Akkineni Nagarjuna (born August 29, 1959 in Chennai, India), is a popular Indian Telugu cinema actor and a successful producer. He is the son of the legendary Telugu actor, Akkineni Nageswara Rao.

Background

Nagarjuna is the son of the Telugu actor Akkineni Nageswara Rao and Annapurna Akkineni. He is the youngest of their five children. Nagarjuna did his early schooling at Hyderabad Public School and later went to Little Flower Junior College for his intermediate education. Subsequently, he attended the College of Engineering, Guindy, Chennai, from where he later transferred to the University of Michigan, where he completed his B.S in mechanical engineering. He then attended the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in Lafayette, Louisiana where he received his M.S. After completing his education in the US, he returned to India thinking he would involve himself in business outside film. However this attempt did not last long, and he decided to pursue a career in acting, much to the delight of his father’s fans.

Nagarjuna married twice. His first wife, Lakshmi Ramanaidu, whom he married on 18 February 1984, is the daughter of prominent Telugu film producer, D.Ramanaidu, and sister of Telugu film star Venkatesh. Lakshmi is an interior designer and has settled in Chennai since her divorce from Nagarjuna in 1990. Nagarjuna’s and Lakshmi’s son, Naga Chaitanya is making his acting debut with the film Josh, which is to release on September 5th, 2009.

Nagarjuna is currently married to Amala, a popular actress in the Tamil and Telugu film industry. Amala was born in West Bengal, India to an Irish Mother and Bengali Father. Her maiden name was Amala Mukherjee. After retiring from acting, she went on to become one of the prominent animal rights activists in India. She and Nagarjuna were married on 11 June, 1992 and have a son, Akhil (born on 8 April, 1994 in San Jose,USA). Akhil starred in the hit film, Sisindri as a toddler.

Film Career: 1986 – 2004

Nagarjuna’s first movie Vikram released on May 24, 1986. It was a remake of the hit Hindi film Hero. Despite receiving unfavourable reviews, the film went on to become a hit. After four unsuccessful films, he starred in the hit film, Majnu as a tragic protagonist; Similar roles were known to be his father’s forte. It can be fairly said that Majnu, which was made by his father’s long time director Dasari Narayana Rao, was the first film that established him as a true actor. He later acted alongside his father in the hit movie, Collector gari Abbayi. His next big hit was Aakhari Poratam’ co-starring Sridevi and directed by K. Raghavendra Rao. The big shift up in his career however came a year later when he attained immense critical and commercial success with Geethanjali, a love story that was directed by Maniratnam. Geethanjali became a huge hit when it was dubbed into Tamil as well. In 1990, Nagarjuna followed it up with the trendsetting blockbuster, Shiva, an action film that was directed by Ramgopal Varma. It went on to become one of the all time hits of the Telugu film industry, and is responsible for elevating Nagarjuna into a bonafide superstar. He subsequently made his Bollywood debut with the Hindi remake of the same film, which too turned out to be a huge success all over India. It was mainly Nagarjuna’s keen vision that was responsible for launching the career of the maverick Bollywood director, Ramgopal Varma. After Shiva, the expectations on his subsequent films were too high, and Nagarjuna had to endure a series of commercial setbacks before President Gari Pellam released in 1993. He was able to follow it up with the hit films, Varasudu, Gharana Bullodu, and Allari Alludu, to name a few. In 1994, he ventured into the all out comedy genre for the first time with Hello Brother. Hello Brotherwas such a huge hit that it was later remade into Judwaa, a Hindi film starring Salman Khan. In 1996, Nagarjuna starred as well as produced, Ninne Pelladutha, which was directed by Krishna Vamsi and co-starred the prominent National Award winning Hindi actress, Tabu. It is rumoured that Nagarjuna signed Krishna Vamsi upon seeing just ten minutes of the director’s, then yet to be released debut film, Gulabi. The film appealed to a broad cross section of audience, and brought about a much needed freshness into the romantic comedy genre. It went on to become the biggest hit of that year, while also launching the career of music director Sandeep Chowta. Later, Nagarjuna took up the immense challenge of potraying Annamacharya, the legendary 15th century Telugu singer/poet, in Annamayya. Like Shiva and Geethanjali, Annamayya added a completely new dimension to Nagarjuna, and set him well and truly apart from his contemporaries. For his role in this film, Nagarjuna went on to receive the National Award from the President of India. It also must be noted that Annamayya was made at a time when period films were considered to be completely out of vogue. Nagarjuna was commended by one and all for re introducing this long forgotten genre back into Telugu cinema. In 2002, after a few forgettable films, Nagarjuna starred in Nuvvu Vasthavani which went on to become a blockbuster. His subsequent films that year, Ninne Premistha and Aazaadtoo met with commercial success. Later, he starred in the romantic comedies, Santhoshamand Manmadhudu, both of which were huge hits at the box office. Shivamani capped off a a golden run of six continious hits for Nagarjuna, a record that has few equals in the business. During that time, he also produced the blockbuster film, Sathyam, which was responsible for reviving the acting career of his nephew, Sumanth.

