I just finished watching first half an hour of NTR's ace movie Kondaveeti Simham (on the TV), for the 100+th time. Of course, only once (when I was a kid) did I watch the movie in full.
NTR is a great actor.. In most movies that he acted, the characters' weight is magnified because he plays the role. And most of his action was not 'natural.' It was a highly amplified portrayal of emotions, drama, action and pathos.. it is believed that he (like his Tamil counterparts MGR and Sivaji Ganesan) over-acted to get the 'maximum effect.' And yes, the audience's hearts were won. Not only a great actor he was a great man in his own right.. an inimitable icon.
I was an 8 year old boy when I first saw him in person.. He was CM of AP then, and was at that time donning the Swami Vivekananda attire.
After he entered politics, he assumed various getups before settling with the last known. For some initial days he used to wear khaki trousers & shirt. Then he took up white safari suite. And then the more Telugu attire of panche+shirt+kanduva. Then the orange (sanyasi) robes. It was believed that he lived like a sanyasi, though many would say that he only acted like one and in his home he still gulped chicken fried in pure butter (quite unbecoming of a sanyasi). This dress changed to that of Swami Vivekananda, for which it seems he wrapped an 18 feet cloth around his head. It was a veda-sabha at Hyderabad and he came as the chief guest. The organizers got all the pandits honored by him and in that sabha I sat very close to him. He spoke on that occasion but I remember nothing of it.
When it came to honoring me, he handed over the gifts, and I didn't know how to react. He said, "teesuko babu.." ("take it, boy"). I took, saying "thank you." Probably I was the only one in that sabha to have said this. Everyone laughed including him and he tapped on my cheek and proceeded.
It was an open secret that he hated brahmins. One can see it even in some of his on-screen performances. Probably for this reason our elders were not for his political party. I didn't like this, and wanted to vote for him if I ever got the chance.. I never got it.
Another occasion I saw him was when he inaugurated the famous temple of Jubilee Hills. How was Jubilee Hills at that time! It was a vast 'layout' with mostly empty plots and newly laid tar-roads. Here a movie mogul's house, there a minister's house.. rocks in between. One could see the Hyderabad Airport from there . The runway, aircraft landing and taking off ... Now, not even a house in the next street is visible, or even the next street itself is out of visible range.
Many years later, in fact within the same year that NTR passed away, a friend of mine visited NTR on behalf of his college. He spoke of NTR's warm reception and the attention he paid to what to him was a small thing - a representation from an engineering college. My friend was most impressed by the powerful personality of the giant. The personality reflected in the sharpness and sheer power/magnetism/glow/energy in NTR's eyes.
Wasn't he already too popular when he entered politics? Why did he still don so many attires to attract public attention and awe? All his various attires, the 'gimmicks' as detractors who could not even trace his glorious path let alone catching up would term, were one expression of the great man's energy. In fact, in popularity, I strongly believe that NTR far surpassed MGR and it is hard to believe that any other person can come close to him in the foreseeable time frame.
Long live the NTR, the pride of Telugu people.
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