The name Nandamuri Balakrishna is a cult in the Telugu film industry and a Member of the Legislative Assembly for Telugu Desam Party.
Fondly called Balayya by his aficionados, he is on the verge of achieving something no other star son has ever done before. Balayya’s filmography currently stands at 98; Lion, directed by Satyadev, being his latest venture as a lead. He is all set to become the first star son to feature as a lead in 100 films.
100th Film Milestone
Balayya hasn’t decided yet about his 100th film, but the industry is buzzing with all sorts of expectations. In the wake of all this, his huge fan base has decided to honor their favorite Balayya with an unprecedented souvenir to commemorate the event – A 10-feet tall and 4.5-feet wide crystal granite lion statue in lifelike brown color.
The choice of a lion for the statue seems apt since his fan base lovingly dubbed him Nandamuri Natasingham, or an ‘acting lion’. Also, his latest and 98th film is also named Lion.
The sculpture, needless to say, will cost a fortune; around Rs 1,000,000 to be precise. Ananthapuram Jagan, the founder of NBK helping hands stated that the lion statue will take approximately 6 to 9 months to complete. Hopefully Balayya will have started working on his landmark film by then.
In addition to the statue, a book titled Nandamuri Shikharam will be presented to the legend in this momentous occasion. The content of the 1000 page book will be an account of Balayya’s cinematic journey from the perspective of the filmmakers, actors and technicians he has worked with. Balayya’s wife Vasundhara Devi is all set to pen the foreword for the book.
Balakrishna as a grandfather
With the buzz going around about his cinematic milestone, Balayya is preparing for a new role in his personal life as well. His eldest daughter Brahmani, who is married to Chandrababu Naidu’s son Nara Lokesh, is expecting to become a mother soon. One more reason to be thrilled for Balayya as he is all set become a grandfather, in what could be termed as the happiest phase of his life.
Brief history of Balayya
Balakrishna or NBK, born in Chennai in 1960, made his debut in the Telugu film industry with Thathamma Kala in 1974 as a child actor. It was inevitable that the son of the legendary N.T. Rama Rao, commonly known as NTR, would become a movie star. In the years to follow, NBK lived up to all the expectations from Tollywood and then some. Coming out of his father’s shadow he made a name for himself and slowly earned the legend status in his own right. He was invited to be the chief guest in the 43rd IFFI in Goa.
Politically, he has always been a background campaigner for the Telugu Desam Party since its inception. So it was just a matter of time before Balayya joined the TDP as a politician. He ran for the 2014 elections in Andhra Pradesh and won the Hindupur constitution with massive majority. He is the third member of his family to join the TDP after his father and his elder brother Nandamuri Harikrishna.