NTR (Except for Kamsa). In short, Sr.NTR repeated the history which was created by himself!
