Grand felicitation to Akkineni by DTA in MI, USA

With a theme of 'Our Hero, in our Hearts for Ever' on the occasion of Akkineni Nageswara Rao's 89th birthday and his USA visit filled with affection and appreciation for NRI Telugus on Friday Aug 24th, 2012 at St Toma Church Farmington, MI USA.

The grand reception was attended by over 450 Detroit Telugu Community members, who were eager to meet ANR. ANR was received in a grand fashion with DTA ladies giving 'Harati' and friends of ANR accompanying him to the stage. After Jyothi prajvalana and prayer song, Udaykumar Chapalamadugu, the anchor of the evening, invited ever green hero ANR to the stage along with his best friend, DTA/NATA past president, Madhav Rao Tummala.

Local Detroit community leaders Jagan Kakarala, Basavaiah Velivolu, Nadella Ganagadhar, Gangadhar Nadella, Hanumayya Bandla, Babu Vadlamudi, etc. spoke about ANR and his accomplishments in life as an actor and as a great human being. Udaykumar acknowledged friends of ANR who accompanied him from India and other US cities, namely Surendra, Ravi Kondabolu, Kondala Rao, and Y. K. Nageswara Rao.

ANR personally felicitated 24 local heroes for their contributions to the Telugu community. The awards committee with Sanjeev Rao as chairman was constituted to pick 24 top community leaders and accomplished professionals. Akkineni Nagarjuna made a special DVD highlighting ANR 80 years of film career and ANR charitable initiatives for his father.

The rare video covered his long film career and charitable initiatives like ANR awards, ANR college and non-profitable ANR film institute with affiliation to JNTU. A fantastic introduction to ANR life summarizing his roots and successes was given by DTA past president, Smt Vanita Reddy.

Sri Venkat Aekka, President of Detroit Telugu Association (DTA), invited all past DTA presidents to the stage and grand 'Saluva Satkaaram' was performed by his close friend Madhav Rao Tummala. Founder president of DTA Sri Somayajulu Yedavally presented ANR with a plaque. Venkat Aekka welcomed all community members and ANR to Detroit. He spoke of how fortunate he was that in his tenure as president, DTA would organize one of the grandest receptions for living legend ANR.

ANR then gave one of the most inspiring speeches. He covered all aspects of his life from the day he was spotted in a train by veteran Telugu director Ghantasala Balaramaiah. He said not only luck but his hard work and zeal to act in films from his childhood paved way to his becoming the ever green, successful romantic hero of South Indian Films.

He spoke of how 'supposed to bad news' in life turned out to be advantageous and helped him live happier and longer. His heart bypass surgery in 1974 and subsequent heart attack after 6 years led him to visit USA to meet world famous cardiologist from Kerala Dr. Gangadharan in California.

ANR said that the secret to his long life was his work ethic, discipline, and strong food regimen. But equally important were his treatments and conversations with Dr. Gangadharan in 1980s. Dr Gangadharan, who also is fan of ANR movies, counseled him psychologically to lead a happy and healthy life without worrying about death.

ANR quoted Dr Gangadharan 'Mr Rao you have enacted death many times in movies, death is not new to you and now go back and lead a healthy happy life. You don't need any more procedures on your heart.' ANR said those words were like powerful psychological medicine and boosted to his morale and happiness in life.

That led to his new philosophy of, 'It doesn't matter how many years you live but how happy you live.'

ANR personally invited Dr. Gangadharan and family to the stage and presented "Ganda Berundam" or gold bracelet with touching words, 'This bracelet is not made of gold but with sentiment and character of Nageswara Rao.' He thanked his best friend Madhav Rao Tummala for encouraging him to visit US after his personal loss of Smt Annapurnamma garu in Dec 2011, his wife for 73 years.

Venkat Aekka, Venkat Gotur, Krishna Jaligama Revathy, Srilakshmi, Vikhyathi Pallerla, Sai Vaishnavi, Trishul, Krithi, SriChandana Anumolu, Aneesha Mantripragada presented melodious songs and dance from ANR movies. Madhav Rao Tummala gave insightful speech about his best friend ANR and what he learnt in his more than 50 years of friendship.

He thanked DTA, all committee coordinators and particularly DTA past president K C Prasad garu and Ravi Kondabolu garu for putting a memorable and historical DTA event for the Detroit Telugu community. The program ended with a sumptuous dinner and photo op with ANR for all Detroit community members.