He created a base for Telugu films in Andhra Pradesh

Akkineni Nageswara Rao

Nageswara Rao's first Telugu film was Dharmapatni in 1941 In a career spanning over 78 years in the Telugu film industry, he has played the lead role in over 256 Telugu films and 26 Tamil films. Is the recipient of the Dada Saheb Phalke Award, the highest award for films in India. He also received in 1996 the NTR National Award.He is also a recipient of Padmashri, Padmabhushan and Padma bhushan awards

Among other things, Nageswara Rao is credited for influencing Telugu film producers and creating a base for Telugu films in Hyderabad.

The Telugu film industry in its early days was based out of Madras (now Chennai) in Tamil Nadu.^] The new state of Andhra Pradesh was carved out from the Madras Presidency on 1 November 1956 and several leaders opined that in order to create a separate identity for the Telugu film industry, it had to be based out of Hyderabad, the capital of Andhra Pradesh. ANR was one of the actors of that period who insisted on creating a base for Telugu films in Hyderabad and established his own production studio, Annapurna Studios, to facilitate this.