NTR to Chiranjeevi: How films, politics connect two prominent Telugu families now at the helm of Andhra Pradesh

As Chandrababu Naidu took oath as the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh on June 12, among the who’s who on the stage were members of two influential Telugu families.

While the extended family of former state CM Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao, or NTR as he was popularly known, is again at the forefront of the politics in the state, the rise of JanaSena Party (JSP) chief and Deputy CM Pawan Kalyan, who is the brother of popular actor Chiranjeevi, has brought the focus on to his family too.

The images from the event highlighted the almost symbiotic relationship between films and politics in the state. Over the decades, members of dominant agriculturalist castes such as the Kammas and Kapus cemented their place in the Telugu film industry, developed other business interests, and forayed into politics.

NTR and his children

A widely popular actor from the 1950s to the late 1970s, NTR, with about 300 films under his belt, is remembered for playing mythological characters. His films Mayabazar (1957), in which he played Hindu deity Krishna, and Daana Veera Soora Karna (1977), a film on the life of the Mahabharata character Karna, are considered classics of Telugu cinema. NTR directed the latter and played four roles in the film.

His movie career helped him create almost a mythic imagination among Telugu people. He forayed into politics in 1982 by setting up the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) to create a strong regional opposition to the Congress. He went on to become a three-time CM.

Academic SV Srinivas, who teaches at the School of Arts and Sciences at Azim Premji University in Bengaluru, writes in his book Politics as Performance A Social History of the Telugu Cinema: “NTR’s election campaign was characterised by a performativity straightforwardly traceable to his film career. His speeches in a pseudoclassical Telugu recalled both theatre and popular cinema.”

NTR and his first wife Basavatarakam had 12 children. Most of his children have dabbled in movies, either as producers or actors. Among the prominent ones is his fourth son Nandamuri Harikrishna who found success as an actor and starred in over a dozen films. He was a TDP Rajya Sabha MP from 2008 to 2013. On August 29, 2019, Harikrishna died in a car crash. He was 61.

NTR’s fifth son Balakrishna, 64, is a well-known actor with nearly 100 films behind him. He is also a three-time MLA from the Hindupur Assembly seat.

One of NTR’s daughters, Nara Bhuvaneswari, is married to Chandrababu Naidu. His other daughter D Purandeshwari is the current Andhra Pradesh BJP chief and married to former Congress MLA D Venkateswara Rao.

The family started having issues following NTR’s decision to marry his biographer Lakshmi Parvathi in 1993. The family feared NTR would pass on the TDP’s reins to Parvathi who was 35 years younger than him. This led to a coup by Naidu in August-September 1995 as he, along with a group of MLAs, rebelled. Naidu replaced his father-in-law as CM. NTR is said to have recorded an audiotape of the “act of betrayal” by Naidu and appealed to the people for their support. He died of a heart attack on January 18, 1996, before he could release this cassette. The episode split the family’s loyalties and strained Purandeshwari and Naidu’s relationship.

The present generation

The present generation of NTR’s family too is involved with politics. Harikrishna’s son NTR — who is named after his grandfather and is speculated to have his political ambitions — is also a popular actor best known across India for his work in RRR.

Balakrishna’s daughter N Brahmani is married to Chandrababu Naidu’s son Nara Lokesh who won from the Mangalagiri seat and has been sworn in as a Cabinet minister. Lokesh, a Stanford MBA graduate, was once considered as lacking political experience. However, with his popular “Yuva Galam (youth’s voice)” yatra in the lead-up to elections, he consolidated his position in state politics. Brahmani, also a Stanford MBA graduate, is currently the executive director of Heritage Foods, a company founded by Chandrababu Naidu in 1992. It is a publicly listed company and is involved in the dairy and renewable energy sectors.

Brahmani’s sister Tejaswini Nandumuri is married to Visakhapatnam MP Sribharat Mathukumalli who is the president of GITAM University, which has four campuses at present. GITAM was founded by Sribharat’s grandfather MVVVS Murti, also a former TDP MP who represented Visakhapatnam. In 2019, Purandeshwari contested against Bharat from Visakhapatnam. However, both lost, with the YSRCP’s M V V Satyanarayana winning the seat.

Chiranjeevi and his family

Born as Konidela Shivashankar Varaprasad, Chiranjeevi is now popularly known by his screen moniker “Chiru” or “Megastar”. He has worked in 150 films, ranging from social dramas to mass entertainers. According to his fans and some Telugu film industry observers, Chiranjeevi is a generational star in the league of NTR.

Chiranjeevi has two brothers. His second brother Naga Babu is a film producer and actor. Newly sworn in Deputy CM and JSP founder Pawan Kalyan, popularly known as “Power Star”, is his youngest brother.

Chiranjeevi is married to K Surekha, the daughter of Allu Ramalingaiah, another popular yesteryear actor who also acted with NTR in several films. Allu Ramalingaiah’s son Allu Aravind runs a major Telugu production house called Geetha Arts and his son Allu Arjun is a popular actor best known for his superhit film Pushpa: The Rise (2021).

Chiranjeevi and Surekha’s son Ram Charan is also a popular actor who co-starred with NTR Jr in RRR. He is married to Upasana Kamineni Konidela, whose grandfather C Pratap Reddy is the founder of the Apollo group of hospitals. Upasana’s uncle K Visheshwar Reddy was elected MP from Chevella in Telangana in the recent elections on a BJP ticket. He is married to Apollo group’s joint managing director K Sangita Reddy and was the second-richest candidate in the Lok Sabha polls with assets worth Rs 4,500 crore.

Like his younger brother, Chiranjeevi too tried his hand at politics, launching the Praja Rajyam Party in Tirupati on August 26, 2008. His entry into politics was just as theatrical as in any of his movies. Srinivas, in his book Megastar Chiranjeevi and Telugu Cinema after N.T. Rama Rao, writes that renowned cinematographer Chota K. Naidu oversaw the television crews that live telecast the event, with a promotional video playing a compilation of his films.

In the 2009 Assembly polls, the party won 18 seats but could not challenge the Congress that was led at the time by Y S Rajasekhara Reddy (YSR). After Reddy’s death in September 2009, his son YS Jagan Mohan Reddy fell out with the Congress and set up his party, the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP), in 2012.

Meanwhile, after talks with senior Congress leaders, Chiranjeevi merged his party with the Congress and joined the Congress. He was nominated to the Rajya Sabha and he became a Minister of State (MoS) of Tourism. He has not contested an election since.

Despite initial hiccups, Kalyan, who enjoys massive fandom, exceeded expectations and overshadowed his brother in the political arena by winning all the 21 Assembly and two Lok Sabha seats that his party contested.

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