The Influence of Sr. NTR on Jr. NTR's Acting Journey

Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao alias Jr NTR (Tarak) was born on 1983 May 20 to Nandamuri Hari Krishna and Shalini couple at Mehdipatnam, Hyderabad. Hari Krishna has two sons with his first wife, Janaki who are Nandamuri Janaki Ram, Kalyan Ram and daughter Suhasini. Hari Krishna married Ms. Shalini in a second marriage while she used to work with Senior NTR, it was during the time when Sr. NTR was very busy with election campaigning and Hari Krishna used to spend most of his time with his father. Hari krishna became close to Shalini and that resulted in a premarital pregnancy. Sr. NTR got them both married in 1983 and asked Shalini to stay separately in Mehdipatnam till the other family members are convinced. When Jr NTR was born in May 1983, the family members could not accept the fact that Hari Krishna got married a second time secretly. 

During his childhood NTR was a very naughty child. His mother got him involved in extracurricular activities ,Kuchipudi and classical singing. Tarak learned Bharatnatyam and Kuchipudi with immense interest and started giving performances.

Junior NTR was studying in Hyderabad and during 1993-1994 Sr. NTR expressed his interest in seeing his grandchild. That was the first time Sr. NTR changed his birth name to Jr.NTR as he looked like him. Later, during the shoot of Bramhasri Vishwamitra, Sr. NTR called Jr. NTR while he was 9 years old, to play a small role and taught him dialog delivery and became his practical guru in acting.

Sr. NTR called MS Reddy who met Guna Shekhar to make Ramayana with kids with Jr. NTR in a main role, called it “Bala Ramayanam”. The team trained kids for 40 days and got a green signal from Sr. NTR. The shoot started in June 1995. At the same time, Sr. NTR was facing a difficult time in politics and passed away in early 1996. Bala Ramayanam was a huge hit for Jr. NTR but his grandfather passed away without watching the film. His mother expected that Jr. NTR would become a hero under the guidance of Sr. NTR, but with him passing away, she asked Tarak to concentrate on studies but he was already inclined towards films. 

He met MS Reddy who produced Bala Ramayanam and requested him to take another film with him soon after +2. Jr. NTR went to every movie office, introduced himself and also met noted director Raghavendra Rao who made super hit movies with his grandfather Sr. NTR. Raghavendra Rao recommended his name to Ramoji Group Chairman, Ramoji Rao who was planning a film with newcomers. Ramoji Rao then auditioned Jr. NTR and selected him for the lead role in "Ninnu Choodalani''. During the same time, Rajamouli, who was directing serials under the supervision of Raghavendra Rao, wanted to direct a movie and Rao recommended Jr. NTR and finalized the team for "Student No. 1".

Rajamouli and Jr. NTR became good friends and Student No.1 was a hit for both Jr. NTR and Rajamouli, NTR's third movie Subbu was a very average film but the superhit Aadi released in March 2002 made Vinayak a star director and NTR a mass star.

Later after Allari Ramudu, Naaga, Rajamouli and NTR recreated magic with Simhadri, a super blockbuster hit. NTR shaked the telugu film industry with his rage, action, comedy and dance. Kalyan Ram and Janaki Ram, the half brothers of Jr. NTR got close to him. His uncle Balakrishna also used to meet him occasionally. 

After this raging success NTR did movies like Andhrawala, Naa Alludu, Narasimhudu, Samba, Rakhi, having good stories but he faced criticism for his fat and ugly looks. Rajamouli called NTR and warned him that he would look his craze in youth if he didn't follow health and body dynamics. NTR's transformation for "Yamadonga'' with Rajamouli, Adurs, Brindavanam re- established NTR also as a lover boy apart from his mass image and all the three movies were hits. 

On May 5th 2011, NTR married Pranathi, a relative of the politician Chandra Babu Naidu in a grand way, inviting even the common public.

Later Oosaravelli, Badshah, Ramayya Vastavayya, Rabasa were only average films. NTR again had a bad phase and lost his craze. Temper, the story of a corrupt police officer, became a hit as the story had negative, cunning shades in the character. Later he acted in Nannaku Prematho, directed by Sukumar and Janatha Garage by Koratala Shiva which were super duper hits. Again Jai Lava Kusa and Aravinda Sametha became back to back hits. NTR showed variation in each role, his maturity improved with story selection. NTR and Pranathi gave birth to two sons but lost his father during the shoot of Aravinda Sametha. 

NTR saw huge successes, disasters, deaths in the family and he became stronger at every step. He hosted Big Boss, Meelo evaru Koteeswarudu and both shows had a huge TRP. 

He then for the fourth time acted in the direction of Rajamouli, shared screen with another star Ramcharan for "RRR", and we know its PAN Indian craze.