Now a days, pan India word and Pan India Star is becoming synonymous with Tollywood and tollywood stars like Prabhas, NTR, Allu Arjun, and Ram Charan. But what many are unaware is Sr NTR is the first pan India star.
Producer Prassanna Kumar shares “His folklore drama ‘Pathala Bhairavi’ was made in Telugu, Hindi, and Tamil in 1952 and performed exceptionally well. He followed it up with the socio-fantasy ‘Chandi Rani’ with the late Bhanumathi, while his Telugu film ‘Santhosham’ was remade in Hindi as ‘Naya Aadmi,’ which also succeeded. These Hindi films ran for hundreds of days in theaters and established him as a popular Telugu actor in the Hindi-speaking regions,”
Bollywood legendary filmmaker V.Shantaram planned to cast him as King Dushyanth in his dream project , love story of Dushyanth and Shakuntala in 1960. He said “Although NTR had immense respect for the ace filmmaker, he politely declined further Hindi projects, choosing to focus on Telugu cinema. Later, Shantaram played the role himself in ‘Stree’ alongside his wife, Sandhya,”
Late producer Sunderlal Nahata planned to cast NTR as Lord Krishna in a Bollywood flick. He said “He was offered ₹1 crore for the role, but he declined, prioritizing his connection with the Telugu audience, who regarded him as a demi-god. Later, he played the same role in a Telugu film for a mere fee of ₹10,000. This demonstrates the love he had for Telugu cinema, always striving to elevate its standards. For over four decades, NTR’s commitment to Telugu producers, directors, and technicians remained unwavering,”