Friday, March 6, 2009

What does Krishna look like?



A funny thing about Andra Pradesh and other states in South India, they have this saying. "We do not know what Krishna looks like. If someone thinks of Krishna the face that they see is that of NTR, Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao."

NT Rama Rao is my favorite actor. He is the star of South India Vaishnava films of the 50's and 60's. His main roles in the films were that of Krishna and Rama but he has also played many other roles as Ravana, Karna, Duryodhan, Bhima, and many others. He also played other roles in later film such as the Bollywood version of Superman.

In the 80's he started his own political party and due to his fame was voted in as Chief Minister in Andhra Pradesh. He won by a landslide, people used to actually do artik to his photo. His venture in politics did not last long as he was more of an actor than a politician.

There is something very powerful about seeing a story on film. For example I have read of the lives of the Six Goswami of Vrindavan but it is hard for me to remember individually their different stories. Must be my Kali yuga brain. Seeing these stories on film implant them into my mind.

Similarly whenever I see a movie unrelated to Krishna is also is very hard for me to remove such impression on my mind.

I plan to get some more films with NTR, not all of them are subtitled, so that I can get the impressions of Krishna's lila in my mind.
Hare Krishna
Your humble servant,
Nityananda Chandra Das

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