The all-time great artiste of the Telugu cinema, the late NT Rama Rao had made his debut into the films through 'Mana Desam'. Later he played memorable roles like Krishna, Rama, Bheema, Ravana, Yamadharma Raju, king, labourer and other such characters.
He left an indelible impression in the hearts and souls of the Telugu audiences as a film artiste. Not only on the celluloid, even in real life, he founded a party called Telugu Desam and within nine months, he was able to conquer the Congress fort in Andhra Pradesh and took over the reins of the State.
His political life had inspired several people to join politics. This great personality passed away some 11 years ago. The then State government had instituted an award in his name and is giving it away to prominent film personality every years.
After some time, the announcement of the award is getting delayed and it was almost ignored by the successive governments. The Telugu Desam party had decided and declared that they would give the award to one distinguished film personality if the government failed to announce the award.
Even the Nandamuri clan also declared that it was ready to give an award in memory of the late leader NTR.
KS Rama Rao says, 'Our film industry was ready to give the award if the State government failed to announce and hand over the award to one film personality before September 15, the birth anniversary of the great leader. If the industry too did not come forward, I personally get the award distributed on my own.'