Nandamuri Balakrishna’s recent comments at the success party of his film, Veera Simha Reddy. The actor rhyming Akkineni with Thokkineni supposedly in a lighter vein has drawn controversy.

 Thanking one of his co-actors during his success speech, Balakrishna says, “He is a great source of time-pass for me in the sets. He would always quote the vedas, shastras, my father’s dialogues, that Ranga Rao, this Akkineni Thokkineni, what not”, the last remark referring to the Late Akkineni Nageswara Rao has not gone down well with Akkineni Naga Chaitanya and Akhil Akkineni, actors and grandsons of Akkineni Nageshwara Rao. 

They have reacted to this issue on social media with a statement that reads, “Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao Garu, Akkineni Nageswara Rao Garu and S.V. Ranga Rao garu’s creative contributions have been the pride and pillars of Telugu Cinema. Disrespecting them is degrading ourselves” in Telugu and English. The statement was also prefaced with the hashtag #ANRLivesOn. Akkineni Nageswara Rao and Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao, Balakrishna’s father have had an enduring collaboration in the movies back in the day, acting in close to 15 movies together, including classics like Gundamma Katha(1962) and Missamma (1955).