Akkineni Nagarjuna

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Nagarjuna
Born	NAGARJUNA August 29, 1959 (1959-08-29) (age 50) Chennai, India
Other name(s)	Nag, Yuva samrat and King
Occupation	Actor, Producer
Years active	1986 - Present
Spouse(s)	Lakshmi Daggubati(1984-1990) Amala (1992-present)
Official website

Akkineni Nagarjuna (Telugu: ఆక్కినేని నాగార్జున) (born 29 August 1959 in Chennai, India), is an Indian Tollywood and Bollywood actor and a producer.

Personal 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. Nagarjuna's and Lakshmi's son, Naga Chaitanya (born, 23 November 1986, Birth Place - Hyderabad) is making his acting debut with the film Josh, which released on 5 September 2009.

Nagarjuna is married to Amala, an 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 - Birth Place - San Jose, USA). Akhil starred in the film, Sisindri as a toddler.

Tollywood Cinema

1986-2004

Nagarjuna's first movie Vikram released on 24 May 1986. It was a remake of the hit Hindi film Hero. Despite unfavourable reviews, the film was successful. 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 is said 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 hit was Aakhari Poratam' co-starring Sridevi and directed by K. Raghavendra Rao. The shift up in his career however came a year later when he attained critical and commercial success with Geethanjali, a love story that was directed by Maniratnam. Geethanjali became a block buster hit when it was dubbed into Tamil as well. In 1990, Nagarjuna followed it up with thetrend setter blockbuster hit, Shiva, an action film directed by Ramgopal Varma. It went on to become one of the all time hits of the Telugu film industry. 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. Nagarjuna helped launch the career of the 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 comedy for the first time with Hello Brother. Hello Brother was such a block buster 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 National Award winning Hindi actress, Tabu was higgest crosser in Telugu industry. 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. 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 challenge of portraying Annamacharya, the 15th century Telugu singer and poet, in Annamayya. Like Shiva and Geethanjali, Annamayya. For his role in this film, Nagarjuna went on to receive the National Award from the President of India. Nagarjuna was commended by one and all for re introducing this long forgotten genre back into Telugu cinema. In 2000, 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 Aazaad too met with commercial success. Later, he starred in the romantic comedies, Santhosham and Manmadhudu, both of which were huge hits at the box office. Shivamani capped off a golden run of six continious hits for Nagarjuna, a record that has few equals in the business. During that time, he produced the blockbuster film, Sathyam, helping the acting career of his nephew, Sumanth.

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^[1]. 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 it was an average hit. 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 critical as well as commercial success. His most recent films, "Don" and "King" were commercially successful, even with less than the best reviews.

Upcoming Films

Nagarjuna is currently starring in two films named KEDI(Where he plays role of a expert card player) and Payanam(where he recalls his past incidents n major film will be concentrated in train).

Nagarjuna will be acting in a bilingual film i.e. both Telugu and Tamil in the direction Radha Mohan.^[2]

Bollywood Cinema

Nagarjuna acted in various Bollywood Hindi Movies like Shiva, Drohi (1992), Khuda Gawah (1992), Criminal (1995), Mr. Bechara (1996), Zakhm (1998), Angaarey (1998), LOC Kargil (2003) etc. Shiva was huge hit, Khuda Gawah, Criminal, Zakhm are box office hits. He has also dubbed his various Telugu language Movies in Hindi. He had also made guest appearances in many Hindi films.

Additional

Nagarjuna has business ventures outside films, particularly in the field of real estate. In 2003, he set up the lounge bar, Touch. He subsequently sold it a few years later and ventured into becoming a restauranter. He currently coowns the resto bar N in Hyderabad.

Awards

National Film Awards

Winner

• 1998 - National Film Award for Special Jury for Annamayya'

Nandi Awards

Winner

• 1997 - Best Actor for Annamayya
• 1999 - Kamsya(Bronze) Nandi Award for producing Prema Katha
• 2002 - Best Actor for Santhosham
• 2002 - Swarna(Gold) Nandi Award for producing Manmadhudu
• 2006 - Best Actor for Sri Ramadasu

Filmfare Awards

• 1990 - Filmfare Best Actor Award (Telugu) for Shiva
• 1997 - Filmfare Best Actor Award (Telugu) for Annamayya

Filmography

As an Actor

As an Producer

References

1. ^ "idlebrain.com". Idlebrain.com's verdict on Telugu cinema 2004. http://www.idlebrain.com/news/2000march20/2004retrospect-movielist.html. Retrieved 25 February 2007. 
2. ^ Nagarjuna Info (07 October 2009). 16reels.com.

• King - Nagarjuna Upcoming Film from TeluguFilms.org

External links

• Nagarjuna KEDI WALLPAPERS
• Nagarjuna- Mosagadu/Rummy Pics
• NagChaitanya Pics at Avakayabiryani.com
• Akkineni Nagarjuna at the JustTollywood.com
• Nagarjuna CB Gallery
• Official Website for Akkineni Nagarjuna son Nagchaithanya
• Akkineni Nagarjuna at the Internet Movie Database