Nagarjuna recalls father ANR found fame playing a woman on stage, was ready to kill himself due to ridicule

Theatre led to films when a famous producer saw ANR walking towards a railway station. “He said nice eyes, nose, etc, called the boy and asked if he wanted to act and the rest is history,” Nagarjuna said. ANR went to Chennai and later recalled how he was swaying his hips during a shot because he thought that was acting.

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“He thought acting was that because he was playing a girl on stage. People started making fun of him and that really dejected him. He went to the Marina beach and he said that I want to kill myself. The water was till his waist, but something in him said that he had to prove everyone wrong so he came back. He corrected himself and he played Sri Rama. I also said that his voice was weak and feeble. So, he used to go to the beach to smoke a cigar because someone said that it can make your voice hoarse and rough. He never used to smoke till then. He used to scream at the ocean for 10-20 minutes. There wasn’t any dubbing back then, he had to use his own voice. But fortunately, his first film was a silent film. It was a huge success,” said his son.