Naga Chaitanya

Naga Chaitanya
Chaitanya (left) with his father Nagarjuna (middle) and step-mother Amala (right) at the 60th Filmfare Awards South Ceremony
Born	Naga Chaitanya Akkineni (1986-11-23) 23 November 1986[1] Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India India)
Residence	Hyderabad, Telangana, India
Nationality	Indian
Occupation	Actor
Years active	2009–present
Parent(s)	Nagarjuna Akkineni Lakshmi Ramanaidu Daggubati
Relatives	Akhil Akkineni (Half-Brother) Nageswara Rao Akkineni (Grandfather) Ramanaidu Daggubati (Grandfather) Suresh Babu Daggubati (Uncle) Venkatesh Daggubati (Uncle) Amala Akkineni (Step-Mother) Sumanth Kumar Yarlagadda (Cousin) Sushanth A. (Cousin) Rana Daggubati (Cousin)

Naga Chaitanya Akkineni (born 23 November 1986) is an Indian film actor who works in Telugu cinema. He debuted in the 2009 film Josh, directed by newcomer Vasu Varma and produced by Dil Raju.^[2] Prior to the release of his first film, he signed his second film with Indira Productions, which was to be directed by Gautham Menon.^[3] Ye Maaya Chesave released in February 2010 with comparisons drawn to his father Akkineni Nagarjuna's romantic film, Geethanjali.^[4]

His next movie was Sukumar's 100% Love. The movie was shortly followed by Dhada and Bejawada. Chaitanya also appeared in the movie Autonagar Surya.^[5] In 2013, he appeared in Thadaka. The film Manam also featured other members of his family. He has also appeared in Autonagar Surya and Oka Laila Kosam.

Early life and family

Chaitanya was born on 23 November 1986 in Hyderabad.^[1] His parents are the actor and entrepreneur Akkineni Nagarjuna, the son of actor Akkineni Nageswara Rao and a Chennai-based professional interior designer Lakshmi Daggubati, the daughter of producer D. Ramanaidu.^[6] His maternal uncle Daggubati Venkatesh and cousins Rana Daggubati, Sumanth and Sushanth are also actors.^[7] Nagarjuna and Lakshmi divorced after which the former married actress Amala Mukherjee, to whom Chaitanya's half brother Akkineni Akhil was born.^[8]

After his parents' divorce, Chaitanya left to Chennai with Lakshmi. He used to play keyboard and bass guitar in his school band and went on to study keyboard from Trinity College London.^[9] During his stay in Chennai for eighteen years, he completed his schooling and returned to Hyderabad to pursue a B. Com degree. He expressed his desire to take up acting as his profession to Nagarjuna during his second year of graduation.^[10] He took a three-month course in acting in Mumbai and received further training in acting and martial arts in Los Angeles apart from trying to gain perfection in Telugu diction for one-and-a-half years before making his acting debut.^[11]

Career

2009–2011

Chaitanya debuted in 2009 with the film Josh directed by Vasu Varma in which he played the role of a college student. Rediff.com wrote "As a debutant, Naga Chaitanya has performed well. He has his moments where he's proven himself. There is always scope for improvement and one hopes that he will hone his skills in the years to come."^[12] Chaitanya won the Filmfare Award South for Best Male Debut Actor.^[13]

He next starred in the romantic film Ye Maaya Chesave directed by Gautham Menon which was the simultaneously shot Telugu version of the Tamil film Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa with a different cast and climax. He played the role of a Hindu Telugu assistant director who falls in love with a Syrian Christian Malayali girl. A reviewer from Sify.com wrote "Naga Chaitanya is at home in romantic scenes. his asset is his voice and his casual acting style. Chaitanya has improved much better in performance from his first film. He can now confidently act in more romantic films and strengthen his position." However, the reviewer felt that he should concentrate on his looks as he felt that Chaitanya looked "very boyish".^[14] The film was a surprise hit at the box office.^[10][15] He also received a nomination for Filmfare Award South for Best Actor Male.^[16][17]

After Ye Maaya Chesave, he worked with Sukumar for another love story titled 100% Love in which he played the role of a studious and egoistic college student who is the top ranker of his college. IndiaGlitz wrote "Naga Chaitanya's action has improved from his previous films. Though his expressions fall flat at places, the music, characterisation, camera and the look covers it all. His timing and grasping of his role is commendable. Though he didn't impress with his action, he didn't depress either. His best is perhaps yet to come." However, the reviewer opined that Chaitanya should improve his dancing skills.^[18]

His next film was Dhada directed by debutante director Ajay Bhuyan. The film's story is based on an engineering graduate student who was to complete his studies in USA and return to India in another 10 days. The Times of India wrote "After good performances in his last two films, Naga Chaitanya doesn't live up to expectations. He has the same expression stuck on his face throughout the movie."^[19]

His last release of the year was Bejawada directed by Vivek Krishna. The film saw Chaitanya portraying the role of a college student-turned-gangster. The film received negative reviews with critics calling it the worst film of Chaitanya which even outshines Dhada in being the worst.^[20][21] His performance was also panned by critics. The Times of India wrote "This film might have even outdone "Dhada", in being called the worst film of Naga Chaitanya's career. While the young actor still needs to work on his facial expressions, he was saddled with a poorly sketched character in this film, devoid of all heroism, and he fails to rise above it."^[22]

2013–present

Chaitanya's next film Tadakha was an official remake of N. Lingusamy's Tamil film Vettai. The Hindu wrote "Naga Chaitanya shows tremendous improvement over his last outing, the debacle called Bejawada. He is in sync with his role, exudes confidence and seems to have had fun both during the stunt sequences and comic portions. Reprising a role played by an established actor like Arya is no mean task and Chaitanya pulls it off rather well."^[23] The film was a Hit at the Box office giving the actor a much needed break.^[24]

In 2014, Chaitanya appeared in the period drama Manam which also featured his grandfather, Akkineni Nageswara Rao, and father, Akkineni Nagarjuna.^[25] He played two roles in the film which were a middle class employee who is a father of a 8 year old in 1983 and a happy college student in 2013. Deccan Chronicle wrote "Naga Chaitanya has done a decent job and compared to his earlier films he matured a lot as an actor."^[26] Sify.com wrote "There is lot of improvement in Naga Chaitanya`s acting. He looks natural and has done justice to his role."^[27]

His next release was the political drama Autonagar Surya directed by Deva Katta in which he played the role of Surya, a skilled mechanic.^[28] Upon release, the film received mixed reviews from critics who however appreciated Naga Chaitanya's performance in the film calling it as one of his best efforts. The film was still managed to do well at the box office and was well aprreciated by the audience^[29] The Hindu wrote "One rarely gets to see Naga Chaitanya smiling in this film. Chaitanya brings in the right amount of grit and intensity required for his role and shows that he can carry a film on his shoulders with the help of an able director."^[30]

Chaitanya starred in Oka Laila Kosam, a romantic film for Chaitanya and his performance in the film was well appreciated by critics and audience.^[31] He has another film Dohchay directed by Sudheer Varma whose shoot started in mid-July 2014.^[32]

He has signed for a project with Chandoo Mondeti.^[33]

Filmography

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Naga Chaitanya.

• Naga Chaitanya on Twitter
• Naga Chaitanya Akkineni at the Internet Movie Database