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Home > Articles > The Inheritance Of Gain The Inheritance Of Gain APK | October 08, 2007 User comments The Hindi film industry has several such families. The Kapoors head the list, because from Prithviraj Kapoor, the mantle was passed on to the showman Raj Kapoor. Father and son differed in several ways, of course, with the former playing mostly larger than life roles and junior choosing to be the 'common man'. The 'Junglee' Indian Presley Shammi came next, and the romantic and subtle Shashi made their mark in the film world. The third generation of Kapoors included the zesty Randhir Kapoor and chocolate boy Rishi Kapoor. They married the vivacious Babita and the cheery Neetu Singh respectively. Unknown to the Kapoors hitherto, their fourth gen lass Karishma rocked for a while, after which Kareena took over the crown. Rishi's children, Ranbir Kapoor is now marking his debut with Anil Kapoor's daughter Sonam Kapoor in Bhansali's Saawariya. The other film families in Hindi filmdom include the Chopras: BR Chopra, younger brother Yash Chopra, their sons Ravi, Aditya and Uday Chopra. The on-your-face Bhatts: Bhatt, Mahesh Bhatt, Mukesh Bhatt, Pooja Bhatt, Vikram Bhatt and Mahesh's nephews Emraan Hashmi and Mohit Suri. The Deols from Dharmendra to sons Sunny and Bobby and wife Hema Malini and daughter Esha are also a part of the Planet Cinema. In the Telugu industry, there is no dearth of film families. At one point, filmmakers are supposed to have encouraged and given work to people from their own villages and (politically incorrect but true) castes. That being the case, imagine film wallahs not making sure their kith and kin get work and the family line flourishes in the film line. Though several third cousins and suchlike are known to get work as technicians or even actors due to their generous relations in movies, we can trace the prominent ones in the Telugu movies. One name that comes to mind quick as lightening is-NTR. Nandamuri Taraka Ramarao, born in Nimmakuru and educated in Guntur, he is one of the most famous Telugu people ever. His acting career started with movies like Palletoori Pilla. He quickly started juggling between mythological and social dramas. From 1950 to 1965 is said to be the Golden Age of Telugu Cinema. NTR is considered to be one of the major contributors to that age. Any one who has grown up watching Telugu movies will get NTR in mind if someone says 'Lord Krishna'. Surely, he made the best Krishna out there. Everyone else seems utterly unconvincing as the charming and mischievous flirtatious God. Like the politician character he portrayed, his real life imitated real, and he entered politics. He formed the Telugu Desam Party in 1982 and served for two terms as CM. His daughter married Ex-CM Chandrababu Naidu. His sons Mohanakrishna [noted cinematographer], Harikrishna, Balakrishna and Ramakrishna [producer and studio owner] followed papa's footsteps. Though mighty difficult to trace, Balakrishna is a popular lead actor in Telugu cinema today and commercially viable. Harikrishna has not tasted that popularity, but had his niche audiences for a brief period. NTR's nephew Kalyan Chakravarthy was also seen in a few films. The third generation began with Harikrishna's son, named after his grandfather, NTR Junior as he is called to distinguish from his famous grandpa. After a lank beginning, a tremendous spate of successes, some flops, his career graph is right now on the high again. Tarakaratna also starred in some movies. Chaitanya Krishna starred in one [Dhum]. Kalyanram is well on the way of establishing his career with one hit [Athanokkade] to his credit for now. That's the third generation going strong on celluloid right now. NTR's name is used along with his surviving contemporary, another actor from the Golden Era-ANR. Akkineni Nageswara Rao has undoubtedly plastered his name in the greats of Telugu cinema, again with a mixture of good and bad mythical and social dramas. He is credited to have shifted the base of Telugu film industry from Madras to Hyderabad. His son, Nagarjuna, is the closest one figures we can get to AP's very own stud. Nagarjuna has carved his own niche, starting from Vikram and the trendsetting Shiva and blockbusters like Ninne Pelladatha, romantic comedies like Manmadhudu, and a host of other movies. He has even treaded the territory of Hindi cinema and did a few movies in Hindi, mostly with Mahesh Bhatt and company. He founded Annapoorna Studios in Hyderabad, which is now run by his elder son Venkat. Nagarjuna's wife Amala, incidentally, is a former actor herself. Their son Akhil had a brief stint with baby stardom with the Telugu version of Baby's Day Out, Sisindri. His nephew and ANR's grandson, Sumanth has done several movies in the lead, from Prema Katha to Godavari and Satyam. Nagarjuna's ex-wife is producer Ramanaidu's daughter, and their son Naga Chaitanya's foray into cinema is much awaited. Nagarjuna's another nephew Sushanth is making his debut in Dev. Daggubati Ramanaidu has produced movies in Telugu, Tamil, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam and Bengali. His company Suresh Productions is