Akkineni Nageswara Rao, one of the most prominent figures in the Telugu and Indian film industries, will have his centenary commemorated with a film festival. The Telugu cinema legend was born on September 20, 1924, and passed away on 22 January 2014, aged 89.
The film festival, titled ANR 100 – King of the Silver Screen, will be a collaboration between the Film Heritage Foundation, the Akkineni Nageswara Rao family, the National Film Archive of India, and multiplex chain PVR-Inox. Screenings will take place in Hyderabad, Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, and Bengaluru, as well as some smaller cities.
The landmark will also coincide with sixty years of Telugu cinema. Classics like Mayabazar (1957), Doctor Chakravarthi (1964), and Premabhishekam (1981) are expected to be screened.
Rao was honoured with the Padma Vibhushan award in 2011 and the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, the highest recognition in Indian cinema, in 1990. Over his 71-year career, he appeared in more than 250 films.