Akkineni Nagarjuna

Akkineni Nagarjuna (born 29 August 1959) is an Indian film actor, producer, television presenter, and entrepreneur, primarily known for his works in Telugu language films. He has also worked in some Hindi and Tamil language films. He has received nine state Nandi Awards, three Filmfare Awards South and a National Film Award-Special Mention. In 1996, he produced Ninne Pelladata, which won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Telugu.

Nagarjuna is also known his works in biographical films, he played 15th-century composer Annamacharya in the 1997 film Annamayya, Yavakri (the son of the ascetic Bharadwaja) in the 2002 film Agni Varsha, Major Padmapani Acharya, in the 2003 war film LOC Kargil, 17th-century composer Kancherla Gopanna in the 2006 film Sri Ramadasu, Suddala Hanmanthu in the 2011 film Rajanna, Sai Baba of Shirdi in the 2012 film Shirdi Sai, Chandaludu in the 2013 film Jagadguru Adi Sankara, and Hathiram Bhavaji in the 2017 film Om Namo Venkatesaya.

In 1989, he starred in the Mani Ratnam directed romantic drama film Geetanjali, which won the National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment. The following year, he acted in Siva, an action drama blockbuster directed by Ram Gopal Varma, which premiered at the 13th International Film Festival of India. In 1990, he made his Bollywood debut with the Hindi remake of Shiva. In 1998, he received the National Film Award-Special Mention for his performance in the historical film Annamayya.

Nagarjuna began acting as a child artist in the 1967 Telugu film Sudigundalu directed by veteran Adurthi Subbarao. He appeared as an infant in movie Velugu Needalu penned by Sri Sri. Both movies starred his father Akkineni Nageswara Rao in the lead role. Years later he made his debut as a lead actor through the 1986 Telugu film Vikram, directed by V. Madhusudhana Rao. It is the remake of the 1983 Hindi film Hero. The film was a success, giving Nagarjuna a good start. Later, he starred in films like Majnu, directed by Dasari Narayana Rao, which was well received. Nagarjuna got positive reviews for his portrayal of a heartbroken man. He then starred in Sankeertana, a below average grosser directed by debutant Geetha Krishna with music by Ilaiyaraaja. The film was appreciated for its content and music.

In 1988, he starred in the blockbuster Aakhari Poratam, scripted by Yandamuri Veerendranath, and directed by K. Raghavendra Rao where he was paired opposite Sridevi and Suhasini. In 1988 he starred in Janaki Ramudu alongside Vijayashanti. This film, directed again by K. Raghavendra Rao, was also a hit. In 1989, he starred in the Maniratnam-directed romantic drama Geetanjali. The film won the National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment in 1990. Immediately, he saw another success, Shiva. This film marked the debut of director Ram Gopal Varma. This film is considered a trendsetter in Telugu cinema, and made Nagarjuna a superstar. In 1990, he subsequently made his Bollywood debut with the Hindi remake of the same film titled Shiva. Even the Hindi version saw huge box-office success. He then starred in Jaitra Yatra, for which he received critical acclaim. He followed it up with sub fare like Prema Yuddham and Iddaru Iddare. Nirnayam where he acted again with Amala however was a hit.

He followed it up with box office hits like Killer, Neti Siddhartha, and Nirnayam, working with eminent directors such as Fazil, and Priyadarshan. Nagarjuna was fondly called "Celluloid Scientist" for his nature of experimenting with different scripts. Some of his prominent hit films released subsequently included President Gari Pellam, Varasudu, Gharana Bullodu and Allari Alludu. In 1994, he starred in his first Hindi-Telugu bilingual Criminal directed by Mahesh Bhatt. In the same year he ventured into comedy for the first time with Hello Brother which was a huge hit, and was later remade into Hindi as Judwaa. Many of his films were also dubbed into Tamil. In 1996, Nagarjuna starred in and produced Ninne Pelladata, directed by Krishna Vamsi. The movie won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Telugu and Filmfare Award for Best Film - Telugu. The next year, Nagarjuna acted in Annamayya, in which he portrayed the role of Annamacharya, a 15th-century Telugu singer and poet. This won him his Filmfare Best Actor Award and his first Nandi Award for Best Actor. He also received a National Award for this role. His subsequent releases were Nuvvu Vastavani, Ninne Premistha and Azad.

He starred in romantic comedies such as Santosham, Manmadhudu, and Shivamani. He produced Satyam in 2003, which starred his nephew Sumanth. In 2004, Nagarjuna had two releases, Nenunnanu and Mass. The latter was produced by Nagarjuna and directed by choreographer Lawrence Raghavendra. In 2005, Nagarjuna acted in and produced Super. In 2006, he starred in Sri Ramadasu, his second period film based on the 18th-century Telugu Saint/poet of the same name. Nagarjuna received the Nandi Award for Best Actor for this film. In December 2007, he appeared in Don and a year later, he appeared in King alongside Trisha Krishnan and Srihari.

In 2010, he had the films Kedi and Ragada. Gaganam was released on 11 February 2011. It's Tamil version was titled Payanam. In 2011 Nagarjuna signed three movies in a row: Rajanna, Damarukam and Shirdi Sai.His next film Greeku Veerudu alongside Nayanthara, was a sub par grosser. His next Bhai was a disaster at the box office. In 2014, Nagarjuna starred in the blockbuster family drama, Manam, directed by Vikram Kumar. He had a dual role in Soggade Chinni Nayana, which turned out to be one of his biggest blockbusters. Later he played a cripple in Vamshi Paidipally's bilingual film Oopiri, which was a hit.In 2017, he played a devotional role in the film Om Namo Venkatesaya. It garnered average reviews from critics and turned out to be a disaster.[19] He then starred in a horror film titled Raju Gari Gadhi 2, which had an average run at the box office. In 2018, he starred in the film Officer directed and produced by Ram Gopal Varma. It got poor reviews from critics and went on to become the biggest disaster in Nagarjuna's career. On 27 September 2018, Devadas, directed by Sriram Aditya, featuring Nagarjuna alongside . This film co starred Rashmika Mandanna and Aakanksha Singh and turned out to be a moderate success.