Akkineni Nageswara Rao aka ANR is a legendary actor who had an impressive career that lasted for a few decades. The actor-producer is known for the valuable contributions he made to the industry. He is contemporary to Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao and the two legendary personalities are seen as the two eyes of the Tollywood industry.
After enjoying an illustrious career ANR breasted his last on January 22 in 2014. Today marks the death anniversary of the legendary actor. It’s been around a decade since his demise. On this occasion, let us look at interesting details of his career.
ANR hails from a lower-middle-class family in the Krishna district. He is the youngest among his siblings. Due to his family condition, his education did not go further beyond primary school. He started working in theatre at the early age of just 10. His career started as a stage actor and eventually ventured into films.
ANR’s acting career started in 1941 with Dharmapatni. But his career took a big turn with Sri Seeta Rama Jananam. Since the 1950s ANR started appearing in hit Mythological films. He also created an image of the best romantic hero in Telugu.
Devadasu (1953) marks one of the iconic films in his career. Though the film was remade in other languages ANR’s acting is regarded as the best among all the films. Later he went on to appear in other classic romantic films like Laila Majnu (1949), Anarkali (1955), and Prema Nagar (1971).
ANR is called a Novel hero as he appeared in many films that are based on famous novels. He enjoyed a massive fan following among women who used to go crazy for him. It is said that girls used to have pictures of him in their books.
ANR’s career lasted for around seventy five-year which makes him one of the longest-working actors. He had a shift in his career. Though he started his career as a supporting actor and became a hero, he started doing character roles and supporting roles going by his age.
He also won many awards in his glorious career. He won as many as Nine Nandi Awards and five Filmfare Awards. ANR was also honoured with Dada Saheb Phalke Award and Padma Vibhushan. ANR acted in Telugu, Tamil, and Hindi films.