Nandamuri Balakrishna turns 64: 11 siblings to philanthropic work, lesser-known facts about the NBK109 actor
Nandamuri Balakrishna rang in his 64th birthday this year, dated June 10. Here's taking a look at some interesting facts about the veteran actor
Nandamuri Balakrishna, across his four decades in front of the camera, has featured in as many as 108 films. Having starred as the hero across most of these titles, it goes without saying that the actor has evidently curated a cult status for himself through his impactful performances and goodwill among the audience. While you may known of his stellar track record at the box office — particularly that from last year, the following facts about the actor are relatively lesser-known.
Nandamuri Balakrishna is the son of late actor and politician, NT Rama Rao, who besides his celebrated film career, also served as the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh for as many as 7 years over 3 terms. NT Rama Rao's marriage to Basava Rama Tarakam resulted in them welcoming a total of 12 children, the sixth of whom is Telugu acting heavyweight Nandamuri Balakrishna. Balayya is one of 8 brothers and has 4 sisters.
Following in his father's filmy footsteps, Balayya made his acting debut as a child actor at the age of 14 featuring in Tatamma Kala (1974), directed by as well as starring his father. As a matter of fact, the Veera Simha Reddy actor has been directed by his father in as many as 12 films, 7 of which saw them share screen space.
Following Tatamma Kala, these titles are Annadammula Anubandham (1975), Vemulawada Bheemakavi (1976), Daana Veera Soora Karna (1977), Akbar Saleem Anarkali (1977), Shrimad Virata Parvam (1979) and Rowdy Ramudu Kinte Krishnudu (1980).
The veteran actor also takes after his father when it comes to his philanthropic portfolio. Balayya aids the free treatment of cancer patients through the Basavatarakam Indo-American Cancer Hospital and Research Institute, located in Hyderabad. The institute was incidentally set up by NT Rama Rao himself, in memory of his wife who passed away as a result of cancer in 1985.
Circling back to his professional pursuits, the veteran actor shares a special professional bond with Telugu filmmaker Kodandarami Reddy, with whom he has worked across 13 movies. Balayya has also shared an almost-100-percent success rate when it came to his collaborations with late filmmaker Kodandarami Reddy. The actor's professional association with Ramakrishna saw the actor-director duo churn out 7 films, 6 of which were blockbusters.
Keeping his success streak going strong, Balayya enjoyed 2 back-to-back box office successes last year, namely Gopichand Malineni's Veera Simha Reddy and Anil Ravipudi's Bhagavanth Kesari.
The actor is currently working on KS Ravindra's NBK109 alongside Boyapati Sreenu's untitled project. The latter has been dubbed BB4, considering the fact that it marks the fourth collaboration between the actor-director duo following Simha (2010), Legend (2014) and Akhanda (2021).
We wish Balayya a healthy and happy 64th birthday.