| Akkineni Nagarjuna | |
|---|---|
Nagarjuna at TeachAIDS launch in 2010 |
|
| Born | Akkineni Nagarjuna August 29, 1959 Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India |
| Residence | Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India |
| Occupation | Actor, Producer, Businessman |
| Years active | 1986–present |
| Spouse | Lakshmi Daggubati (1984–1990 divorced) Amala (1992–present) |
| Children | Naga Chaitanya Akkineni Akhil Akkineni |
| Parents | Nageswara Rao Akkineni Annapurna Akkineni |
Nagarjuna (Telugu: నాగార్జున; born Akkineni Nagarjuna) is an Indian film actor and producer who works primarily in the Telugu film industry. He has also worked in a few Bollywood and Tamil films. He has won two National Film Awards, six Nandi Awards and three Filmfare Awards South.
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Nagarjuna was born on 29 August 1959 in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India to actor Nageswara Rao and Annapurna. The family later moved to Hyderabad where he attended the Hyderabad Public School and studied his "Intermediate" from Little Flower Junior College and B.E. (Mechanical) from the College of Engineering, Guindy before completing M.S in Automobile Engineering from Eastern Michigan University.[1][2]
Nagarjuna started off as a child actor in the 1967 Telugu film Sudigundalu directed by veteran Adurthi Subbarao. Years later he made his debut as a hero through the 1986 Telugu film Vikram. In 1988, he starred in Aakhari Poratam directed by K. Raghavendra Rao where he was paired opposite Sridevi and Suhasini. In 1989, he starred in the Maniratnam directed Romantic-drama, Geethanjali which became a major box-office success and was critically acclaimed. The film went on to win the National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment in 1990. In the same year, Nagarjuna acted in Shiva, an action blockbuster directed by Ram Gopal Varma. The film earned him his first Filmfare Best Actor Award.[3] In 1990, he subsequently made his Bollywood debut with the Hindi remake of the same film titled Shiva.
He followed it up with action films like Killer, Chaithanya and Nirnayam working with directors such as Fazil and Priyadarshan. Other films which were released inn the subsequent years include President Gari Pellam, Varasudu, Gharana Bullodu and Allari Alludu. In 1994 he starred in a Hindi-Telugu bilingual Criminal (1994) directed by Mahesh Bhatt. The same year he ventured into comedy for the first time with Hello Brother. It was later remade into Hindi as Judwaa and dubbed into Tamil. In 1996, Nagarjuna starred and produced Ninne Pelladatha, which was directed by Krishna Vamsi. The movie fetched a National Award for him by winning the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Telugu. The next year, Nagarjuna acted in Annamayya where he portrayed the role of Annamacharya, a 15th-century Telugu singer and poet, won him his third Filmfare Best Actor Award and his first Nandi Award for Best Actor. His subsequent releases were Nuvvu Vastavani, Ninne Premistha and Azad. He starred in the romantic comedies such as Santhosham, Manmadhudu, and Shivamani as well. He produced Satyam in 2003, that 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 composer of the same name.[4] Nagarjuna received the Nandi Award for Best actor for the film. In December 2007, he appeared in Don and a year later, he appeared in King alongside Trisha Krishnan and Srihari. In the year 2010, he had releases such as Kedi and Ragada. His latest film Gaganam was released on 11 February 2011. Its Tamil version was titled Payanam. In 2011 Nagarjuna signed 3 movies in a row. They are Rajanna,[5] Damarukam and Shirdi Sai[6]
Nagarjuna has acted in various Hindi films such as Shiva, Drohi, Khuda Gawah, Criminal, Mr. Bechara, Zakhm, Angaarey, Agni Varsha and LOC Kargil. He has also acted in two Tamil films—Ratchagan (1997) which was dubbed as Rakshakudu in Telugu and Payanam. Some of his Telugu films such as Shiva, Geetanajli, Annamayya, Sisindri and Hello Brother were dubbed into Tamil and were equally successful there too.
Nagarjuna made his début as a television producer in 2009 with the serial Yuva.[7] He is one of the shareholders of the television channel Maa TV.[8]
Nagarjuna, with his wife Amala, is the co-founder of Blue Cross of Hyderabad,[9] a non-government organization (NGO) in Hyderabad, India, which works towards the welfare of animals and preservation of animal rights. He is also involved in some of the welfare programs undertaken by the MAA TV association.[10]
In 2010, he starred in an HIV/AIDS animated software tutorial created by TeachAIDS, a nonprofit founded at Stanford University.[11]
| Year | Film | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1979 | Kalyani | |
| 1980 | Pilla Zameendaaru | |
| Buchhibabu | ||
| 1981 | Money Hai To Honey Hai | |
| Premaabhishekam | ||
| 1983 | Shri Ranganeethulu | |
| Rakshana | ||
| 1995 | Sisindri | |
| 1996 | Ninne Pelladatha | |
| 1998 | Aaha | |
| Sri Seetarama Kalyanam Chutamurarandi | ||
| Chandralekha | ||
| 1999 | Prema Kadha | |
| Sitaramaraju | ||
| 2000 | Yuvakudu | |
| 2002 | Manmadhudu | |
| 2003 | Satyam | |
| 2004 | Mass | |
| 2005 | Super | |
| 2011 | Rajanna |
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