In this paper, a hybrid of Neural Network (NN) and Fast Traversal Filter (FTF) based controller in each area is used to determine the optimal parameters of Load frequency control (LFC) of a realistic two area power system. The two area power system is modeled considering the various non -linearities like governor dead band, generation rate constraint (GRC) and boiler dynamics. Input to the controller i.e. the error signal is divided into two parts- linear and non- linear. The linear part of the input signal is minimized by the FTF algorithm, whereas the non- linear part is minimized by the NN algorithm. The output of the controller is the sum of the outputs of NN and FTF networks. The proposed hybrid controller requires less number of samples for training of weights, thus making the system fast. This is highly desirable in power quality problems. The various components of power system are reduced to transfer functions and the system performance is analyzed for 1% step load perturbation in area1 with different control lersproportional and integral (PI), neural network (NN) and NN+FTF based controllers. The simulations demonstrate the fast and smooth performance of the power system with the proposed controller. Simulated results evince the superiority of the proposed hybrid controller.