N. T. Rama Rao Career as an actor

Rama Rao was referred to by fans as "Nata Ratna" and " Vishwa Vikhyatha Nata Sarvabhouma" (Emperor of Acting) in Telugu

Though widely recognized for playing mythological characters, Rao is considered as one of the greatest actors in Telugu film, and in general in South Indian films. His portrayal of Lord Krishna in Maya Bazaar by B. Nagi Reddy, a producer at Vijaya Productions, was the turning point in his life. His portrayal of Ravana and avatars of Vishnu, especially Rama and Krishna; mesmerized an entire generation who saw the face of Rao when these gods were mentioned.

Rama Rao had a major contribution to what can be considered the golden age of Telugu film making, between 1950 and 1965. Analysts believe that the Telugu film industry produced some of the best mythological movies from India, while the Tamil and Hindi movie industry produced better socially-oriented films.

NTR was naturally talented and extremely disciplined about various aspects of acting like preparation, punctuality, and dialogue delivery. An important factor that made him a great actor was his ability to deliver extremely lengthy dialogues that were original verses from the Ramayana and the Mahabharata with a fervour and command unmatched by most of his contemporaries. In addition, he generally played multiple roles in the same movie, which increased the number of dialogues and hence the preparation required.

Rama Rao was very versatile. In Tamil Nadu, Shivaji Ganesan was much better known for his acting skill and talent and M. G. Ramachandran for his commercial movies. Rao struck a balance between both kinds of cinema. He used to perform roles in mythological movies like those only Shivaji could perform and even do commercial Janapadham (where the adventurous prince saves the damsel in distress) films which were Ramachandran's forte.

Rama Rao, in fact, played the role of Lord Krishna not only in Telugu movies, but also in Tamil and Kannada movies. While the megastars—Ramachandran, Shivaji Ganesan and Rajkumar vied for the roles of other Mahabharata heroes like Karna, Arjuna and Bhima, there was no denying that NTR would be the only one to play Lord Krishna. This is probably the greatest tribute to Rao's charismatic cine-genius.

One of his greatest janapadams was "Jagadekaveeruni katha" (the story of the universal hero) where he plays the role of Pratap, the prince of Ujjain. He dreams of celestial damsels as his wives, but on revealing the dream to his father, he is banished from the kingdom. The heroic prince then does the impossible - passing the various tests put to him, winning the celestial damsels and bringing them home to his kingdom. Another one of his janapadams was "Gulebakavali katha" (the story of Gulebakavali) where he plays the role of a prince who sets out to the heavens to bring the flower named "Gulebakavali" in order to cure his poisoned father, even winning Indra's daughter in the process.

As time passed by, Rama Rao stopped playing the role of the prince in films. Instead, he played the role of a poor yet heroic young man against the system in his kingdom. To the lakhs of the denizens in Andhra Pradesh, he became 'one of us'—one who assures the poor that he is there to rescue them from the wicked traitors in the kingdom.

Rao played a large variety of mythological roles.

The most notable movies acted by Rama Rao in mythological characters are Maya Bazaar (Sri Krishna), Lava Kusa (Lord Rama), Sri Krishnaarjuna Yuddham (Sri Krishna), Bheeshma (Bheeshma), Bhookailas(Raavana), Nartanasala (Arjuna also as Bruhannala), Panadava-vanavsam (Bheema), Sri Venkateswara Mahatyam (Lord Venkateswara), Maha Mantri Thimmarusu (Sri Krishna Devarayalu) and Dana Veera Sura Karna (Duryodhana, Sri Krishna, Karna)which created a record in telugu film industry,first film which has crossed one crore collection in telugu film industry. Apart from these he played a variety of roles in folklore characters like Jagadeka Veeruni Katha, Pathala Bhairavi etc. On the social front he played roles in the movies Malliswari, Kanyasulkam, Gundamma Katha, Missamma, Raktha Sambandham, Ramudu Bheemudu, Devudu Chesina Manushulu, Adavi Ramudu, Vetagadu, Gajadonga, Driver Ramudu, Sardar Paparayudu, Kondaveeti Simham, Justice Chowdary, Bobbili Puli etc. He acted in over two hundred and eighty movies in the lead role.

He also donned the roles of an elderly teacher (Badi Pantulu) becoming a model to his pupils, as a prince and pauper (Raju-Peda), a down-to-earth servant dedicated to his master (Aatma Bhanduvu).

In addition to his purely artistic contributions to the Telugu movies, he built the Rama Krishna Film studios, was very active in moving the Telugu film industry from Madras to Hyderabad. This created the first sophisticated service industry in the agrarian state. He actively campaigned for the construction of a large number of movie theaters in rural locations and was influential in designing and implementing a financial system that funded the production and distribution of movies