Nagarjuna is one of the most popular actors in India and has delivered several blockbuster movies in his career. His father, Akkineni Nageswara Rao, was also a superstar and played a prominent role in the growth of the Telugu film industry. At the International Film Festival of India (IFFI), Nagarjuna talked about the struggles of his father before he entered showbiz and also revealed that his father attempted suicide as well. 

While talking about his father’s struggling days, the actor revealed, “In those days women were not allowed to be an actor or act on stage. So, he started playing women’s roles. He first became a heroine on stage. As fate took its turn, he was at a railway station when famous producer Ghantasala Balaramayya, who was sitting in the train, saw him walking and said ‘nice eyes, nice nose’. Would you like to act? Rest, as they say, is history.” 

“I distinctly remember him swaying his hips. He thought that was acting because he had done this on stage. People made fun of him and that really dejected him. He went to Marina Beach where he said he wanted to kill himself because there was so much laughter (mockery) and all of that. He told me he went waist deep into the seawater and then something in him told him (to not do it) and he corrected himself,” he added. 

Nagarjuna also shared that his father would scream at the ocean in the early morning to make his voice hoarse. He said, “Somebody told him your voice becomes rougher if you smoke cigars. He didn’t smoke earlier. He also used to go to the beach early in the morning and scream at the ocean for 5-10 minutes to make his voice more hoarse.”