Akhil Akkineni
| Akhil Akkineni | |
|---|---|
| Born | 8 April 1994[1] |
| Residence | Hyderabad, Telangana, India |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1994; 2014–present |
| Parent(s) |
Akkineni Nagarjuna Amala |
| Relatives | See Akkineni family |
Akhil Akkineni (born 8 April 1994) is an Indian actor who works in Telugu cinema. The son of actors Nagarjuna and Amala, and the grandson of actor Nageswara Rao, Akhil pursued acting at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute before making his debut in films in 2014 with a cameo appearance in Manam. His first film in a lead role came in Akhil (2015).[2]
Early life
Akhil was born in Hyderabad, India when he was a few months old. Akhil studied at Chaitanya Vidyalaya, later headed to Australia for two years and returned to complete his studies at Oakridge International School, Hyderabad. Akhil pursue to choose acting as a career at age 16 and enrolled in an acting course at Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute in New York, while his father thought of giving him business educations at that time.[3]
Career
Akhil debuted in his father movie at age one, in Shiva Nageswara Rao's Sisindri(1995), an Indian adaptation of the American comedy film Baby's Day Out(1994).[4] Later, Akhil re-emerged as a cricketer to Nag Kings team, for his father in the 2010 edition of the celebrity Tollywood Trophy, which developed funds for the Movie Artistes' Association. His match-winning half-century in the final against the Venky Warriors team, saw him secure the man-of-the-match and man-of-the-series awards.[5] His performance in the matches saw him called up to play for the Telugu Warriors in the inaugural Celebrity Cricket League during 2011, and he has since regularly participated in the tournament and won the 2015 edition as captain of his team.[6]
In 2014, Akhil appeared in Vikram Kumar's family drama film on faith and destiny Manam (2014), which featured three generations of actors from the Akkineni family, where Nageshwara rao expressed the most thrilling is watching three generations of same family on screen, which features real grandson (Naga Chaitanya) as grandfather, real grandfather (Nageshwara rao) as grandson and Nagarjuna as father, which rarely happened like in Paa (film). Where Akhil was introduced by his grandfather, marking this as Nageshwara Rao last movie. considering this as cameo appearance where Akhil helps everyone in climax, fortunately in the end while Nageshwara rao last scene becoming Akhil's first scene, is memorised as faith and destiny. Actor Nagarajuna and other Indian actors expressed this as tribute to Nageshwara Rao. Amitabh Bachchan made guest appearance in the movie, which is Bachchan's first Telugu movie. The makers initially kept Akhil's appearance as secret, but the news was leaked before the film's release.[7] Director Vikram Kumar had proposed the idea of introducing Akhil as an actor through the film and had approached Akhil's father, Nagarjuna, with the idea, who subsequently agreed. Akhil shot for the film for a few days alongside his grandfather, father and half-brother, and described the experience as "nervous and exciting", and added that Vikram Kumar helped calm him down during the shoot.[8] Manam went on to become one of the most profitable Telugu films of 2014, while critics dubbed the film as "classic" en route to it winning several awards including Best Film at the Filmfare Awards.[9][10] Akhil subsequently went on to make appearances in commercials, notably featuring in adverts for Karbonn Phone, Mountain Dew and Titan watches with Kalki Koechlin.[11]
Akhil listened to scripts from several directors and was most impressed by V. V. Vinayak's narration of an action film, which was later titled Akhil (2015) after himself. In order to prepare for the role, Akhil enrolled in a stunt workshop with his personal trainer Kicha and attended workshops in Thailand for two months.[3] Produced by actor Nithin and Sudhakar Reddy, the film began production in December 2014 and featured him alongside fellow debutant actress Sayesha Saigal, who was also from a film family.[12] The film was released to mixed reviews, despite huge expectations it became a huge disaster at box-office.
Filmography
 |
Denotes films that have not yet been released |
| Year | Film | Role | Director | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Sisindri | Sisindri | Shiva Nageswara Rao | Child Actor |
| 2014 | Manam | Akhil | Vikram Kumar | Cameo appearance |
| 2015 | Akhil | Akhil | V. V. Vinayak | Debut Lead Role |
| 2016 | Aatadukundam Raa | Himself | G. Nageswara Reddy | Cameo appearance |
| 2017 | Akhil Production 2 | Vikram Kumar |
|
References
- ↑ "Akhil Akkineni, 22-years-old". www.dnaindia.com.
- ↑ "I was mobbed by girls a few times: Akhil". The Times of India.
- 1 2 Sangeetha Devi Dundoo. "Akhil Akkineni". The Hindu.
- ↑ "Mama's boy". The Hindu.
- ↑ Staff Reporter. "Nag Kings lift Tollywood trophy". The Hindu.
- ↑ "Akhil to play in CCL matches". indiaglitz.com.
- ↑ "Samantha’s tweet has Nag fuming". Bangalore Mirror.
- ↑ "Akhil Akkineni Interview, Akhil Akkineni interview about manam, Akhil Akkineni interview on manam I felt very nervous that day: Akhil Akkineni". timesofap.com.
- ↑ "Small was big for southern cinema (IANS Special: 2014 In Retrospect)". Sify. Archived from the original on 10 February 2015.
- ↑ "Winners: 62nd Britannia Filmfare Awards (South)". The Times of India.
- ↑ "Nagarjuna's son Akhil Akkineni to make his debut". Rediff. 25 December 2014.
- ↑ IANS. "Nagarjuna’s son Akhil’s debut film launched". The Hindu.