Ravi Teja (born January 26, 1968) is a Telugu film actor.

Personal life

Ravi Teja AKA Bhoopatiraju Ravishankar Raju was born in Jaggampeta, East Godavari District in Andhra Pradesh. He is the eldest of three sons to his father, Bhoopatiraju Rajgopal Raju, a pharmacist and mother Rajyalaxmi Bhoopatiraju, a home maker.

Before starting his career in Telugu cinema, Ravi Teja spent most of his childhood in Jaipur, Delhi, Mumbai and Bhopal. Later on he moved to Vijayawada along with his family and joined Siddhartha Degree College to pursue his Bachelors in Arts.

Half way through his studies, he left to Chennai on October 2nd 1988 to join Films.

On May 26, 2002 he married his now wife, Kalyani who hails from Ganapavaram, West Godavari District, Andhra Pradesh. On June 6, 2003, their daughter, Mokshadha was born and on July 28, 2006, their son Manit was born.

Childhood

Ravi Teja spent most of his childhood in North India. His father, Bhoopathiraju Rajgopal Raju, a very ambitious man, went through several transfers and took up new opportunities resulting in Ravi Teja’s family having to travel a lot throughout India. Even as a child, Ravi was fascinated with cinema and his icon till date remains the Legend Mr. Amitabh Bachchan. Several times he would see Amitabh Bachchan’s movies and re-enact them at home. In one such attempt, when he was just 5 years old, he set ablaze the couches of his living room when his mother was out shopping and put both his kid brothers in between the ‘fire wall’ to rescue them. Punished of course was he for this but the passion in his heart had for films kept growing by the day. In his movie, Venky, he portrayed his imation of Amitabh Bachchan. At age 11, he tried to run away from his home in Jaipur to Mumbai so he could join Bollywood and become as famous as Amitabh Bachchan. All his juvenile attempts to join cinema were strictly kept at bay by his family. Later the family moved to Vijayawada and he joined the Siddharatha Degree College to pursue his Bachelors in Arts.

Early career

His interest in films brought him into the film industry. In the beginning, he worked in both Television and Films as an Assistant Director but continued in feature films after that. He worked in several Bollywood as well as Tollywood projects including Prathibandh, Aaj Ka Goondaraj and Criminal. He managed to do a few small time roles in Bollywood as well. He acted as one of Chiranjeevi’s friends in Aaj Ka Goondaraj. Ravi Teja joined Krishna Vamsi as an assistant director for Ninne Pelladatha. He also did a petty role in the film. Following Ninne Pelladatha, Krishna Vamsi gave him a well deserved break by casting him as one of the Lead actors in Sindhuram. Though he got a good name for Sindhuram, his career did not profit much from that. After that he played second lead in few films like Pattukondi Chuddam, Premaku Velayara and Padutha Thiyaga etc. His first film as a lead actor was Neekosam, 1999 directed by Sreenu Vaitla

Career Success

It was Nee Kosam directed by a debut director Srinu Vaitla, that gave Raviteja the much needed impetus. He bagged an award for his performance in Nee Kosam. His secondary roles continued again with films like Annayya, Budget Padmanabam, Tirumala Tirupati Venkatesa and Ammayi Kosam.

Raviteja got his big break with Itlu Sravani Subramanyam. Puri Jagannath, who was desperately looking to establish himself in the industry, though his debut film Badri with Pawan Kalyan was a hit, paired up with Ravi Teja to deliver Itlu Sravani Subramanyam. The movie was well received by the audiences. That was the turning point in his career.

Vamsi, who was planning his comeback innings, directed RaviTeja in Avunu Validharu Ishtapaddaru. It definitely welcomed Vamsi back into the industry and added another hit to Ravi Teja’s kitty. Meanwhile, his friend Poori Jagannaath, who made the biggest hit of the year in Kannada, Appu, decided to remake the film in Telugu with Ravi Teja. This time he wanted to produce the film too. Idiot came out and set a new image for Ravi Teja as a ragamuffin and mass hero. With all three of these films being super hits, he came to be known as the Hat-Trick hero. The character Chanti clicked and was a rage in Andhra Pradesh. His famous line “Chantigadu local” is still mouthed by many youngsters over Andhra Pradesh.

In 2003, Ravi Teja played the lead in Amma Nanna O Tamila Ammayi, which became one of the biggest hits of the year. The year 2006 has been very special to Ravi Teja as he gave one of his career’s biggest hit Vikramarkudu, directed by S. S. Rajamouli, despite the flop Shock, a Ram Gopal Varma production.

In 2008, the movie Krishna directed by V. V. Vinayak, has broken all the previous records of Ravi Teja, making it the biggest hit of his career. Then came Kick in 2009, which was also a super hit.

Filmography

1991 Karthavyam

1992 Aaj Ka Goonda Raj

1993 Allari Priyudu

1996 Ninne Pelladutha

1998 Sindooram

1999 Manasichhi choodu

1999 Samudram

2000 Tirumala Tirupathi Venkatesha

2000 Annayya

2001 Itlu Sravani Subramanyam

2001 Budget Padmanabham

2002 Idiot

2002 Avunu Valliddaru Ista Paddaru

2002 Khadgam

2003 Ee Abbai Chala Manchodu

2004 Amma Nanna O Tamila Ammayi

2004 Oka Raju Oka Rani

2004 Dongodu

2004 Veede

2004 Venky

2004 Naa Autograph

2004 Chanti

2005 Bhadra

2005 Bhageeradha

2006 Shock

2006 Vikramarkudu

2006 Khatarnak

2007 Dubai Seenu

2008 Krishna

2008 Baladur

2008 Neninthe

2009 Kick

2009 Anjaneyulu

2010 Sambho Siva Sambho