Film Career: 2004 – Present

In 2004, Nagarjuna had two releases, Nennunnanu and Mass. The former, despite being slammed by critics, went on become a box office winner. Mass, which was produced by Nagarjuna himself and directed by a debutant, the prominent dance choreographer Lawrence, too became one of the highest grossing films in his career. Once again, Nagarjuna proved that he had a good eye in spotting new talent. In 2005, Nagarjuna acted and produced Super, which didn’t exactly reach up to exceptations. Then in 2006, Nagarjuna reunited with Annamayya director, K.Raghavendra Rao, and starred in the film Sri Ramadasu, his second period film that was based on the great 18th century Telugu saint-composer of the same name. Nagarjuna received the Nandi award for best actor that year. Sri Ramadasu , much like his earlier Annamayya, gave Nagarjuna immense critical as well as commercial success. It once again set him apart from his contemporaries, who rarely attempted nor succeeded in this genre of films. His most recent films, Don and King, were successful commercially despite not receiving the best of critical reviews.

Upcoming Films

Nagarjuna is currently starring and co-producing a yet to be titled film with his friend and long time producer, D. Sivaprasad Reddy. It is slated to release in December, 2009.

Awards

1990 – Filmfare Best Actor Award for Shiva

1996 – National Film Award for Best Feature Film for Ninne Pelladutha

1997 – Nandi Best Actor for Annamayya

1997 – Filmfare Best Actor Award for Annamayya

1998 – National Film Award by Special Jury for Annamayya

1999 – Nandi Award for producing Prema Katha

1999 – National Film Award for Best Feature Film for Aazad

2002 – National Film Award for Best Feature Film for Manmadhudu

2002 – Nandi Best Actor for Santhosham

2002 – Nandi Award for producing Manmadhudu

2006 – Nandi Best Actor for Sri Ramadasu

Filmography

1986 Vikram

1986 Captain Nagarjuna

1987 Kirayi Dada

1987 Agni Putrudu

1987 Collector Gari Abbai

1987 Sankeertana

1987 Majnu

1987 Aranyakanda

1988 Janaki Ramudu

1988 Murali Krishnudu

1988 Chinna Babu

1988 Aakhari Poratam

1989 Agni

1989 Geethanjali

1989 Shiva

1989 Vicky Daada

1989 Vijay

1990 Iddaru Iddare

1990 Neti Siddhaartha

1990 Prema Yuddham

1991 Killer

1991 Jaitrayatra

1991 Santhi Kranthi

1991 Chaitanya

1991 Nirnayam

1992 President Gari Pellam

1992 Drohi

1992 Antham

1992 Khuda Gawah

1993 Allari Alludu

1993 Varasudu

1993 Rakshana

1994 Criminal

1994 Hello Brother

1994 Govinda Govinda

1995 Criminal

1995 Gharana Bullodu

1996 Ninne Pelladutha

1996 Ramudochhadu

1996 Vajram

1997 Ratchagan

1997 Annamayya

1998 Zakhm

1998 Chandralekha

1998 Auto Driver

1998 Aavida Maa Aavide

1998 Angaarey

1999 Ravoyi Chandamama

1999 Seetaramaraju

2000 Azad

2000 Ninne Premista

2000 Nuvvu Vastavani

2001 Snehamante Idera

2001 Akasa Veedhilo

2001 Bava Nachadu

2001 Eduruleni Manishi

2002 Manmadhudu

2002 Agni Varsha

2002 Santosham

2003 LOC Kargil

2003 Shivamani 9848022338

2004 Mass

2004 Nenunnanu

2005 Super

2005 Sri Ramadasu

2006 Style

2006 Boss – I Love You

2007 Don

2008 King

Producer

1981 Premaabhishekam

1983 Shri Ranganeethulu

1995 Sisindri

1996 Ninne Pelladatha

1999 Prema Katha

2000 Yuvakudu

2001 Aaha

2002 Manmadhudu

2003 Satyam

2004 Mass

2005 Super