Marriage within close quarters comes as an unexpected trump card for Jr NTR to stake his claim for respect -- for him and his mother -- in the Nandamuri family. Looking to erase the stigma attached to his mother for his father’s mistake, the Junior reportedly gave his nod as soon as Chandrababu Naidu floated his marriage proposal.

Tarak grew up completely outside the periphery of the most influential clan, as an illegal son while his mother Shalini was virtually ostracised, branded as the ‘unwedded’ second wife of Harikrishna.

Until last year, Tarak was like a destitute, long-estranged. Though treated fondly by his illustrious grandfather, he was thoroughly looked down upon by every other member of the family. The instances of ignominy and insult are countless.

The turf war between Tarak and Kalyan Ram, born to Harikrishna’s first wife, was always a talking point, reminiscent of scenes from movies like Mani Ratnam’s Gharshana.

It was the wizardry of Naidu who woke up to the need to keep the family flock together for obvious political gains, first opened the doors for Junior. But even the first such occasion turned bitter for him at the Lokesh-Brahmani engagement ceremony. Kalyan Ram, who of late was made to patch up with NTR, reportedly rebuked his then younger rival forcing the Junior to leave the place in a huff.

NTR has been waiting for a moment like this to restore dignity and rightful place for his mother Shalini in the family. His close friends feel that his instant acceptance was only meant to do some good to his mother what his father could not, over the years!!!

It would really be interesting to see how the family bonds with the son-mother duo on future public appearances.