ANR's Balaraju completes 72 years and the film still enjoys an iconic status

'Balaraju' is a 1948 released iconic Telugu film featuring Akkineni Nageswara Rao in the lead role. Touted to be a swashbuckling adventure fantasy movie, Ghantasala Balaramaiah helmed this project. The film released today 72 years ago and the trade consider the film as the first-ever industry hit.

S Varalakshmi and Anjali Devi played the female leads in this movie which became an industry hit. The film got released on 26th February 1948. It has been 72 years since the release of the film but Balaraju is still considered as one of the most iconic movies not only in legendary actor ANR's career but also in the entire Telugu film history. In fact 'Balaraju' is the first-ever Telugu Silver Jubilee movie. The film ran for more than a hundred days in 11 centers in Andhra Pradesh and also had 365 days Run in a few cities including Vijayawada. The movie has a story that attracted all classes of audiences then. Ghantasala himself has penned this project under the Pratibha Productions banner. He also composed songs for the film. The film got aired many times on Television and a lot of people consider Balaraju as ANR's best in his career.