Music director Thaman has lately been referred to as Nandamuri Thaman. It's not clear who started it (most probably, Nandamuri Balakrishna's die-hard fans began it on social media), but the rechristening has received endorsement from the top. The other day, Balayya went a step ahead and said that Thaman should be aptly referred to as NBK Thaman, NBK being the Akhanda actor's initials. Yesterday, at an event, Nara Chandrababu Naidu's wife, Nara Bhuvaneswari, jokingly referred to the composer as Nandamuri Thaman. The composer blushed and enjoyed it.
While Thaman can be fine with being called whatever he wants, the trend is problematic in the context of Telugu film fan wars and polarizations. Thaman's identity doesn't need to come with a big family name attached to it for him to be seen as special. Thaman's musical scores helped Akhanda and Daaku Maharaaj a big deal. If fans rechristen him as Nandamuri Thaman out of gratitude, it is actually not what they think it is. It is patronising.
The whole thing goes to show that, no matter how many musical hits you deliver, your worth will be spiked through a famous surname.
