There is a number that tells you everything you need to know about what N.T. Rama Rao did to Telugu audiences when he played Lord Rama on screen.

In 1963, united Andhra Pradesh had a population of roughly three crore people. A film called Lava Kusa sold 1.98 crore tickets. The ticket price at the time was between 25 paise and one rupee. These were not wealthy people spending disposable income on entertainment. These were farmers, labourers, and small-town families who saved up, travelled to the nearest cinema hall, and sat in the dark watching a man they already half-believed was God.

That man was Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao. And the role of Lord Rama was where his career stopped being about cinema and started being about something harder to explain. NTR made his debut as an actor in a Telugu social film Mana Desam, directed by L.V. Prasad in 1949. For the first several years of his career, he was primarily a mainstream commercial hero. Mythological cinema came later, and it came gradually.

After a poorly-received cameo as Krishna in Sonta Ooru (1956), his portrayal of the god in the epic Mayabazar (1957) won him praise. That performance shifted something in how filmmakers and audiences saw him. He began getting offered roles of gods and heroes from the epics, and he accepted most of them with the seriousness of someone who understood the weight of what he was doing. 44 of his films were mythological. Among those, his portrayals of Lord Rama stand apart.

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The mythological film Lava Kusa made cinematic history when it became the first Telugu colour film. The Telugu version won the National Film Award for Best Telugu Feature Film. Lava Kusa achieved significant commercial success, running uninterrupted for 75 weeks, a record in Telugu cinema. The film was released in 26 centres and achieved a 100-day run in all of them. It went on to have a 150-day run in those centres and a 175-day run in 18 centres. It was the first Telugu film to have grossed Rs 1 crore at the box office when the ticket price ranged between 25 paise and a rupee.

What separated NTR’s Lord Rama from other mythological portrayals of the era was the depth of belief he brought to the character. The people who watched him did not feel they were watching an actor play a role. NTR was literally worshipped by many as Lord Rama with his picture from the film adorning their puja rooms.

This was not a publicity stunt or a planned brand strategy. It came from the way NTR inhabited these characters. During the 1960s, NTR became a household name by portraying Hindu gods like Lord Krishna, Rama, and Shiva. These roles turned him into a messiah of the masses, and his divine portrayals remain unmatched even today.

His performances, particularly his portrayal of Venkateswara in Sri Venkateswara Mahatyam, caused some of his fans to ascribe divine status to the point that pilgrims would visit Rama Rao’s house after going to the deity’s temple.

Lava Kusa was not his only time playing Lord Rama. He was also known for his portrayal of Lord Rama in films like Sri Krishna Sahitya (1971) and Shri Ramanjaneya Yuddham (1974), to name a few.

Interestingly, NTR also had a deep connection with the antagonist of the Ramayana story. When Bhookailas released in 1958, NTR took on the role of the demon king Ravana, a casting choice that surprised many given that audiences had only ever seen him on the side of the gods and the righteous. The film worked, and worked well. Encouraged by that response, he went a step further and brought Ravana back to the screen in Seeta Rama Kalyanam (1961), which he also directed, marking his debut behind the camera.

The connection between NTR and Lord Rama eventually extended to his own family. In 2011, his son Nandamuri Balakrishna played Lord Rama in Sri Rama Rajyam, a reboot of Lava Kusa. Veteran director Bapu announced that he would remake the 1963 film Lava Kusa with Balakrishna, who reprised the role of Lord Rama which was enacted by his father N.T. Rama Rao in the original film.

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And then there is NTR’s grandson, Jr. NTR. Tarak first appeared as a child artiste, playing the role of Lord Rama in the 1997 mythological film Ramayanam. Three generations of the same family, each having played the same character, is a fact that is hard to find a parallel for anywhere in Indian cinema.