Telugu cinema icon Akkineni Nageswara Rao died here early yesterday, his family said. He was 89.
The thespian, battling cancer for the last few months, died at a private hospital. Family sources said the end came at 12.10am. However, the announcement was made after 2am.
Popularly known as ANR, he is survived by three daughters and two sons, including popular actor Nagarjuna. He was born on September 20, 1924, in Venkata Raghavapuram in Krishna district of coastal Andhra.
The Dadasaheb Phalke award winner acted in about 255 films. Before he fell ill, he was shooting for a film titled Manam with his son Nagarjuna and grandson Naga Chaitanya.
ANR, the last of the first generation actors of Telugu cinema, had called a press conference in October last year to announce that he was diagnosed with cancer but declared that he has a strong will and wants to live up to 100 years with the wishes of his fans.
He made his debut in 1941 with Dharmapatni and his journey in the film industry continued for over 70 years. He became famous with Devadasu.
His other memorable movies include Laila Majnu, Anarkali, Premabhishekham, Prema Nagar and Megha Sandesham.
The thespian was a recipient of many awards, including the Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan, Padma Vibhushan, Raghupathi Venkaiah Award and NTR National Award.
The death of the veteran actor sent shockwaves through the Telugu film industry which makes the second largest number of films after Bollywood.
Eminent film personalities and politicians rushed to his house in Jubliee Hills to pay their last respects. The body was shifted to Annapurna Studio yesterday morning to enable his fans to pay tribute.
Federal Tourism Minister K Chiranjeevi, veteran actors Krishna, Jamuna, Murali Mohan and Krishnam Raju, famous filmmakers Dasari Narayana Rao, D Ramanaidu, actors Mohan Babu, Harikrishna, Rajasekhar, Jeevitha, Jayasudha, Junior NTR, Pawan Kalyan, Venkatesh, Srikant, Mahesh Babu, his wife Namrata Shirodkar, Rana, Prakash Raj, Anushka and others paid tributes to the late actor.
They were seen consoling Nagarjuna and other family members.
Federal minister D Purandeswari, former Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, cricketer Pragyan Ojha, media baron Ramoji Rao, balladeer Gaddar, poet C Narayana Reddy, several state ministers, MPs and state legislators also paid their tributes.
Shooting and other filmmaking activities were suspended as a mark of respect to the icon, who was the first film personality to shift base from Chennai to Hyderabad after the formation of Andhra Pradesh in 1956.