The contributions of the great actor N.T.Rama Rao to the telugu film industry can never ever be forgotten.

The standards set by NTR for the mythological roles can never be reached. Fellow actor ANR once said, as long as people believe in gods Rama or Krishna they can never forget NTR.

He was born on May 28, 1923 in Krishna district. Neither he nor his parents ever imagined that he would one day become a great actor.

In spite of being a farmers family NTR’s parents respected education. NTR’s basic education was finished at his native place Nimmakuru. His father carried him on his shoulders to a school that is far away from their house. When his uncle Ramaiah adopted NTR, he was taken to Vijayawada concerning his further education. NTR had joined in sixth class at Gandhi Municipal School at Vijayawada. When his parents met with a bad patch frantically, NTR used to help them by tying the milk cans on both sides of his cycle and distributing them to the hotels and dwellers of farer places from their house. It was his first taste of the dignity of labour. He had undertaken so many things to earn the daily bread for their family. He ran a small provision store and worked as a clerk. In spite of all these things he remained a good student in his school and later in college. While he was studying Intermediate at S.R.R. College at Visakha Patnam, Viswanatha Satyanarayana who was the head of the Telugu dept there asked NTR to play a female role where NTR reluctantly agreed to play the role but having his moustache! That incidence fetched him the nickname meesaala naagamma.

Marriage It was while NTR was doing his Intermediate, that he got married to his maternal uncle’s daughter Basavatharakam in May 1942. Because of the distraction caused by marriage, he failed in Intermediate twice. However, he didn’t give it up and proved his will power by succeeding in the examination later, and had joined in B.A. at Andhra Christian College, Guntur. There was always an instinct in him towards acting. It was that instinct in him which drove him towards the stage. The amateur National Arts Theatre group (NAT) at Andhra Christian College, Guntur in 1946, and started performing and directing many stage plays like ‘Chesina Paapam’ along with Kongara Jaggiah, Mukkamala and K.V.S. Sarma. They raised money for the welfare of poor people, and for draught and famine relief funds during early 50’s. In addition NTR was a good illustrator. He had even won a prize in painting competition held at state level. When Subhash Chandra Bose visited Vijayawada, NTR gifted a portrayal of Bose to him.

Taraka Rama Rao completed his graduation in the year 1947. He later passed in the Madras Service Commission Exam – out of 1,100 members only seven were selected and Rama Rao was one among them. Thus he settled down in a sub registrar’s job at Mangalagiri in 1947. Nevertheless, it became a brief period as he worked only for three weeks and refrained from the job since he got a prospect in films.

NTR's first movie was MANA DESAM, released in 1949. The first movie had him in a very small role. His first movie as a hero was PALLETOORI PILLA and was a super hit. His subsequent movies SHAVUKARU, PAATHAALABHAIRAVI, MALLESWARI and CHANDRAHAARAM established him as the premier hero in the telugu film industry. NTR has acted in 254 movies including 15 movies in one year (1964). He acted in 42 mythological movies. Eventhough he first played in a Krishna role in movie SONTHA VOORU, his Krishna role in MAAYAA BAZAAR earned him all the glory.

Politics:
He made his way into politics in 1982 by setting up his own regional party, ‘Telugu Desam Party’ (TDP) aspiring to shield the pride of the Telugu People all over the world. He had beaten Congress-I in the first elections and became the non Congress Chief Minister for the first time in India. No other politician entered into politics within nine months of their entry into politics. He had brought in the 'slab system' in film field in 1984. The system facilitated the producers as well as the distributors largely. He was the chief minister of the state till 1989 when his party was discomfited. He was elected to be the Chairman of ‘National Front Party’.
As the Time grabs everybody to its cold lap, Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao, a great legend died in 1996 at the age of 73 leaving no other person to replace his place. He is not among us physically he remains unaltered in the hearts of millions of people of Andhra Pradesh.

Some of the other significant mythological which are unforgettable include:
Ravana in BHOOKAILAAS and SEETHA RAMA KALYANAM
Dual role as Krishna and Duryodhana in SRI KRISHNA PANDAVEEYAM (1966)
Triple role as Krishna, Duryodhana and Karna in DAANA VEERA SOORA KARNA (1977)
Five roles in SRIMADVIRAATA PARVAM (1979)
Rama in SAMPOORNA RAMAYANAM (19590 and LAVA KUSA (1963)
Lord Venkateswara in SRI VENKATESWARA MAHATYAM (1960)
Arjuna in NARTANASALA

Together with his brother, he established NAT production unit in 1952. His first movie as a producer, PICHI PULLIAH (1953) was a failure. The next movie TODU DONGALU (1954) won government award as the best picture.

He also won government award for best actor for his role as Krishna Devaraya in TENALI RAMAKRISHNA.

His ADAVI RAMUDU and YAMAGOLA ran for 50 weeks and celebrated golden jubilees.

Following movies of his ran for 25 weeks:
PALLETOORI PILLA, MAYABAZAAR, GUNDAMMA KATHA, SABHASH RAMUDU, SAMSAARAM, PELLI CHESI CHOODU, DAASI, AGGI RAMUDU, JAYASIMHA, VENKATESWARA MAHATYAM, RAKTHA SAMBANDAM, NARTHANASALA, PANDAVA VANAVASAM,AADABRATUKU, SRI KRISHNAVATARAM, UMMADI KUTUMBAM, RAMU, KODALU DIDDINA KAPURAM, DESODDARAKUDU, DEVUDU CHESINA MANUSHULU, YAMAGOLA, SARDAR PAPARAYUDU, KONDAVEETI SIMHAM

He also made his mark with historical roles like DUSHYANTHA, SAMRAT ASHOKA, AKBAR, CHANDRAGUPTHA, BRAHMANAYUDU, RANGARAYUDU, HARISCHANDRA and others.

His movie LAVA KUSA ran for 75 weeks and no other telugu film ever ran for so many weeks.

NTR also directed about 15-20 movies.