Akkineni Nagarjuna (Telugu: అక్కినేని నాగార్జున) (born 29 August 1959 in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India), is an Indian film actor in Tollywood and Bollywood and a producer.
Early life
Nagarjuna was born on 29 August 1959 in Chennai, the son of actor Akkineni Nageswara Rao. Later the family moved to Hyderabad where attended Hyderabad Public School, and gaining his "Intermediate" from Little Flower Junior College, Hyderabad and BE (Mechanical) from the College of Engineering, Guindy Anna University and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Nagarjuna completed his MS (Automobile) from University of Louisiana, Lafayatte, US
Tollywood cinema
1986-2004
Nagarjuna's first movie Vikram was released on 24 May 1986 and was his first hit. (Before this he had acted in Sudigundalu as a child artist.) In 1989 he starred in Geethanjali, a love story directed by Maniratnam which was dubbed into Tamil being successful both in Telugu and Tamil. In the same year, Nagarjuna followed with Shiva (1989 film), an action film directed by Ram Gopal Varma which was also dubbed into Tamil as 'Udhayam'. He subsequently made his Bollywood début with the Hindi remake of the same film Shiva which was a trend setter[citation needed] creating an all time industry record.[citation needed] He did some different roles[clarification needed] in Killer and Nirnayam. President Gari Pellam was released in 1993. He followed with films, Varasudu, Gharana Bullodu, and Allari Alludu which were hits., Criminal (1994)was a hit in Telugu in Hindi it was runaway hit and Sisindri was also successful. In 1994, he ventured into comedy for the first time with Hello Brother, it was an blockbuster hit[citation needed] and was later remade into Judwaa, a Hindi film starring Salman Khan. Hello Brother was also a major hit dubbed into Tamil. In 1996, Nagarjuna starred as well as produced, Ninne Pelladatha, which was directed by Krishna Vamsi and co-starred the National Award winning Hindi actress, Tabu. It was rumoured that Nagarjuna signed Krishna Vamsi upon seeing just ten minutes of the director's, then yet to be released début film, Gulabi.[citation needed] It was the biggest hit of that year and top grossing film in Tollywood, Sandeep Chowta was the music director. Later, Nagarjuna took up the challenge of portraying Annamacharya, the fifteenth century Telugu singer and poet, in Annamayya (film). In 2000 after moderately successful Sitaramaraju film, Nagarjuna starred in Nuvvu Vastavani. His subsequent films that year, Ninne Premistha and Azad (film) also met with commercial success. He starred in the romantic comedies, Santhosham and Manmadhudu, both of which were successful at the box office. Shivamani capped off a golden run of six successful films in Nagarjuna's acting career. During that time, he produced Satyam, launching 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, was a box office winner. Mass, produced by Nagarjuna and directed by a debutant, the prominent dance choreographer Raghava Lawrence, became one of the highest grossing films in his career.[1] In 2005, Nagarjuna acted in and produced Super, which 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 based on the great eighteenth century Telugu saint-composer of the same name.[2] 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 2007 film, "Don" was a disaster. "King" was a success in 2009. He is currently[when?] working for Gaganam co-starring with Prakash Raj as a Top Cop. He is also working with Veeru Potla on Ragada.
Work in Bollywood and Tamil films
Nagarjuna has acted in various straight Hindi films including Shiva (1989 film)- Hindi (1990), Drohi (1992 film), Khuda Gawah (1992), Criminal (1994), Mr. Bechara (1996), Zakhm (1998), Angaarey (1998), LOC Kargil (2003), and Agni Varsha. He also made guest appearances in Hindi films. He has also acted in Tamil films like Ratchagan which was made as Rakshakudu in Telugu. His other films which were dubbed into Tamil are Shiva as Udhayam, Geetanajli as Idhayathai thirudathae, Annamayya, Sisindri and Hello Brother. He fluently speaks Telugu, Hindi, Tamil and English.
Television production
Nagarjuna made his début as a television producer in 2007 with the serial Yuva.[3] He owns a large[vague] stake in the television channel Maa TV.[4]
Awards
National Awards
* 1998 - Special Jury Award / Special Mention (Feature Film) (Actor) Annamayya (film)[5]
AP State Nandi Awards
* 1998 - Nandi Award for Best Actor for Annamayya (film)[6]
* 1999 - Kansya (Bronze) Nandi Award for producing PremaKatha
* 2002 - Nandi Award for Best Actor for Santhosham[6]
* 2002 - Swarna (Gold) Nandi Award for producing Manmadhudu
* 2006 - Nandi Award for Best Actor for Sri Ramadasu
Bharathamuni Awards
* 1989 - Best Actor for Geethanjali
* 1997 - Best Actor for Annamayya (film)
Vamsi Berkley Awards
* 1986 - Best Actor for Vikram
* 1989 - Best Actor for Shiva
AP Cinegoers Awards
* 1989 - Best Actor for Geethanjali
Other awards
* 1989 - Cinema Express Award for Shiva
* 1996 - Akruthi Film Award for Ninne Pelladatha
* 1997 - Screen Videocon Award for Annamayya (film)
* 2000 - Andhra Pradesh Film Journalists Association Award for Azad (film)
Filmfare Awards
* 1989 - Filmfare Best Actor Award (Telugu) for Shiva[6]
* 1997 - Filmfare Best Actor Award (Telugu) for Annamayya[6]
As producer
* 1997 - Filmfare Best Film Award (Telugu) for Ninne Pelladatha
More Details : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akkineni_Nagarjuna
