NT RAMARAO-- AN ENIGMA.

When I was young, I was certainly an avid movie goer. Of course the heroes of that time were NTR, ANR, Krishna, Sobhanbabu, Chiranjivi etc. I did not like any specific hero and watched the movies of all heroes. At that time I found that the younger generation was over awed by the heroes and each had their own pick. Surprisingly I was not impressed by any of the heroes but just used to watch the movies.

On the side of the heroines too I did not have a specific pick but maybe liked Jayasudha but she came later. I also liked Roja Ramani. Vanisri was quite famous then and I had the pleasure of sitting right beside her and Nageswarrao in the marriage of one of my relations. Of course both of them certainly looked glamorous but they were full of heavy makeup.

NTR was supreme in Pauranikam movies and I did like his action in them. In the movie Adavi Ramudu I remember the way I laughed when he had those songs with his heroine dancing away and found his dancing to be akin to that of an elephant. Of course I liked his action and looks but minus his paunch. I did not have any high opinion of him and saw him as just another hero but more successful.

That is how things rested before I got selected for first Dena Bank which removed me from AP to Hubli in Karnataka, and later the selection in SBI moved me further away to MP and the connection with AP movies and NTR was cut off. In Dec 1982 I was at the SBI staff training centre at Ameerpet, Hyderabad for training for a period of 1 month. NTR floated TDP by that time and was going great guns.

At that time I was not at all bothered about politics and I was totally unaware of the developments in our state except that NTR had floated a political party. There were people from Bhopal (my circle in SBI), Madras, Chandigarh, Patna and Lucknow circles along with me at the Training center. Some of them asked me one day as to what would be the position of Telugu Desam in the coming elections. I told them NTR can't win and he was just indulging in dramatics. In fact, that was the impression they had about him and I simply supported that without knowing anything about NTR.

Later NTR came to power with a bang but I did not follow the later developments as I had no interest at all in politics then. But yes I read about the developments of Nadendla Bhaskararao usurping power and later Chandrababu back stabbing NTR to get to power. But even then I did not have a full idea of what was happening in AP at that time.   

I came back to AP only in 2001 by which time Chandrababu was firmly in the saddle and NTR had already died. So I never bothered to check the facts about NTR and continued to believe what I knew about him.

Only recently as I had posted in the group I bought the 2 volumes of NTR’s biography written by Lakshmi Parvathi and read them. His biography made an immense impression on me. Of course, I knew that Lakshmi Parvathi would be biased on issues concerning herself and would be against Chandrababu. So how to counterbalance that and find at least some fragments of the fact? For that, I saw the interview of Lakshmi Parvathi’s ex-husband as well as those of Jayaprakash Narayan of Loksatta. I knew JP’s interviews would be the most trustworthy and my opinion of NTR got formulated by them and also on Lakshmi Parvatahi’s biography for his earlier years before entering politics.     

When I looked at NTR’s life I found I missed the reality by miles. I was terribly wrong in my assessment of him. NTR was a great man, as great a man as Abdul Kalam and as principled. And his job was much more difficult than that of Abdul Kalam who never had the problem of dealing with politicians day in and day out.

Of course, a few of you who have seen JP’s interviews know about him but some of you may not. So I am quoting from his interviews here as well as NTR’s biography by Lakshmi Parvathi. I am not bothered about politics but bothered about this great man whom I have misjudged so badly. I am ashamed that I was thus led astray about him.

1.       NTR was born into an affluent family at Nimmakooru. His grandfather Ramaswami Choudhary  owned 80 acres of land and his family is one of the leading families in that village. He had 4 sons one of which is Lakshmayya who is NTR’s father. Although NTR stayed with his own parents, his father’s elder brother Ramayya adopted NTR. Now this man Ramayya was very much interested in dramas and it is from him that NTR inherited his interest in acting.

2.       He was raised till the age of about 10 in a doting manner and without any hindrance. Unfortunately for NTR and his family when he was about 10 years old one of his uncles asked for distribution of property and Ramaswami Choudhary unwillingly complied. The families got split.  Each son got 20 acres of land. Now NTR’s father was over-ambitious. He took much more land on lease yhan his own, by taking loans and cultivated it. Unfortunately for him, the price of rice fell drastically during that period and finally he had to sell away 18 acres of his land to clear his debts. This left them with just 2 acres of land with which a family could not survive.  

3.       Lakshmiah was finding it difficult to make ends meet and on receiving a suggestion from Ramayya, the uncle who adopted NTR, his father moved to Vijayawada and purchased 2 buffaloes. He used to milk the buffaloes and sell the milk. NTR used to go around on a 2^nd hand cycle which his father purchased for distributing the milk in Vijayawada. Slowly they made money on that and purchased more buffaloes. When they made more money they thought of purchasing 2.5 acres from another uncle to whom they made the payment. That uncle cheated them and never registered the land in their name and sold it to someone else. Such is the background from which NTR comes. He was thrown from an affluent family into a poor family that found ends difficult to meet with life in disarray. That explains why he was very strict with money and spends only what he must.

4.       He acted in dramas from childhood in his village with the influence of his uncle and was known for his acting abilities.  NTR had great determination and when he undertook a task, nothing could stop him. One day he went on his bicycle to another village to gather some heavy goods. Unluckily for him, the bicycle tyre got punctured and he could not ride the bicycle. He could not find a pump in that village but he knew that there was  an air pump in the next village, so he pushed the bicycle up to that village only to find that person was not available. His home  was 55 Km from the first village he started from. He went up to the next village so he must have covered about 5 Km and has to cover another 50 Km. Another guy in his place would have simply quit and slept somewhere. Imagine pushing a loaded bicycle for 50 Km. But not so for NTR, he pushed the bicycle all the way and reached home at 2 O'clock in the morning and only then had food. Imagine walking the village roads for 50 Km in the night without food. Apart from determination, what guts the guy must have had.  

5.       Despite the constraints he had NTR managed to complete his BA and then got selected as a Sub Registrar in the Madras Presidency. And he lasted precisely 3 weeks in his job which is considered a prime money spinner even today.

At the time the convention was that the Sub Registrar had to put on a coat. In the office, NTR used to remove the coat and hang it at the back of his chair. In one of those initial days when he picked up his coat and put it on he found something in his pocket. He was surprised as he did not keep anything there. He checked and found that it contained money. He immediately called the peon who told him that it was the convention in the office and the money received was distributed in the evening. NTR was horrified and threw out the money saying that he does not want it. Thereafter he was working like a fish out of water and finally, he could not bear it any longer, so he decided to quit the job and join the movies. He resigned from the job within 3 weeks and went to Chennai to try to get into the movies.

6.       At Madras he had a very tough time initially and for almost a year movie chances did not come to him and there were many days when he had no money even to have food. Yet it was his persistent determination that saved him till he got a break.   

7.       This is the profile of the man who was initially born with a silver spoon in his mouth, which later deteriorated to no spoon at all. Yet what clearly stands out is his idealism despite facing such an insecure childhood, is his determination and very clear-cut distinction of ideology. His poverty gave him the feel for poor people and it is perhaps that which guided him into giving that Rs 2 per Kg rice scheme. He enjoyed both affluence, and poverty and knew what it was to be left hungry.

8.       I would love to write more about the man but as it is I think it stretched too long so I stopped here. I will write another short note on his political exploits and his ideology.