Forty Years Ago: How A Decrepit Vehicle From Gemini Studios Changed The Course Of Indian Politics

NT Rama Rao; the chief minister of erstwhile united Andhra Pradesh on three different occasions, played a nondescript role as a policeman in the 1949 film Mana Desam directed by LV Prasad.

Little would either of them know that their connection would somehow continue into the 80s, albeit tenuously, and interestingly help the charismatic actor to launch his political campaign and emerge successful.

It was the summer of 1982, the Congress, under the heavy-handed Indira Gandhi, was treating the then united Andhra Pradesh like its fief and had been foisting chief ministers with impunity.

Ever since the Communist split in the 60s, there was no real opposition party in Andhra Pradesh. 

The state, in any case, was well and truly Congress' pocket borough as the party had stranglehold on the chief ministership since its formation in 1956 from the erstwhile 1956.

The Congress in Andhra was a house in turmoil and tumult in the late 70s and early 80s. 

From March 1978 to September 1982, the Congress High Command in New Delhi seemed to play ducks and drakes and appointed four different Chief Ministers to quell infighting in the party. 

Among the four, the tenure of Tanguturi Anjaiah became the tipping point in Andhra Pradesh political history. The man, a product of the murky trade union politics, had a weird and controversial past. 

He was said to be a Dalit but subsequently it emerged that he belonged to the Reddy caste and his real name was Ramakrishna Reddy, and there are also reports that say that he was born into the Munnuru Kapu community. 

Anyway, his one year and 136 days of run as the chief minister would be first remembered for his jumbo Cabinet — it comprised 72 members (including then political greenhorns Y S Rajasekhara Reddy and N Chandrababu Naidu), the largest ever in India. 

And he was apparently snubbed and treated very badly by Rajiv Gandhi, the then Congress Youth Wing head, when he arrived on a private visit at Begumpet airport in February 1982. 

Rajiv was, as the story went, mighty miffed with the pomp and show to greet him and he openly berated Anjaiah.

Some accounts claimed that Anajaiah was even slapped by an enraged Rajiv as he felt some aviation safety norms were given a go by to welcome him at the airport. 

He went back to New Delhi and had him sacked as the Chief Minister in two weeks time. This incident sent more shock waves across Andhra which was already feeling that the Congress was taking it for granted.

NTR takes charge at the wheel.

And this was exactly the trigger that NT Rama Rao who was already dabbling with the idea of taking the plunge into politics, needed. 

The man, who set so much store by Telugu pride, decided then and there was no better time to launch his party that would restore Telugu atmagauravam (self respect). 

In March 1982, he announced the launch of Telugu Desam Party (TDP), and by May in the same year he was ready to hit the campaign trail for the elections that were set for the next year.

The wily Rama Rao knew that time was short, and he was up against history, and geography too. 

He had roughly seven months to cover the entire State and somehow get across his message and unseat the formidable Congress that had never been defeated in Andhra Pradesh till then. 

Though he had crafty campaign strategists including his son-in-law Chandrababu Naidu, Rama Rao knew that he was the face of the entire party. 

Having seen MG Ramachandran in neighbouring Tamil Nadu successfully convert his popularity acquired through his movies into political equity, NTR was keen to emulate his friend. 

NTR understood that the way to do this was to campaign personally and carry the message of the party to the nook and cranny of the State. 

As it happened, after the first round of campaigning in June 1982, NTR quickly figured out that he was never going to cover the entirety of the State in an open jeep. It was too tough both physically and mentally in what was going to be a long-drawn campaign. Travel logistics was coming in the way of hardy politics.  

Again, NTR decided to take a leaf out of MGR's campaign process.

The Tamil Nadu politico, who understood the pulse of the public, had pioneered the campaign and speeches from atop a van as opposed to forbidding dais. MGR preternaturally realised that campaigning from a van took him closer to the people, both literally and figuratively. 

NTR understood that this was the path that he too should take. But MGR's campaign van, apart from speakers and a retractable sun roof through which he could emerge from inside and address the public, had no other convenience. It was not good for short-burst propaganda. 

But what NTR had in mind was a marathon campaign lasting for months. It had to be his home away from home. In 1982, he was already 60, and the aging body needed some resting between speeches, and that was not available then in standard campaign vehicles then.

From the dungeon of Gemini Studios to the highway of politics

A confused and concerned NTR decided to check out what he could do with the fleet of vehicles at his personal disposal then. So he drove to his Ramakrishna Studios — he had founded that in memory of his son who passed away rather young in 1962 — and had a look at the various vehicles in the garage. Amidst a few cars and vans, an beaten up 1940 model Chevrolet convertible caught his eye.

This is where the LV Prasad link comes up. 

