Happy birthday Jr NTR: Here are five films that redefined his acting career

From a child actor to a full-blown star hero, Jr NTR’s rise to stardom has been a journey of its own. On his 37th birthday, here’s a look at five of his best films.

Actor Jr NTR aka Tarak is one of the phenomenal actors in Telugu cinema and there are no second thoughts about it. From a child actor to a full-blown star hero, his rise to stardom is a journey of its own. On the occasion of his 37th birthday, we take a look at five films from his career that redefined his career.

Happy birthday Jr NTR: Actor turns 37 on Wednesday.

Simhadri

 

Action-drama Simhadri marked Tarak’s second collaboration with filmmaker SS Rajamouli after Student No 1. After the back-to-back failures of Allari Ramudu and Naga, Rajamouli came to Tarak’s rescue with Simhadri, and the film ended up as the biggest blockbuster of that year. The film saw Tarak play a good-hearted Simhadri with a violent past. The film was your quintessential masala drama with plenty of action thrown in, but it managed to extract the best out of Tarak quite early on in his career.

Yamadonga

 

In his third and even more successful collaboration with Rajamouli in Yamadonga, Tarak played a petty thief who gets killed much before his time and he gets to know about it after he reaches Yamlok. The film is a fantasy action comedy that follows Tarak’s character who sets out to take revenge on Yamraj for killing him before his time. There are portions of the film that are so much fun to watch because Tarak headlined those scenes and if not for him, the film wouldn’t have worked so effectively.

Temper

 

In Puri Jagannadh’s Temper, Tarak played a foul-mouthed cop with no ethics. The film was heavily panned by a section of critics for using rape as an excuse for the hero’s transformation. However, if you keep the controversy aside, the film saw Tarak deliver one of his career-best performances. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that no other actor could’ve done justice to Tarak’s character. The film was remade in Hindi as Simmba with Ranveer Singh.

Jai Lava Kusa

 

In Bobby-directed Jai Lava Kusa, Tarak was seen playing triple roles for the first time in his career. As Jai, a character with grey shades and a stutter, Tarak pulled off such an interesting role with ease. It’s the story of three triplet brothers - modeled after Ram, Lakshman and Bharath -separated by fate, only to meet much later in life. It was a joy to watch Tarak shine in three roles and he plays them so convincingly and yet differently.

Aravinda Sametha Veera Raghava

 

The film saw Tarak join hands with filmmaker Trivikram for the first time. Set against the backdrop of Rayalaseema and revolving around two warring families which have shed blood for two generations, the story is centered on Jr NTR’s character Veera Raghava Reddy, who is forced to walk the same violent path as his father. The film captured the never-before-spoken sentiment behind factionalism from the point of view of women. In a role that required him to carry a lot of emotional baggage and anger, Tarak delivers a performance that is worthy of celebration. He breathes life into a character that is torn apart between revenge and peace.

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