Venkatesh Daggubati

Venkatesh Daggubati or Victory Venkatesh or simply Venkatesh (born 13 December 1960) is an Indian film actor known for his works predominantly in Telugu cinema. In a career spanning 30 years, he starred in 72 feature films. He has played a variety of roles in Telugu cinema and in a couple of Bollywood films. He has received seven state Nandi Awards and six Filmfare Awards.

Along with his brother Daggubati Suresh Babu, Venkatesh is the co-owner of Suresh Productions, one of the largest film production companies in India. Venkatesh has starred in several of his films under his home production house. In a career spanning three decades, he has acted in many commercially successful films. He has the highest number of Nandi awards for best actor, of which he has won seven. He is well known for pairing with Soundarya Meena in seven successful movies. Apart from films, he is the captain of the Telugu Warriors, representing Tollywood in the Celebrity Cricket League.

He acted as a child artist in the 1971 film Prem Nagar. He debuted as a full-fledged lead in Kaliyuga Pandavulu in 1986 alongside Khushbu Sundar for whom, the film was a debut in South Indian film industry. It won him a Nandi Award for best male debut actor. At an early phase in his career, Venkatesh acted in Swarnakamalam, directed by K Viswanath, which was showcased at the 1989International Film Festival of India; the film fetched him his second Nandi Award for his performance. In 1988, he appeared in the successful musical romance film Prema, which fetched him a Nandi Award for best acting and in the same year, had another successful film, Brahma Putrudu, with this film, he won a Filmfare Award for best actor. Also, Bobbili Raja, with Divya Bharti, was a box office hit.

Venkatesh then appeared in Ram Gopal Varma's road movie Kshana Kshanam, alongside Sri Devi, which was a trend-setter and became a box office hit in its second run. In 1991, Chanti, a family drama, which was re-made in Hindi as Anari, alongside Karishma Kapoor, marking Venkatesh's Bollywood debut. Both versions were box office hits. In the same year, he starred in critically acclaimed films such as Shatruvu and Surya IPS alongside actress Vijayashanti. He then starred in Chinarayudu, another successful melodrama. In 1995, he appeared in another Bollywood flick Taqdeerwala, alongside Raveena Tandon. In 1996, he starred in Dharma Chakram, and received another Nandi Award and Filmfare Award for his performance. The combo of Victory Venkatesh and Soundarya is said to be one of the most successful combinations in Tollywood. They have Six films out of Seven to be successful to their credit.Venkatesh's association with actress Soundarya registered critical and commercial successes owing to the chemistry and performance of both actors.

He then appeared in several successful romantic family dramas such as Preminchukundam Raa for best acting. He then ventured into romantic comedies such as Prematho Raa (2001), Nuvvu Naaku Nachav (2001) and Malliswari (2004) alongside Katrina Kaif. He then appeared in the action film Gharshana (2005). The family dramas Sankranthi (2005), Aadavari Matalaku Ardhalu Verule (2007) and the crossover cinema Chintakayala Ravi (2008) were runaway hits. Recently he delivered a blockbuster F2 – Fun and Frustration along with Varun Tej.