BALAKRISHNA BIOGRAPHY

Born on 10th June 1960, Balakrishna Nandamuri, lovingly referred to as Baalayya and Yuva Ratna, is the son of the great Tollywood actor NT Rama Rao. NTR went on to become Andhra Pradesh’s Chief Minister after a fabtastic stint in movies. Following in his father’s footsteps, Balakrishna entered Tollywood when he was merely 12. Tatamma Kala (1974), Directed by NTR himself, marked his debut on the silver screen. Over a period of time he acted in several films, and a lot of them were directed by NTR. In 1984 he starred in Katha Nayakudu, which was a huge hit. It put him at par with the rest of the Tollywood actors. But after that he gave a series of flops. Not even his illustrious background could save his films from bombing at the box office. Then came Kodi Ramakrishna’s Muddula Krishnaiah (1986), which apparently had a box office collection of over Rs 1 Crore in the first week! Luck was not on his though. After giving such a huge hit, he had to wait a couple of years for another one. Muddula Mavayya released in 1989, and turned out to be a success, salvaging his career. Lorry Driver (1990) was not just an unexpected hit, but is one of the most popular films in the Telugu film industry. The next year (1991) acted in a science fiction film titled Aditya 369. His role and performance were duly appreciated by all his fans. In 1992 Balakrishna appeared in Rowdy Inspector. This film did extremely well not only in Telugu, but also in its dubbed version in Hindi. If sources are to be believed, it ran for 100 days in the Northern part of India! The action drama Bhairava Dweepam (1994) created waves amongst all. And his role in Pedda Annayya (1997) was praised to the hilt; many believe he deserved an award for his exemplary acting in the movie. Not one to care for awards, Balakrishna was satisfied with the fact that he was being loved by his audience. This was followed by a dry spell at the box office. None of his films did well until 1999. Balakrishna took the industry by storm in Samarasimha Reddy (1999). It was released with very low expectations, but imagine everyone’s surprise when it became a sensational hit and the Producers went laughing all the way to the bank. With the success of Samarasimha came great expectations. Not even Balakrishna himself could have predicted that he could deliver a hit of this magnitude. But miracles happen. B Gopal, who directed Samarasimha, made another film Narasimha Naidu (2001), using the same actors Balakrishna and Simran.  The film is touted to be Tollywood’s biggest hit till date, in terms of revenue. However after giving such rocking performances, Balakrishna’s career has come to a sort of standstill. He still continues to act, but none of his films have worked. He has played a plethora of roles, ranging from science fiction to mythology, films with social messages to fantasy. But in recent times his roles have received a lot of flak from the public. He has a few films lined up for release, like Simha and Bheeshma, but whether they will recreate his lost magic or not is something that we will have to wait and watch.