Akkineni, As I Know

When I went with my friend to invite him for the inaugural function of Gollapudi Srinivas Memorial Foundation, he showed me his car with the number 2002 and said, “That is my deadline. I am planning to reach that destination.’’. And then he lived for 12 more years!

My association with Akkineni is 51 years old. My association as a film- goer is 65 years old. I started my career in his institution –Annapoorna Pictures Private Limited when I wrote my first movie ‘Dr Chakravarthi’. The first film dialogue I ever wrote was rendered by Akkineni. It was a marvel for a 24-year-old to watch a veteran rendering my script - more than I could anticipate. Not many artistes come to my mind who could emote as thoroughly as this thespian. His mastery of the language, his diction, full throated rendition was something with which our generation grew up. I wanted to name my son after his “first’’ screen name in my movie- but the tradition stood in my way to do that. I named him after my father.

Something unimaginable and unthinkable happened in my life some twenty years after scripting my first movie. I became an actor. I used to feel diffident and shy to face these stalwarts. But when I had to narrate a story to him for the producer Cherukuri Prakasarao, I called him not having the gumption to face him. He politely revealed the fact that he was told that I was acting. I was apologetic. He smiled and told me over the phone: “Don’t feel sorry! It is a blessing to be an actor. If I have another birth, I would like to be born as an actor.’’ He belongs to that generation of actors for whom their profession was a mission, a journey, an opportunity and most importantly, a boon.

Then there was yet another opportunity of acting with the legend. How much we learned from this man! The first thing that hit us was his discipline. He used to be in his make-up room at dot 8 am, even before the unit could turn up. I asked him why he chose to come early. The reply was very revealing. He told me, if the unit knows that the main actor is at the studio early, it will goad them to be there on time.

Beyond an age, it is the attitude of the person that regulates his health. Many of us who worked with him closely knew that he had a brush with death in the seventies, when he had his first heart transplant. That medical marvel was in its early stages then. He used to read so much and was thorough in understating the process that he used to explain us for hours what it was all about. And then his second transplant. He told me that when he was on the operation table for the second time at Detroit, the doctors found his condition unfit to undergo another cardiac procedure. The doctor asked him whether he had the guts to stand the test of time?’ He said yes. The doctor said, “Good luck, go ahead and best of luck’’.

When I went with my friend BV Ramarao to invite him for the inaugural function of Gollapudi Srinivas Memorial Foundation, he showed me his car with the number 2002 and said, “That is my deadline. I am planning to reach that destination.’’. And then he lived for 12 more years!

Here is a man who proved that a man can survive any obstacle- including death, if he is positive and brave. When he was diagnosed with cancer, he invited the press and told them that ‘This is not the end, but a curve!’ Akkineni is not just a legend to watch and worship, but a human being to see and emulate. His life is a saga of fortitude and resilience. Tears are alien to him and he never savoured ‘sympathy’ or ‘melodrama’. However, on screen he was a champion of melodrama.

It is a great privilege for an actor to kindle happiness for 75 long years and to watch a smiling face wherever he goes in the world. It is phenomenon – a rare and a unique one - that happened in our lifetime. Its name was Akkineni Nageswara Rao.

I was his audience, his writer, his colleague as an actor, I shared the platform on many occasions with him. He blessed me by attending my Shastipoorthi saying that he normally never does that. My son Srinivas - who is no more - worked with him as an assistant in ‘Bharyabharatala Bandam’. I called him a few weeks ago on his 90th birthday. I wanted to ask him about his health. Before I say another word, he asked me “How is your health?’’ He is incorrigible! I will say this again- there were not many persons like Akkineni or they are not going to be many in the coming years. That is what makes him a legend.