Family
In May 1942, at the age of 20, while still pursuing his Intermediate, NTR married Basava Tarakam, the daughter of his maternal uncle. The couple had eleven children- seven sons and four daughters. The sons were (Late) Nandamuri Ramakrishna Sr., Nandamuri Jayakrishna, (Late) Nandamuri Saikrishna, Nandamuri Harikrishna, Nandamuri Mohanakrishna, Nandamuri Balakrishna and Nandamuri Ramakrishna Jr.. The daughters were Garapati Lokeswari, Daggubati Purandeswari, Nara Bhuvaneswari and Kantamaneni Uma Maheswari.
His eldest son Nandamuri Ramakrishna Sr. died in 1962, soon after NTR completed shooting of the film Dakshayagnam. NTR founded the film studio Ramakrishna Studios in Nacharam in his memory. His fourth son Nandamuri Harikrishna is a child actor-turned-politician elected to the Rajya Sabha, representing the TDP. Harikrishna's sons Nandamuri Kalyan Ram and Jr. NTR are also actors in the Telugu film industry (Tollywood), with the latter being one of the top actors in the industry today. Nandamuri Balakrishna is one of the leading actors in Tollywood from the late 1980's. He also started his career as a child artist. Balakrishna has plans to contest the 2014 assembly elections as a TDP candidate. Nandamuri Ramakrishna Jr. is a film producer. Nandamuri Saikrishna, who was a theatre owner, died in 2004 following diabetic complications. The other sons Jayakrishna and Mohanakrishna are noted cinematographers. Mohanakrishna's son Taraka Ratna is also a Tollywood actor.
NTR's second daughter Purandeswari is the sitting MP from Visakhapatnam representing the Congress. She is also the incumbent Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry. She is married to Daggubati Venkateswara Rao, who is also in the Congress and is distantly related to film producer D. Ramanaidu. His third daughter Bhuvaneswari is married to Nara Chandrababu Naidu.
Basava Tarakam died of cancer in 1985. In her memory, NTR established the Basavatarakam Indo-American Cancer Hospital in Hyderabad. In 1993, at the age of 70, NTR married again, this time to Lakshmi Parvathi, a Telugu writer. He became the stepfather to Lakshmi Parvathi's son from her first marriage, Koteshwara Prasad, as a result of the marriage. She was the author of his 2-volume biography, which was published after his death. However she was never accepted as a family member by NTR's family members, who kept a distance from her after NTR's death.
Read more about this topic: N. T. Rama Rao, Personal Life
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