Nagarjuna reminisces about father Akkineni Nageswara Rao at IFFI, says his grandmother used to dress him up like a girl

Panaji: Veteran actor Nagarjuna on Friday said his grandmother always wanted to have a girl child and when that didn't happen, she started dressing up his father and Telugu cinema star Akkineni Nageswara Rao as one.

Nagarjuna recalled his father, fondly known as ANR, would look cute in plaits and believes that's one of the factors that attracted the late legend to acting.

At an in-conversation session at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI), the actor shared many anecdotes about ANR, whose birth centenary was observed in September. The film gala is also celebrating the legacy of the Telugu cinema stalwart by showcasing a restored version of his 1953 movie Devadasu.

"He came from a very humble family, a farmer's family. He was born near Andhra Pradesh (erstwhile part of the Madras residency), a village which didn't have electricity. "My grandmother always wanted to have a woman child. She used to dress him up (like a woman) in plaits. He used to look very pretty and cute. We still have a photograph of him dressed as a girl. He looked exactly like my older sister Sathya. I think these were the things which led him to become an actor," Nagarjuna said.

ANR, whose seven-decade career includes diverse films such as Vipra Narayana, Tenali Krishna, Sri Ramadasu, LailaMajnu and Balaraju, started out playing roles of women on stage.

"In those days women were not allowed to be an actor or act on stage. So, he started playing women's roles. He first became a heroine on stage.

"As fate took its turn, he was at a railway station when famous producer Ghantasala Balaramayya, who was sitting in the train, saw him walking and said 'nice eyes, nice nose'. Would you like to act? Rest, as they say, is history," recounted Nagarjuna.

In 1944, ANR got his first film Sri Seeta Rama Jananam as a lead. He then moved to Chennai with his older brother as his father had expired by then, Nagarjuna added.

"I distinctly remember him swaying his hips. He thought that was acting because he had done this on stage," he said.

ANR also faced a lot of mockery from people who made fun of him for his 'feminine' mannerisms.

"People made fun of him and that really dejected him. He went to Marina Beach where he said he wanted to kill himself because there was so much laughter (mockery) and all of that. He told me he went waist deep into the sea water and then something in him told him (to not do it) and he corrected himself," Nagarjuna said.

The actor said his father, who received the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1990 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2011, also worked hard to make his "feeble" voice rougher.

"Somebody told him your voice becomes rougher if you smoke cigars. He didn't smoke earlier. He also used to go to the beach early in the morning and scream at the ocean for 5-10 minutes to make his voice more hoarse," he added.

On Thursday, Nagarjuna launched the season two of the animation series Krish, Trish and Baltiboy: Bharat Hain Hum at IFFI.

The film gala will come to a close on November 28.