Hyderabad: The mortal remains of legendary Telugu actor Akkineni Nageswara Rao were on Thursday consigned to flames amid police honours as scores of film personalities, including Union Tourism Minister Chiranjeevi, and fans bade him an emotional farewell.
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Akkineni Nageswara Rao's body taken to the pyre by family members
Nageswara Rao's two sons Venkat and actor Nagarjuna and other family members lit the pyre at the Annapurna Studios here, established by the thespian himself.
Family members, including his grandchildren who have followed his footsteps in acting, paid their last respects before lighting the funeral pyre.
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Former Union Minister and Congress leader T. Subbirami Reddy, state ministers K.V. Krishna Reddy, D. Nagender, veteran producer D. Rama Naidu, popular heroes Venkatesh and Jr NTR were among those present.
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Earlier, the body was kept at the film chamber building to enable fans and well wishers to pay their last respects, before being taken back to the Annapurna Studios in a procession, which was followed by thousands of fans and members of the film fraternity.
Nageswara Rao, who scaled the peaks of Telugu cinema rivalling N.T. Rama Rao in stature between 50s and 70s, died here on Wednesday after losing his battle with cancer.
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Son and actor Nagarjuna weeps as ANR's body is carried to the pyre.
Popularly known as ANR, the 91-year-old thespian mesmerised generations of audiences with a variety of roles and memorable performances in hits like 'Batasari', 'Devadas', 'Prem Nagar', 'Missamma' and 'Tenali Ramakrishna' in a career spanning more than seven decades.
Rao recently completed shooting for his home production 'Manam' (Us) which stars three generations of the family - himself, Nagarjuna and grandson Naga Chaitanya.
Naga Chaitanya and Nagarjuna inconsolable at the funeral.
A Dada Saheb Phalke award winner, he had acted in more than 250 films, including some in Tamil and Hindi. ANR was instrumental in bringing Telugu filmmaking to Hyderabad from Chennai, that was home to film production in all south Indian languages.
Next: Karnataka Assembly, Karunanidhi pay tributes Nageswara Rao
Karunanidhi condoles death of ANR
Chennai: DMK president M. Karunanidhi on Thursday condoled the death of veteran Telugu actor Akkineni Nageswara Rao.
He said Rao had been his friend for a very long time and recalled that much like the Tamil thespian Sivaji Ganesan, the Telugu star had also started his career as a stage artist, doing female roles, before gaining popularity in the silver screen.
When M.G. Ramachandran and Ganesan ruled the roost in Tamil cinema, another Telugu stalwart N.T. Rama Rao and Nageswara Rao were hailed as the 'twin-heroes' of Telugu cinema, he said in a statement here.
"I extend my sincere condolences to his son Nagarjuna, his family members and friends in Telugu film industry," he said.
Karnataka Assembly pays glowing tributes to ANR, Wodeyar
Bangalore: Karnataka Assembly on Thursday paid glowing tributes to veteran Telugu film actor Akkineni Nageswara Rao, who passed away in Hyderabad.
"Akkineni became an instant hit among the people of Andhra Pradesh with films like Devdas and Maharshi Valmiki. His demise is an unbearable loss to cine-goers," Speaker Kagodu Thimappa said in a condolence motion.
He received numerous awards and honours, including Padma Vibhushan, Thimappa said.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said Akkineni had acted in 255 films opposite 64 heroines, which is a record of sorts. The memories of Akknineni's acting in Devdas still lingers on in the minds of cine-goers, Siddaramaiah said.
Former Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar said Akkineni was a gifted actor and had large fan following in Andhra Pradesh.
Paying tributes to the last scion of Mysore royal family Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wodeyar, who died recently, Siddaramaiah said he was known for his simplicity and gentleness.
Wodeyar also did not flaunt wealth and mingled with people without any reservation, Siddaramaiah said. "He commanded tremendous respect from the people which was reflected during his funeral procession in Mysore," he added.
