Wednesday May 21 2008, Hyderabad

I Want to Play Angry Young Man, says Jr NTR

Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao Junior was born on 20th May 1983 and was brought up in Hyderabad.He is popularly known as Junior NTR.He is the grandson of Late Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao(NTR), who was a legendary actor and former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh.His parents are Nandamuri Harikrishna and Shalini.He is fondly called Tarak by his family, friends and close associates.

He has a step sister Suhasini and two step brothers, Kalyan Ram and Janaki Ram.His uncle (Chinnanna) Nandamuri Balakrishna is a famous Telugu hero.Tarak went to Vidyaranya School in Hyderabad, and later Vignan Junior College for first year then later to St.Peter's Jr College. Jr NTR began his career as a child actor and dancer.

His first step into Telugu tinselville was with the movie "Bala Ramayanam", directed by Gunasekhar.He made his first film after he grew older, 'Ninnu Choodalani'(2001), but it failed to perform well at the box office.He went on to gain fame with 'Student NO.1'(2001) directed by S S Rajamouli, followed by 'Subbu' and 'Aadi'.In January 2003, NTR's film 'Naaga' performed poorly.

However, in July 2003 'Simhadri' became the highest grossing film of the year in Telugu.His first release of 2004, 'Andhrawala', flopped at the box office, His next film 'Samba', did better and was at the top of the box office for 50 days.In 2005, his two releases 'Naa Alludu' and 'Narasimhudu’, flopped again at the box office.In 2006, his film 'ASHOK' had a good opening, but did not appease his fans. His film 'RAKHI', which proved a success at the box office, has gained Tarak a good name.

The film was directed by Krishna Vamsi and co-stars Illeana and Charmee.His next film 'YAMADONGA', which was released on 15th August 2007, brought him good luck. His recent film 'Kantri' has began to a sensational start this month.Produced by C.Aswini Dutt it’s directed by Meher Ramesh, and co-stars Hansika Motwani. His name spells magic among the Telugu audience and he carries the aura of the NTR family.Here he spoke to Filmysouth.com in this exclusive interview about various issues.Tarak!..

.Why have you been doing only mass entertainers? It is a conscious decision.I have been successful in such roles right from the start.Like my grandfather, late Sri Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao garu and my Chinnanna (uncle) Nandamuri Balakrishna gaaru, I would like to do mostly angry young man roles and live up to our family tradition.I Agree to it.

It is difficult to find such powerful roles.But I am hopeful that writers will be inspired and come up with mind-blowing roles to help me to keep my resolve.I am discussing a few more interesting projects.You have lost so much weight and completely different now.

Whose decision was it to go for this lean look?

'YAMADONGA' kind of movies occur once in life.
Jakkana is planned 'Yamadonga' in a gigantic manner and made everyone work for this movie with so much dedication.So I wanted to do something on my part.When director S S Rajamouli asked me to shed my excess weight, I took up the challenge.After four months, I went to him.He was shocked and surprised.

I will never forget in my life the happiness I found in his eyes when he saw me at that time.Today everyone is talking about my drastic change and makeover.So it is good.Earlier I used to look like a 30 years old guy.Today when I saw my age is 25, they don't believe and they think I might just be 21 years old.

Tarak...
How did the film 'YAMADONGA' happen?

Before we talk about 'Yamadonga', let us talk about my association with RajamouliBoth of us began our careers almost at the same time When producer CAshwini Dutt garu and K Raghavendra Rao garu called me for their office and introduced SS Rajamouli to me, I had no confidence on himI didn't know anything about himMy first film 'Ninnu Choodalani' was not a big hitWe began working and he gave me the first hit