Karunanidhi condoles death of Nageswara Rao

CHENNAI: DMK president M Karunanidhi today condoled the death of veteran Telugu actor Akkineni Nageswara Rao.

He said Rao had been his friend for a very long time and recalled that much like the Tamil thespian Sivaji Ganesan, the Telugu star had also started his career as a stage artist, doing female roles, before gaining popularity in the silver screen.

When M G Ramachandran and Ganesan ruled the roost in Tamil cinema, another Telugu stalwart N T Rama Rao and Nageswara Rao were hailed as the "twin-heroes" of Telugu cinema, he said in a statement here.

"I extend my sincere condolences to his son Nagarjuna, his family members and friends in Telugu film industry," he said.

Nageswara Rao, popularly known as ANR among his fans, died on Wednesay at Hyderabad at the age of 91 after losing his battle with cancer.