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In a rare honour, the US Post Service is issuing a special postage stamp to commemorate legendary Indian actor Akkineni Nageswara Rao.
The thespian, who rode the Telugu cinema like a colossus for over 70 years and was decorated with all the top honours of the Indian film industry, including the Dada Saheb Phalke award had passed away early January this year at the ripe age of 90.
Popularly known as ANR, the versatile actor, created a record of sorts by featuring in `Manam’, which saw three generation of the Akkineni family, including himself, son (Nagarjuna) and grandsons (Naga Chaitanya and Nikhil).
Announcing this development, the Akkineni Foundation of America (AFA), said a special release ceremony was slated for September 20 in Dallas, Texas, to mark the actor’s birthday. The Foundation, claimed that this was the first ever honour to an Indian actor by the US Post Service.
With NT Rama Rao (NTR), who later became the Chief Minister of united Andhra Pradesh, ANR was a leading pillar of the Telugu film industry, beginning from Chennai to moving to Hyderabad and contributing to its growth as one of the biggest in the country now.
The AFA also plans to release the stamp in India at the first "International Akkineni Awards Ceremony" in the presence of ANR family members. The event hosted by AFA will be held on December 17, 2014 at ANR College, Gudivada, Krishna district, Andhra Pradesh , said Prasad Thotakura, its President.
"While my father has been cited many times as being among the most adored artiste of all time, the recognition in his being portrayed on a US postage stamp will rank as a great honour. It is certainly a big tribute to Indian cinema and our culture," said Akkineni Nagarjuna, son and a leading star of the Telugu film industry at present.
Beginning with his debut in the Tamil-Telugu bilingual, `Dharmapatni’, ANR had acted in over 255 films in Telugu, Tamil and Hindi. He was also a writer with his autobiographical work, Nenu Na Jeevitham (I and My Life) and Nenu Choosina America (memoirs of his first visit to the US), being well known.
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