Year |
Nandi
Category |
Film |
1997 |
Best Actor |
Annamayya |
|
|
End of Nandi Awards Table |
Biography:
Nag, son of the Ever Green Hero Akkineni Negeswara Rao, needs no
introduction. Nag's foray into films is an act of passion. Vikram(1986),
his debutante film (a Telugu remake of Hindi Hero), made
a splash at the hearts of youth. Being just 4 films old he proved
that he can match his father's image as a tragedy king with a lovely
film called 'Majnu'.
He developed the strategy of inducting debutante
directors to his films with Sankeertha. Though this musical saga
did not sustain at box-office, Nag has gone a step ahead as an actor.
He paired up
with his legendry father Sr Akkineni to produce 'Collectorgari Abbai'.
But it was the Midas touch of Aswini Dutt that proved Nag's Box-office
credentials. For the first time he paired up with Sridevi, who has
done innumerable films with Nag's father Nageswara Rao, in the film
'Akhari Poratam' that ran for 100 days in 12 centers.
It was 'Geetanjali' that has taken Nag's image as a romantic hero
to new heights. Deft direction by Manirathnam and crafty camera
work by PC Sriram added to necessary gloss to the romantic image
of nag. If you think Geetanjali is a big hit. You are in a soup.
Because the box-office magnitude of 'Geetanjali' appears minuscule
compared to the stormy film that followed which has taken all the
youth's heart away. 'Shiva' gave Nag much needed action Hero image
and Nag made inroads into the hearts of students. Ultimate winner
of 'Shiva' is none but Ram Gopal Varma, a raw director. It was the
Nag's risky decision to employ a video operator as the director
for his home production that did the trick. All the scorning critics
who criticized Nag for his decision to choose Varma during the production
of film are silenced by it's stupendous success.
Fueled by the success of Shiva, Nag made a grand entry into Hindi
filmdom with the remake of 'Shiva'. If you think Nag is fond of
Shiva just because it changed the pace of his cine career, you are
mistaken. This film has also got him Amala, his soul mate.
After the storm of Shiva, there was a period lull for sometime.
Again Nag stormed with 'President gari pellam'. And his heavy box
office romancing continued till Hello Brother. Hello Brother showed
the stamina of Nag at box office by running in 28 centers. His comic
antics are best exploited by the director EVV. With this film Nag's
portfolio of acting is enriched with a useful ingredient called
comedy.
Again the period of lull continued for few years till he spotted
another creative director in making, Krishna Vamsi. Nag paired up
with Vamsi to produce one of the biggest Telugu romantic blockbusters,
'Ninne Pelladatha'. After this film Nag faced the biggest challenge
in his cine career. That is to act as Annamayya, the legendary singer/poet
of Medieval times. And Nag came out flying colors. Talk about the
result. It ran for 100 days in 42 centers. He has become a household
demigod with his presence of 'Annamayya'.
Every good thing in life comes with a few sacrifices. He wanted
to get rid of sacred 'Annamayya' image and wanted people to accept
him as a romantic hero. He produced a string of romantic films later.
All of them disappointed him at box-office and he went through the same kind of lull he had after 'Shiva' and 'Hello
Brother'. All his fans waited in an unabated breathlessness
for him to produce a film of Shiva magnitude. And Nag did not disappointed
them. He came up with the blockbuster of the year, Nuvvu Vastavani. The super good film's caption for this film, 'We don't break records ... we create records', seems to be very appropriate for Nag.
Nag is called as the celluloid scientist. He is best talent spotter
around. To his credit he blooded Geetha Krishna, Ram Gopal Varma,
Uppalapati Narayana Rao, Praveen Gandhi, VR Pratap and Jonnalagadda srinivasa Rao. He offered a
new comer Krishna Vamsi just by looking at a 5 minute rushes of
'Gulabi'. Nag will be known as the person who changed the mindset
of industry with his creative thinking. He encouraged the new technology
in his films. And others followed him.
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