There are not many men who can justify the statement, “jack of all trades”. However, Dasari Narayana Rao was certainly one of them. There is almost nobody who can match up to the thespian with the sheer legacy he has left behind.
As a director, he has his name in the Guinness Book of world records for directing over 150 films. As a writer and lyricist, he wrote for over 250 films. As a politician, he was successful and became a Union Minister without having the charisma of a matinee-idol and reached levels which Superstars and Megastars could only dream of. As Indian cinema celebrated his birthday or Darshakaratna Jayanti as it is called on May 4, let us take a look at his rise to cinematic reign.
Dasari Narayana Rao was born on May 4, 1942, in Palakollu, West Godavari district. Apart from staging plays during their college days, he also directed some of them. It was during the performance of one of these plays in 1966 that leading producer YV Krishnaiah identified his talent and gave him a chance to act in a film. It soon led to Rao holding the director’s megaphone for the first time for Tata Manavadu produced by K. Raghava, after which there was no looking back.
With NT Rama Rao, he made huge hits like Bobbulipuli, Sardar Paparayudu, and Vishwaroopam. Bobbuli Puli was a huge hit and acted as a catalyst in launching NTR’s political career. Thus, the credit for NTR’s political career was also attributed to Dasari Rao. He gave stardom to actors like Akkineni Nageswara Rao with films like Premabhishekam. This movie also propelled Mohan Babu’s career along with other films like Sardhar Paparayudu and Tandrapaparayudu. As far as the heroines are concerned, he is also credited with bringing stardom to many stars, including Jayasudha, Jayaprada, Madhavi, Sridevi, Sujatha, and Silk Smita, Rajini, Annapurna, and Fatafat Jayalakshmi. Dasari shot his hundredth film Lankeshwar with Chiranjeevi. He also shot his 150th film Paramaveerchakra with Nandamuri Balakrishna.
He won two Nandi Awards for Best Actor from the Government of Andhra Pradesh. Dasari won the prestigious Raghupati Venkaiah Award in 1990, the NTR National Film Award in 2007 and many other awards for Best Director, Lyricist and Songwriter. He passed away on May 30 2017 after a prolonged illness at the age of 75.
Read all the Latest Movies News here
Comments
0 comment