Akkineni Nageswara Rao Birth Centenary: Film Festival To Celebrate Cinema Icon

A specially curated, multi-city film festival will hour enduring legacy of Akkineni Nswara Rao to mark 100th birth anniversary of one of most iconic stars of South Indian cinema.

retrospective festival, called 'ANR 100 - King Of Silver Screen', will be organised by t-for-profit organization Film Herit Foundation (FHF), and screen 10 restored classics from Akkineni Nswara Rao's extensive filmography, a press release stated.

film extravaganza will be held from September 20 to 22 across 25 cities, including major metros like Hyderab, Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Bengaluru, and smaller cities like Vodara, Jalandhar, Rourkela, Warangal, Kakina and Tumkur.

films curated for movie gala include "Devasu" (1953), "Missamma" (1955), "Mayabazar" (1957), "Bharya Bharthalu" (1961), "Gundamma Katha" (1962), "Doctor Chakravarthi" (1964), "Sudigundalu" (1968), "Prem Nagar" (1971), "Premabhishekam" (1981) and "Manam" (2014).

Film Herit Foundation and Akkineni Nwara Rao's family is presenting countrywide festival in association with National Film Archive Of India (NFDC) and PVR IX.

“After huge success of our Amitabh Bachchan, Dilip Kumar and Dev Anand retrospectives, we are thrilled to present ar first-of-its-kind film festival of Telugu classics to hour memory of a doyen of Telugu cinema - Akkineni Nswara Rao," said Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, Filmmaker and FHF director.

" selection of films in this retrospective beginning from 1953 to 2014 include some of his biggest hits that will give people a chance to see his remarkable range as an actor and why se films continue to have resonance with people deces after y were me and why it is so important to preserve our film herit," he ded.

Telugu superstar Akkineni Nagarjuna, son of Akkineni Nswara Rao, said he is delighted that film festival will celebrate landmark films of his far's career across country.

"He was rightly called Natasamrat for his amazing ability to play a range of roles from a saint to an alcoholic to a romantic hero in a way that has stayed in people’s hearts and minds for deces...

"He was a pioneer who established Annapurna Studios, laying foundation for Telugu film industry in our state. We are very proud of his legacy and through this festival audiences across country will remember an icon t just of Telugu cinema but of Indian cinema," he ded.

Megastar Amitabh Bachchan remembered Akkineni Nswara Rao for his "humility and simplicity".

"This is first time a retrospective on this scale has been done for Telugu cinema in a manner befitting his stature. festival is in keeping with Film Herit Foundation’s commitment to bringing herit of Indian cinema back on big screen way se films were meant to be seen.

"This will give contemporary audiences an amazing opportunity to experience tremendous screen presence, versatility and range of a legendary actor in Telugu classics like 'Devasu', 'Sudigundalu', and 'Doctor Chakravarthy'," Bachchan said.

Fondly called ANR or Nata Samrat by his mirers, Akkineni Nswara Rao was born on September 20, 1924 and worked in Hindi, Telugu and Tamil cinema. In a career spanning 71 years and more than 250 movies, he was best kwn for his diversity of roles.

During his lifetime, he earned various accoles such as Pma Shri, Pma Bhushan, Pma Vibhushan, Dasaheb Phalke Award, Raghupathi Venkaiah Award and Filmfare Awards, among ors. PTI RB RB BK BK