now managed by both father and elder son Suresh. His younger son Venkatesh is a popular actor, one of the major leads in Telugu industry today, oriented towards family entertainment and classier cinema. Duggupati Ramanaidu (junior), his grandson, better known as RaNa is also into movies. He briefly ran a company called Spirit which dealt in a number of technical and other departments of filmmaking. Chiranjeevi is perhaps one of the latest entrants into the world of film families. Born Konidala Sivasankara Varaprasad, he was a student of film institute, Madras. He started with Manavoori Pandavalu in 1977 and graduated to playing minor and negative roles. Khaidi in 83 was his major break, where he played the Desi Rambo and then there was no turning back. His youngest brother, Kalyan Kumar a.k.a. Pawan Kalyan is again a very popular lead actor today. His wife, Renu Desai, is a former lead actress. Another brother Nagababu also dabbles in acting and production. Chiranjeevi's father-in-law, the late Allu Ramalingaiah is a noted character artiste and comedian, while brother-in-law Allu Aravind manages his career unofficially and is a producer himself. Chiranjeevi's son Ram Charan has just entered movies with Chirutha directed by Puri Jagannath. Nephew Allu Arjun, son of Allu Aravind, meanwhile has already established himself by improvising with each movie starting from Gangotri to the latest Desamuduru. Another new entrant, Mohan Babu, has donned a variety of roles-from minor to negative and larger than life heroic and back again to crucial characters. His sons, Vishnu and Manoj star in movies as leads, with the former recently delivering a hit 'Dhee'. Vishnu also heads a graphics company ThinkSmart, along with brother-in-law. The duo's sister, Laksmi Prasanna, has crossed borders and stars in the Hollywood show 'Las Vegas'. Some other big fish in the ocean are LV Prasad and his family, Ramoji Rao and son Suman and of course Krishna and his family. All these three biggies own studios and labs, apart from merely acting and directing movies. LV Prasad founded Prasad Productions, while son Ramesh Prasad started the Prasad Film Laboratories and grandson Sai Prasad is the brain behind the digital domain and EFX. Post production and Prasad's Multiplex in Hyderabad are the results of these tremendous achievers. Ramoji Film City is of course, a popular shooting destination for many Indian movies. Eenadu Television and Eenadu Newspaper are also owned by this entrepreneur, a staunch supporter of NTR's TDP. Krishna, the retro Superstar of Telugu movies, owns Padmalaya Studios in which his two brothers [Hanumantha Rao, Adiseshagiri Rao] are partners. His son Ramesh Babu, who tried his hand at acting for a brief period, is into production, while daughter Manjula has followed suit. She even starred in a low-budget award-winner 'Show'. Son Mahesh Babu is one of the top lead actors today, having several hits to his credit including the recent blockbuster Pokiri. Krishna's wife Vijayanirmala is a former lead actress and director, while her son (and Krishna's step-son) Naresh is a former lead actor and a popular character artiste today. Krishnam Raju, producer brother Suryanarayana Raju, actor and nephew Prabhas, a current lead actor are also an important part of the Telugu film family. And so are KS Prakasha Rao [of Prem Nagar fame], his son the messiah of masala movies K. Raghavendra Rao and his actor-director grandson Surya Prakash. One look at the above information proves one thing. Right now, if all the major lead actors in Telugu cinema are to be considered, only a few are from outside. Otherwise, it's a close knit society that seems to scorn upon intruders. One example is Ravi Teja, who worked the Chiranjeevi way, from small time roles to assisting makers and finally landing the big break. Whew! Hard work, if you compare it to several others who got to be the lead without any struggle whatsoever. Take the example of one Mister Abhishek Bachchan. He had eleven flops before he got to be a force to reckon with in Bollywood. The question here is, would any other actor survive and get another chance after five consecutive flops and two standard expressions till they hone their skills? A wild guess-nope, no ways, no, none at all, never, Nahiiiii (Hindi movie style). One person struggles to make it big, and a host of kin, close or otherwise get a chance to get into the glamour world. Again, not every one of those relations makes it. Some make it to the top, some remain in the limelight for a while and some just get to enjoy the benefits of having a famous relative, never being able to make it on their own. There is one advantage to having a influential contact-you get a chance and you get it easily. People who don't have a filmy background might argue that this is an unfair advantage the lucky kin have. There is one disadvantage, and that is forever being compared to the person who made it first, and the reason the others got a chance in the first place. However the pros and cons may be, filmy families certainly rule the roost in Telugu cinema, with very few people from non-film backgrounds who make it big. Like they say, it's all in the family. |