First ever biography of NTR in English
A charming and informative 662-pages hard bound book together with many rare and unseen photos on the life and times of N.T.Rama Rao, an extra ordinary actor, the most admired chief minister of andhra pradesh and the architect of federal polities in India.
Some Chapter Titles
NTR valued time. On his sets, he insisted on punctuality. If there was prior notice of delay, he would accommodate. Not otherwise. For Srikrishnapandaveeyam, K.R.Vijaya was signed for the role of Rukmini. It was her debut film in Telugu. She turned up late on the set continuously for three days. On the fourth day, NTR sent her a legal notice and asked her to compensate for the loss of shooting time. A compromise was struck and she continued. Never did she report late on the set afterwards.
Jayalalitha expected her guests to be treated well. Once B.K. Easwar,a journalist, wanted to interview her for a prestigious film magazine. She agreed to do the interview and asked him to meet her on the sets of Srikrishna Satya in the Vauhini Studio. It was well known in the film circles that neither NTR nor K.V. Reddy allowed journalists on their sets. Jayalalitha did not know this. Since she had given an appointment, Easwar turned up on the set but the production executive asked him to leave. Jayalalitha’s make-up assistant who saw this went inside and told Jayalalitha. She took this as a personal affront.
NTR’s tour, in contrast, was a celebration. People flanked the streets of Tirupati. It looked as though the entire population of the town had come on the streets to welcome NTR. Tirupati had not known such reception to any other leader in the past. Childhood 33 The meeting ground was packed to capacity. Lakhs of people had gathered to hear NTR. He appealed to them to uphold the dignity and pride of the Telugu people. He urged them to free the State from the slavery of thirty-five years. ‘He was a great speaker but that afternoon he was inspired. His oration rose to dizzying heights. He cast a spell on the audience,’ said Lakshminarayana who was among the audience.
NTR called on Indira Gandhi on 5 October 1984 at her office in Delhi. According to P.C. Alexander, ‘Indira Gandhi herself was extraordinarily courteous and friendly to him. NTR repeatedly thanked her for her message of condolences on the demise of his wife, addressing her very warmly as “our beloved prime minister”. NTR highlighted the severe drought conditions in some of the districts of Andhra Pradesh and, in response, the prime minister assured him she would, at the earliest opportunity, visit those districts. It was indeed a cordial meeting; …’ This was typical of Indira Gandhi. According to Girilal Jain, ‘Indira Gandhi was deeply emotional though for a variety of reasons she was afraid of showing it; anyone who cried before her could get almost anything out of her. She was very much of a mother; she loved even grownup people leaning on her.
As Finance Minister, V.P. Singh’s behaviour was weird. He even refused to interact with industrialists individually or collectively. ‘How can a finance minister or prime minister not meet industrialists?’ wondered Pranab Mukherjee, who was finance minister for many years. Rajiv Gandhi watched the activities in the finance ministry helplessly even as a few victims of V.P.
Singh’s raids turned out to be his personal 40 Pages 393-399 of the original book Childhood 41 friends. But being a nice man, he did not question V.P. Singh. Outwardly affable, V.P. Singh was clever in his conversation, concealing his true intentions. His elliptical answers made him an enigma.