Telugu actors Nandamuri Balakrishna, Chiranjeevi, Junior NTR, Nandamuri Kalyan Ram and others, as well as several politicians paid their last respects to Nandamuri Taraka Ratna at his residence near Hyderabad on Sunday, February 19. Taraka Ratna passed away at a hospital in Bengaluru on Saturday night after battling for life for 23 days following a cardiac arrest in January. Taraka Ratna was the grandson of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) founder, legendary actor and former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister NT Rama Rao. Actors Jr NTR and Nandamuri Kalyan Ram are his cousins, and actor Nandamuri Balakrishna is his uncle. He was a member of the TDP.
Veteran actor and former MP Murali Mohan, TDP president and former Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu and his wife Nara Bhuvaneswari (Taraka Ratna’s aunt), YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) MP V Vijayasai Reddy (who is related to Taraka Ratna’s wife Alekhya Reddy), YSRTP founder-president YS Sharmila, TDP general secretary and his cousin Nara Lokesh, Lokesh’s wife and Balakrishna’s daughter Brahmani and others also paid their respects to Taraka Ratna at his residence at Mokila in Rangareddy district near Hyderabad.
Taraka Ratna's body was brought to his residence from Bengaluru on Sunday morning. He was 39. He breathed his last at Bengaluru's Narayana Institute of Cardiac Sciences, where he was admitted on January 27 after he collapsed during the launch of the padayatra of TDP general secretary and his cousin Nara Lokesh in Kuppam town of Andhra Pradesh. He is survived by wife Alekhya Reddy and their daughter. Taraka Ratna's father Nandamuri Mohan Krishna is a cinematographer in the Telugu film industry and son of NT Rama Rao.
#NandamuriBalakrishna & #MegastarChiranjeevi paid their last respects to #TarakaRatna!! #RIPTarakaRatna #NandamuriTarakaratna #TeluguFilmNagar pic.twitter.com/uIhFT1MfDQ
— Telugu FilmNagar (@telugufilmnagar) February 19, 2023
Vijayasai Reddy accompanies Balakrishna @ #TarakaRatna’s mortal remains. pic.twitter.com/721vXM8BMw
— MIRCHI9 (@Mirchi9) February 19, 2023
బాలయ్యను చూడగానే తారకరత్న కూతురు బావోద్వేగం. పరిగెత్తుకుంటూ వెళ్లి బాలయ్యను కౌగిలించుకున్న తారకరత్న కుమార్తె.#TarakaRatna #NandamuriBalakrishna pic.twitter.com/MFs07W3qx2
— Balayya Trends (@NBKTrends) February 19, 2023
Relatives, friends, and prominent Tollywood personalities including actors Ali, Babu Mohan,and Shivaji Raja among others, and leaders of various political parties arrived at Taraka Ratna’s house to pay their last respects. The last rites will be performed on Monday at Maha Prasthanam in Jubilee Hills in Hyderabad. The body will be kept at the Telugu Film Chamber office by 10 am to 4 pm on Monday to enable people to pay their last respects.
Taraka Ratna made his film debut in 2002 with Okato Number Kurraadu under the direction of K Raghavendra Rao. He acted in about a dozen movies and web series. He was reportedly keen to contest next year's Assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh on a TDP ticket and had joined Lokesh on the first day of his padayatra.
(With IANS inputs)