Hyderabad, March 25 :
Hyderabad, March 25:
NTR's family is at war again, this time over films, not politics.
A grandson of the late Telugu Desam founder, Taraka Ratna, is being launched in nine films at the same time to take on another grandson, Taramarama, the current toast of Telugu cinema.
Chief minister Chandrababu Naidu has thrown his weight behind Taraka Ratna, the son of brother-in-law N. Mohan Krishna. He spent over an hour at a film launch at Ramakrishna Horticulture Studios last week after refusing to attend such ceremonies for Taramarama, who is now better known as NTR Junior.
While Naidu had wrested the political mantle from his father-in-law, N.T. Rama Rao's sons largely stuck to a career in films. Jaya Krishna and Sai Krishna are producers and cinema hall owners and Mohan Krishna is a cinematographer.
But the second son, Hari Krishna, an actor who bagged some good political roles, tried his hand at politics and was a member of the Naidu Cabinet before the chief minister dropped him. Hari Krishna later floated his own party and contested the polls against Naidu, but was wiped out. His son, NTR Junior, has become a star since his debut two years ago in a Ramoji Rao film. The chief minister has, however, kept his nephew at arm's length, refusing to attend any of his film functions.
Together with the rest of the family, he has now propped up Mohan Krishna's son as a competitor to NTR Junior. Thanks to the interest shown by Naidu,
producers and directors lined
up within a month of the family deciding to launch Taraka Ratna in films.
When the muhurats of nine films were held last Saturday, none of the producers or directors had chosen the heroines or the technical teams. 'As an old friend of the NTR family, I accepted their request to produce a film for Mohan Krishna's son,' said K. Raghavendra Rao, who directed NTR junior in Student No.1, the blockbuster of the season.
Feuds are not new to the
NTR family. Naidu had fallen
out with his father-in-law before his death when N.T. Rama Rao tried to project his second wife, Lakshmi Parvathi, as his political successor.