His most noted roles were in some of the famous dramas of the day: Harishchandra, Kanakatara, Vipranarayana, Telugu Talli, Aasajyoti and Satyanveshanam. He became a famous stage actor, specialising in playing female characters, since women at that time were mostly prohibited from acting. His formal education was limited to primary schooling due to his parents poor economic condition.įrom the paddy fields, he strode into the field of fine arts through theatre at the age of 10. His parents Akkineni Venkatratnam and Akkineni Punnamma, were from the farming community. The film was screened at the 45th International Film Festival of India in the Homage to ANR section on 29 November 2014.Īkkineni Nageswara Rao was born into a lower-middle-class family on 20 September 1924 in Ramapuram, Krishna District, Andhra Pradesh. The film was a "befitting swansong", as he always famously said that he wanted to die acting. Manam 2014 was the last film of ANR, who died on 22 January 2014 during the films production phase. He was also honoured with the Padma Vibhushan, Indias second highest civilian award, for his contribution to the film industry. He is a recipient of the Dada Saheb Phalke Award, the highest Indian award in the field of cinema. ANR received seven state Nandi Awards, and five Filmfare Awards South. ANR also starred in the blockbusters Ardhangi 1955, Donga Ramudu 1955, Mangalya Balam 1958, Gundamma Katha 1962, Doctor Chakravarty 1964, Dharma Daata 1970 and Dussehra Bullodu 1971. Similarly, Rao played many famous mythological figures such as Lord Vishnu in Chenchu Lakshmi Narada in Bhookailas and Arjuna in Sri Krishnarjuna Yuddhamu.ĪNR is also remembered for his performances in romantic dramas Laila Majnu 1949, Devadasu 1953, Anarkali 1955, Batasari 1961, Mooga Manasulu 1964, Prem Nagar 1971, Premabhishekam 1981 and Meghasandesham 1982, which was featured at the 9th International Film Festival of India, the 1983 Cannes Film Festival and the Moscow film festival. He later started the Annapurna International School of Film and Media within Annapurna Studios in 2011.ĪNR is known for his path-breaking work in biographical films He essayed the Tamil saint Thondaradippodi Alvar in the 1954 film Vipra Narayana Tenali Rama in the 1956 film Tenali Ramakrishna, which received the All India Certificate of Merit for Best Feature Film Kalidas the Sanskrit poet of Ujjain in the 1960 film Mahakavi Kalidasu the 12th Century Sanskrit poet Jayadeva of Odisha in the 1961 film Bhakta Jayadeva the Kannada sculptor Amarashilpi Jakanachari in the 1964 film Amara Shilpi Jakkanna the Marathi saint Tukaram in the 1971 film Bhakta Tukaram Kabir in the 2006 film Sri Ramadasu Valmiki in the 2009 film Sri Rama Rajyam. He established Annapurna Studios in 1975 to provide infrastructural support to the Telugu film industry in Hyderabad. He was one of the instrumental figures in moving the Telugu cinema industry from Madras to Hyderabad in the early 1960s. He is considered one of the greatest and most successful actors of Indian cinema and one of the two pillars of Telugu Cinema, along with N.T.Rama Rao. He starred in many landmark films in his seventy five-year career, becoming one of the most prominent figures in the history of Indian cinema. Akkineni Nageswara Rao, widely known as ANR, was an Indian film actor and producer, known for his work predominantly in Telugu cinema.