Industry’s touching homage to the thespian

The whole of Telugu film industry descended to Annapurna Studios on Wednesday morning to pay their last respects to Akkineni Nageshwar Rao who is considered to be an equal to NT Rama Rao. Big names from Hindi, Tamil and Malayalam film industry, who couldn’t fly to Hyderabad on Wednesday, took to social networking sites to remember their association with the evergreen actor.

Here is what some of the eminent celebs had to say:

Lata Mangeshkar: Apart from being a great actor, he is a great human being. I took an award from his hands four years ago.

Amitabh Bachchan: Another great iconic legend of cinema passes away. A most affable considerate human! He is the legend of Telugu cinema and formed the incredible duo with another legend NTR. He leaves behind incredible legacy.

Ramanaidu: ‘Prem Nagar’ with him was a turning point in my career. It ensured that I was financially stable to produce more films.

Geetanjali: I hoped that he would live for 100 years. Sharing space with him was a learning curve. He has always ushered immense love on me.

Sridevi: An era comes to end- the doyen of Telugu Cinema. Rest in peace Nageswar Rao Garu

Mohan Babu: We shared a father-son relationship. I’ve featured in Annapoorna Pictures’ numerous productions as an antagonist and character artist. He left us so many memories and I’ve learnt the art of discipline from him. He has also showed us to how to treat the film’s crew with quality food.

Kamal Haasan: When I started working at the age of 16 as an assistant, he had great conversations with me. The effect of which ensured that I was rationale human being till now. He has seen three generations as a star. He is still a star for me. The sky is now bereft of the brightest star that I have known.

Krishna: He has been a constant encouragement as I entered the industry. He has donned every role in the film book and most of such characters were very difficult to portray. It’s our bad luck that we’ve lost such a figure.

Dasari Narayana Rao: We travelled in the industry like life partners. I’ve directed 26 films with him and I don’t think he has done more number of films with any other director. His family is like my family and I share a great relationship with Nagarjuna too. As long as Telugu film industry exists, he will be remembered.

Chiranjeevi: He started off when the industry was taking its baby steps and his association lasted till Wednesday. He is one of a kind. I’ve met him ten days back at his residence. I checked on his health and spent an hour with him. I told him that he should complete a century and he too expressed confidence of doing so. He is a complete human being. It’s heartening to note that he had no difficulties health-wise before passing away.

Prabha: He was one of my first co-stars when I started off. He made sure that I had no jitters while shooting with him. He always dropped me by my car whenever I visited him, a trait that speaks volumes of his nature. I couldn’t control my emotions seeing his mortal remains but his daughter insisted that her ‘dad’s wish was to see no one shedding a tear for him’.

Radhikaa Sarath Kumar: I worked with him (and) shared a warm friendship. Learnt so much of professional discipline from him.

Rajendra Prasad: He is a legend who showed how to act and how to lead a discipline life on the professional front. Guess industry is going through bad times as one after the other stalwart is passing away.

Seetharamasastry: His life as an inspiration. He started as an ordinary citizen and in the process has become a living legend. I don’t think he has passed away. As long as Telugu language exits, his name will be with us.

Ram Gopal Varma: I still can’t forget the way he put his hand on my shoulder in appreciation after seeing the first copy of my debut film ‘Shiva’.

Mahesh Babu: He will remain in our memory forever. He will be with us and we can never forget him.

NTR: If grandfather NTR was the one eye, ANR garu was the other. It’s sad that we’ve lost the second eye too.

Sunil: I’ve learned how to keep my health in check because of his guidance. Wherever he goes, he always spoke truth. When I met him at his birthday celebrations last year, he was enthusiastic than us.

SS Rajamouli: An attitude towards life. Wish we could learn a bit from him. He is a complete man and led a complete life!

Ram Charan: I’m saddened by his death. I’m out of the country and I express my unhappiness that I will not be in a position to pay his mortal remains a last visit.