Continued from Telugu Cinema in the 70s – 3.

Heroes. It is no exaggeration that they rule film industries across the world, more so in India, even more so in Andhra Pradesh. Their involvement in shaping characters, casting, and encouraging new talent is prominent. During the 60s, Kanta Rao began fading, and ANR and NTR were the only two heroes that anybody could think of. New talent thus became a necessity.

Krishna and Sobhan Babu steadily laid down their foundations during the late 60s, as actors more than heroes, and started getting their share of limelight by the dawn of 70s and played significant roles since then. Krishnam Raju began acting in the late 60s, as a villain, and then slowly transitioned to other roles and then heroes by mid 70s.

People might be surprised to see this name aside major heroes’: Chandra Mohan. Though rangula rATnam came in the 60′s itself, and he acted in a number of movies in various kinds of roles, he had some of his best movies during the 70s, especially with Viswanath. Several actors of his generation have quoted that he would’ve become a great hero had it not been for his personality. I believe that it was his personality that allowed him to play such varied roles, without being limited to a hero’s. He is known to have given several ladies great luck in their cinema careers.

Chiranjeevi: The legend began in 1978 with Kranti Kumar’s prANam kharEdu. His place in the history of Telugu Cinema is preserved thanks to his perseverance with which he literally redefined the definition of a hero, whether in acting, dances, or stunts. Chiranjeevi is probably also the one reason behind a concept called “Number One Star”. It might have existed before, but with never a competition more than a namesake in the minds of audiences. He certainly was (is?) the last number one star.

Kamal Haasan: Considered the most versatile Indian actor ever, though he started acting at six, it wasn’t until Balachander’s antuleni katha that he acted in Telugu movies. His association with the Telugu film industry will remain an honor.

Mohan Babu: Though he has been around the industry for a while, it was only with Dasari’s swargam narakam that he began his career as an actor. Considered to be constantly controversial (usually for insignificant reasons, if I may), he has however acted in a number of movies as a hero, villain, supporting character, and comedian. His dialogue delivery (and dialogues written for him) distinguishes him from everybody else, except when he mimics Naga Bhushanam while playing a villain or a comedian.

Murali Mohan: He didn’t have a great range as an actor, especially as a hero, having often played a soft husband in middle class husband-wife dramas. That said, he was a success, and later went on to become a big producer.

Rajnikanth: He started his Telugu career alongside Kamal Haasan with Balachander’s antuleni katha. And has remained the one Tamil hero whose dubbed movies can scare other producers releasing big movies. Though he mostly plays too-good-to-believe characters with extremely positive traits, audiences throng the theaters to watch them especially for the new style that he would bring.

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