The Chevrolet van originally belonged to Gemini Studios in Chennai. But when the iconic film production house decided to shut shop in the mid-70s after a few flops, it was sought to be taken over by Anand Cine Services, which was founded by A Ravi Shankar Prasad, the grandson of LV Prasad. (Anand Cine Services later transmogrified to Gemini Film Circuit, but that is a different story).

Anyway, Anand Cine Services took over the cinema related assets (like the studio and the equipment) from Gemini Studios, but did not want other stuff like furniture and vehicles. One of the vehicles that it decided to sell it off was the Chevrolet jalopy. 

As it happened, the vehicle caught the fancy of NTR whose fascination for vehicles was well known during his active film career. But after buying the van, he had used it sparingly. 

Eventually, it was lying forlornly in an obscure corner of the garage in Ramakrishna Studios in Hyderabad. It would have rusted its way to an unsung death till destiny's favourite child NTR found for it a new life.

However, the Chevrolet van had nothing fancy, except the fact that it was large and cavernous. NTR however knew what was needed, and more importantly, who was needed to refurbish the old rickety vehicle. 

He sent out for Allen, a well known mechanic in Madras, who, then again, had worked on the vehicles of many top names including, well, MGR. Upon his arrival, Allen was given just a few days’ time to turn the vehicle into a campaign caravan with all the bells and whistles. 

So, Allen reoriented the interiors entirely. The seats were removed and made way for aircraft-style chairs, bedding, table and plenty of free space to keep food and beverages during travel. 

The retractable sunroof and a step ladder to climb up were also put in place. The vehicle was also fitted with a state of the art public address system with speakers fitted on all four outside corners of the vehicle, and they would eventually blare out many Telugu songs, including Maa Telugu Thalliki that appealed to the Telugu pride.

But the master stroke was still waiting.

NTR instinctively knew the importance of naming the vehicle. The man, who had won a name for himself through historical and mythological films, imagined himself to be in the midst of a war. And all great warriors need a reliable and recognisable chariot.

Thus was born 'Chaitanya Ratham' (Chariot of Awakening).

An object lesson in messaging.

It was, at that time, derisively dismissed as a fanciful idea. One of the typical quirks of NTR. But the man knew better. He used the Chaitanya Ratham not only as a travelling companion but also used it as a metaphor for his message. 

He practically lived in it all day and night, and on average travelled around 150 km every day, addressing meetings and chatting up with people every 10 or 15 km.

It was energy and emotion-sapping. But NTR could see the tide turning underneath and he kept at it. He ate at roadside eateries, drank from local taps and took baths publicly — pictures of him having bath were splashed in the papers, causing a huge tizzy. 

NTR, in khaki pants and bush shirt, kept at it with monkish one-pointedness and did not break his peripatetic ways till the Assembly elections were announced. 

His relentlessness could be gauged by the fact that he did not cut short his trips to return to Hyderabad to attend the wedding of his two sons (one of them, Balakrishna). 

Some of his ways were decidedly thetarical. But the actor in him had an innate comprehension of what will work with the masses. 

The numbers for his efforts were staggering. In all, he reportedly covered over 75,000 km and was seen and heard of by over thirty million people — a remarkable feat of connecting directly with the people at a time when media as we know them was non-existent.    

"As surging crowds demanded all his time, he often went without food. He slept little and spent all his waking hours giving speeches. His voice became hoarse; his complexion turned dark," wrote Ramesh Kandula in the biography of NTR titled Maverick Messiah.

By the time January and polls in Andhra arrived, it was only a question of by how many seats would NTR and his new party triumph. 

It was 201 out of 294. A landslide win. The historical campaign ensured that a man who launched his party in March 1982 became the CM by January 1983.

On 9 January 1983, NTR was sworn in as the 7th chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, the first non-Congress one.

As Venakaiah Naidu, the former Vice President once said, "NTR's sub-nationalism was constructive, and his identity politics was devoid of parochial undertones. His brand of regionalism celebrated the pluralistic idea of India. A patriot to the core, NTR proudly wore his Telugu identity on his saffron sleeve, but without privileging it over other identities".

Congress unleashed plenty of skullduggery to unseat him, and did so briefly through backdoor methods. But NTR again put up a show of compelling dramatics in New Delhi that he was quickly reinstated (and got the venal Governor Ram Lal recalled).

But make no mistake about it, NTR pioneered 'rath' politics and his entire campaign is a veritable case study on how to reach out to masses with a popular message. 

It was so effective that even when there was a mass sympathy wave in favour of the Congress in the aftermath of Indra Gandhi's assassination in 1984, Andhra alone bucked the national trend and voted the TDP MPs in 31 out of 42 seats. In all, TDP then emerged the principal opposition party in a lop-sided Lok Sabha.

Much water has flown under the bridge since then. However, Chaitanya Ratham will forever remain a vehicle of destiny. And it will forever be a delicious irony that using a modified decrepit vehicle from a defunct film house, a man was able to change the course of political history in his state.