Kamal Hassan Condoles ANR's Death

Actor-filmmaker Kamal Hassan has expressed his deepest condolences to the family of late Telugu actor Akkineni Nageswara Rao, who was fondly called by the name ANR. The legendary Tollywood star breathed his last on January 22.

Click Here To See His Last Journey Pics

The Universal Star has claimed that ANR was his spiritual guru and opened up on his influence on him in a video message. Kamal said, "ANR was my spiritual guru. He was my guru not just in acting, but as a rationalist. When I was 16 and working as an assistant, he spoke to me once. The effect of that has kept me intact as a rational person for this long."

"As a star, he has seen three generations. Till the moment he left us, in my eyes, he was a star. We've now lost a star. The sky will be bereft of the brightest star I have known who spoke Telugu, Hindi and Tamil," he added.

Akkineni Nageswara Rao was born on September 20, 1924. He acted in over 250 films in his 70-year association with film industry. His debut movie was Dharmapatni in 1941. But it was Sitarama Jananam that launched him as a hero.

His last movie was Manam with his son Nagarjuna, and grandsons Akkineni Akhil and Naga Chaitanya. The movie is yet to be released.