You would find hardly any Indian who has not heard the name of N T Rama Rao.  NTR as he is known as all across the country was a great actor.  He ruled Telugu Cinema till his retirement.

NTR as an actor:- As an actor NTR was unparalleled.  He did a variety of roles from mythological roles to action to social issues concerning the society.  However when it comes to his portrayal of mythological roles, no Indian actor can even come close to matching him.   When you see any Indian actor in the role of God, we know that the particular actor is wearing a costume and he is not really God, but with NTR it is different.  With NTR you get the impression you are actually watching Lord Krishna or Lord Rama. For a moment you think you are seeing God on screen.  That explains how well he fits into mythological roles.  There was a time when villagers used to think NTR was God, and used to keep his screen photographs of Lord Krishna in their houses and worship them.

NTR as a politician in State politics:- N T Rama timed his political entry very well.  He retired at the peak of his career as the Superstar of Telugu Cinema.  He found a party called Telugu Desam in 1982.  Within 9 months the party came to power which is a world record.  Congress which ruled the state for 35 years were routed in elections in what was the biggest ever surprise in history of Indian politics.  If that was not enough Telugu Desam led by NTR in 1984 had the distinction of being the second single largest party in 1984 Lok Sabha elections.  The magnitude of achievement can be gauged from the fact that  a regional party finished with the 2nd highest number of seats in the country.

NTR as a national leader:- NTR was instrumental in bringing all non congress parties together.  He had this unique leadership skills wherein he was able to bring forth a assortment of smaller parties and make it  a single powerful unit.  The Unit, then was called as National Front.  National Front chairpersoned by NTR came to power in 1989.  While National Front did not last long in power, NTRs inspiration carried parties like United Front, BJP & Third Front to power at various points of times.  The credit for any party other than the Congress coming to power at national level should go to NTR for it was he who took the initiative.

N T Rama Rao was very well known for doing charity very early during his film career and as a politician had the reputation of not having a single corruption case against him.

While NTR is no more, his legacy still lives on.  No wonder when a popular national news channel  conducted a nationwide poll to find out who is the most popular Andhrite, NTR who died more than a decade ago, was the winner by a long way.

Regards

Satish