Tamil superstar Rajinikanth arrived in Vijayawada on Friday to participate in the centenary celebrations of Telugu icon Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao, who was popularly known as NTR.
NTR’s son and well-known Tollywood actor N Balakrishna received Rajinikanth at Gannavaram Airport here.
The superstar will attend the event scheduled to be held on Friday evening in the city. N Chandrababu Naidu, president of the political party that NTR founded, the Telugu Desam Party, and other leaders will also attend the event.
Balayya, as Balakrishna is popularly known, has invited fans to come out and take part in the celebrations.
NTR, who enjoyed the status of a demigod among Telugu-speaking people, acted in over 300 films and was known for playing mythological characters.
He played Lord Krishna in over 17 films, including ‘Krishnarjuna Yudham’ (1962) and ‘Dana Veera Soora Karna’.
He entered politics in 1982 by floating the TDP and won the upcoming state elections in nine months.
Born on May 28, 1923, NTR served as chief minister of undivided Andhra Pradesh from 1983 to 1989. He led the TDP back to power with a landslide victory in December 1994 but faced a revolt from his son-in-law Chandrabu Naidu, who was unhappy over the interference of NTR’s second wife Lakshmi Parvathi in the party and administrative affairs.
Supported by NTR’s children from his first wife, Naidu unseated NTR from power in September 1995. The TDP founder died of cardiac arrest on January 18, 1996.
