Taraka Ratna's body brought to Hyd; Jr NTR, others pay last respects

HYDERABAD: Popular Tollywood actors Junior NTR and Kalyan Ram on Sunday paid their last respects to Nandamuri Taraka Ratna, who passed away at a hospital in Bengaluru on Saturday night after battling for life for 23 days following a cardiac arrest.

Veteran actor and former MP Murali Mohan, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president and former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and his wife Bhuvaneswari, YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) MP V. Vijayasai Reddy and other personalities also paid their respects to the young actor at his residence at Mokila in Rangareddy district near Hyderabad.

Taraka Ratna's body was brought to his residence from Bengaluru on Sunday morning.

The actor's daughter was inconsolable upon seeing the body.

Taraka Ratna was 39. He is survived by wife Alekhya Reddy and a daughter.

Taraka Ratna was the grandson of TDP founder, legendary actor and former Andhra Pradesh chief minister N. T. Rama Rao.

He breathed his last at Bengaluru's Narayana Institute of Cardiac Sciences, where he was admitted on January 27 after he collapsed during padyatra of TDP general secretary and his cousin Nara Lokesh in Kuppam town of Andhra Pradesh.

Relatives, friends, prominent Tollywood personalities and leaders of various political parties arrived at the actor's house to pay their last respects.

The last rites will be performed on Monday at Maha Prasthanam in Jubilee Hills in Hyderabad. The body will be kept at Telugu Film Chamber office from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Monday to enable people to pay their last respects.

Taraka Ratna made his film debut in 2002 with 'Okato Number Kurraadu' under the direction of K. Raghavendra Rao. He acted in about a dozen movies and web series.

He was reportedly keen to contest next year's Assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh on TDP ticket and had joined Lokesh on the first day of padyatra.

Taraka Ratna's father Nandamuri Mohan Krishna is a cinematographer in Tollywood and son of N. T. Rama Rao.