#GoldenFrames: Akkineni Nageswara Rao, the king of Telugu cinema

Late legendary actor Akkineni Nageswara Rao, popularly known as ANR, was one of the finest actors in Telugu cinema. ANR started his career in 1941 and made a mark on the silver screen with critically-acclaimed performances in different genre movies. He is best known for his classic roles in 'Keelu Gurram' (1949), 'Devadasu' (1953), 'Tenali Ramakrishna' (1956), 'Mayabazar' (1957), 'Gundamma Katha' (1962), and to name a few. ANR often played a second lead to Sr NTR. ANR has acted in over 255 movies in Telugu, Tamil and Hindi. A majority of his movies were both commercial and critical successes.

In This Pic : Akkineni Nageswara Rao

Before starting his career in Tollywood, ANR spent much of his time performing in theatre. In fact, he appeared on stage several times in a woman's avatar.

In This Pic : Akkineni Nageswara Rao

Akkineni made his debut in movies playing the lead actor's friend in the Tamil-Telugu Bilingual 'Dharmapatni' (1941). He was seventeen at the time.

In This Pic : akkineni nageswara rao

ANR's life changed after producer Ghantasala Balaramaiah cast him as 'Lord Rama' in his movie 'Seeta Rama Jananam' (1944) after seeing him at the railway station.

In This Pic : Akkineni Nageswara Rao

ANR was noticed for his performance in folklore-based movies and eventually got his first break for the movie 'Samsaram' (1950).

In This Pic : Akkineni Nageswara Rao

Pic Courtesy : BCCL