Ghattamaneni Mahesh Babu (Telugu: ఘట్టమనేని మహేష్ బాబు) is an Indian Film actor. Mahesh has worked in a number of critically and commercially successful films and has established himself as one of the leading actors in contemporary Telugu Cinema.
He started his film career as a child actor in his father's film named Needa. He made his debut as a lead actor in 1999 with Rajakumarudu and then went out to make some big blockbuster hits like Okkadu, Athadu, and Pokiri. Mahesh made himself comfortable in the Telugu Industry and has acquired "Super Star" status within a short time.
Early life
Mahesh Babu was born on 9 August 1974 in , Chennai, Tamil Nadu to actor Ghattamaneni Krishna and Smt.Indira Devi. He has four siblings; Ramesh Babu, Padmavathi, Manjula Ghattamaneni and a younger sister Priyadarshini. He did his schooling at St Bede’s School in Chennai and obtained a Honours Degree in Commerce from Loyola College, Chennai. Mahesh Babu acted in 7 of his father's films as a child actor. His first child actor role was in the film Needa.
Carrer
1999 - 2003
His debut film was Raja Kumarudu, starring opposite Preity Zinta, and he won the Nandi Award for Best Male Debut. The film also turned out to be a nice hit giving him a great start in his career. He got the nickname Prince from his fans. In 2000, he starred in Yuvaraju. In the same year, he shared screen space with Namrata Shirodkar and his father Krishna in Vamsi. Murari in 2001 with Sonali Bendre, was directed by Krishna Vamsi, and won him a Nandi Award - Special Jury. The film became the first huge hit for him. He won the award again in 2002 for Takkari Donga which is a cowboy movie. In 2002, he starred in Bobby opposite Arthi Agarwal. In 2003, he acted in Gunasekhar's Okkadu with Bhoomika Chawla. His performance in Okkadu won him the Filmfare Best Telugu Actor Award. Okkadu did extremely well in the box office and made him extremely popular. His next movie, Nijam, won him another Nandi Award, however the film did not do so well at the box office.
2004 - 2008
He acted in Naani under the direction of S. J. Suryaah which turned out to become a flop. Another Nandi Award for Special Jury went his way for his role in Arjun acting with Shriya Saran. The film was also a good hit. Athadu in 2005 brought another Nandi - Best Actor Award. It turned out to be one of the biggest hits of the year. The 2006 release Pokiri won him the Filmfare Best Telugu Actor Award for his portrayal in lead role. It was also the biggest hit of his career and the biggest hit in Telugu Cinema at that time, playing for 1000 days. He has one more release Sainikudu under the direction of Gunasekhar in the same year (2006) followed by Pokiri which was dubbed in Tamil. He paired up with Trisha in Sainikudu. The film had an average run, barely crossing a 100 days. Athidi with Amrita Rao released in 2007 was produced by his brother Ramesh Babu which was taken by UTV motion pictures and dubbed in Tamil. Although the film opened with great success, the film later turned out to be another average film, box office wise. In the year 2008, he gave voice over to Trivikram Srinivas's film Jalsa.
2010 - Present
After not working nearly for more than an year, Mahesh Babu signed a project in late 2009 Called Khaleja under the direction of Trivikram Srinivas. In 2009, he also signed as a brand Ambassador for the Univercell mobile phones and services. He has signed a film with Srinu Vaitla. The tentative title of the film is going to be 'Dookudu'. He has also signed a movie with Meher Ramesh, which will go on sets in the middle of next year. The film's tentative name is 'Mr. Perfect'. He has also signed another movie with Arya 2 fame director Sukumar. He also has another movie which is not confirmed with new director Venu Sriram. He had a long discussion with S.S. Rajamouli and finally they had decided to do a movie together. The movie might take a while to go on sets as Mahesh and Rajamouli are busy with their latest projects. And On April 6, 2010, Mahesh started using Twitter in order to better interact with his fans and well wishers. He is also sought to be one of the best and the versatile actor in Telugu film industry with large number of fan following all over India. Mahesh babu is the brand ambassador of Thumbs Up, Navaratna Oil, Amrutanjan, Univercell, and Provogue in south India which makes him the only actor to endorse five brands.
Personal life
He dated his co-star in the movie Vamsi, Bollywood actress and former Miss India Namrata Shirodkar for two years. They got married on February 10, 2005, and have a son named Gautham krishna Ghattamaneni (born in 2006).
In April 2010, he has created a twitter account to communicate with his fans and he immediately got a large following. Within a few months, he has gathered over 100,000 followers making him the most popular South Indian superstar.
His favorite film of his own is Okkadu and his favorite co-stars are Trisha and Anushka Shetty. His favorite music director is Mani Sharma which is why he worked on the music for most of his films. His favorite actress is Sridevi and favorite actor his father Krishna Ghattamaneni.
Filmography
Films as a Child Artist
1. Needa
2. Poratam - 09.12.1983.
3. Sankharavam - 16.07.1987.
4. Bazaar Rowdy - 26.08.1988.
5. Mugguru Kodukulu - 20.10.1988.
6. Gudhachari 117 - 22.04.1989.
7. Koduku Diddina Kapuram - 21.09.1989.
8. Anna-Tammudu - 25.09.1990.
9. Bala chandrudu
Lead Role
1999 Raja Kumarudu Raja Winner, Nandi Award for Best Male Debut
2000 Yuvaraju Srinivas
Vamsi Vamsi
2001 Murari Murari Winner, Nandi Award for Special Jury
2002 Takkari Donga Raja Winner, Nandi Award for Special Jury
Bobby Bobby
2003 Okkadu Ajay Winner, Filmfare Award for Best Telugu Actor
Nijam Seetaram Winner, Nandi Award for Best Actor
2004 Naani Naani
Arjun Arjun Winner, Nandi Award for Special Jury
2005 Athadu Nanda Gopal Winner, Nandi Award for Best Actor
Nominated, Filmfare Award for Best Telugu Actor
2006 Pokiri Pandu (Krishna Manohar) Winner, Filmfare Award for Best Telugu Actor
Sainikudu Siddhartha
2007 Athidhi Athidi
2010 Khaleja "Sita Rama Raju" "Releasing on 07th October 2010"
2011 Dhookudu
Awards Won
* Nandi Award for Best Male Debut - (Raja Kumarudu) 1999
* Nandi Special Jury Award - (Murari) 2001
* Nandi Special Jury Award - (Takkari Donga) 2002
* Filmfare Best Actor Award (Telugu) - (Okkadu) 2003
* Santosham Best Young Performer Telugu - (Okkadu) 2003
* Nandi Award for Best Actor - (Nijam) 2003
* Nandi Special Jury Award - (Arjun) 2004
* Nandi Award for Best Actor - (Athadu) 2005
* Vamsi DLF Awards Best Actor Telugu - (Athadu) 2005
* Filmfare Best Actor Award (Telugu) - (Pokiri) 2006
* Santosham Best Actor Award Telugu - (Pokiri) 2006
* Vamsi DLF Awards Best Actor Telugu - (Pokiri) 2006
* Vamsi DLF Awards Best Actor Telugu - (Athidhi) 2007
Nominations
* Filmfare Best Actor Award (Telugu) - (Athidhi) 2007
* Santosham Best Actor Award - (Athidhi) 2007
* CineMAA Award for Best Actor – Male - (Athidhi) 2007
* Filmfare Best Actor Award (Telugu) - (Athadu) 2005
* Filmfare Best Actor Award (Telugu) - (Murari) 2001
Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahesh_Babu
