N. T. Rama Rao - Early Life

Early Life

NTR was born on 28 May 1923 in Nimmakuru, a small village in Gudivada taluk of Krishna District, which was a part of the erstwhile Madras Presidency of British India, to a Kamma farming couple Nandamuri Lakshmiah Chowdhury and Venkata Ramamma. NTR had his early education from tutor Valluru Subba Rao in his native village. His later childhood was spent with his uncle Ramaiah in Yanamalakuduru, a small village near Vijayawada on the banks of the river Krishna, where he studied at the Gandhi Municipal School. From a young age he showed an interest in singing and developed a baritone singing voice as a young man. He was also a good painter, and had won a prize in a state-level painting competition.

NTR passed the matriculation examination in 1940 and joined the SRR and CVR College in Vijayawada for pursuing his Intermediate course. While doing his Intermediate course, he supplemented the family income by supplying milk to hotels in Vijayawada on his bicycle, ran a small provision store and worked as a clerk. At the end of the first year of his Intermediate course, the students of the college decided to stage a play written by Viswanadha Satyanarayana, the well-known Telugu poet and writer and the head of the Telugu department of the college. NTR played a female role in that play.

NTR joined the Andhra-Christian College at Guntur for pursuing his Bachelor of Arts course in 1945. During this time, he started performing and directing many stage plays like Chesina Paapam along with Kongara Jaggayya, Mukkamala and K. V. S. Sarma. After his graduation, NTR passed the Madras Service Commission Exam and settled down in a sub registrar’s job at Mangalagiri. He later quit this job to pursue acting.