Nagarjuna (actor)
Nagarjuna | |
|---|---|
| File:Bossnag.jpg Nagarjuna in Boss - I Love You (2006) | |
| Born | Akkineni Nagarjuna |
| Other names | Yuvasamrat , Nag , Manmadhudu |
| Spouse | Amala |
Akkineni Nagarjuna (Telugu: ఆక్కినేని నాగార్జున) (born August 29, 1959 in Chennai, India), often known as Nagarjuna, is a popular Telugu Cinema actor and producer. He is the son of veteran actor, Akkineni Nageswara Rao, who was a popular actor in the 60's and 70's.
Personal
Nagarjuna was born to Telugu cinema star Akkineni Nageswara Rao and Annapurna Akkineni. Nagarjuna did his schooling at Hyderabad Public School and later went to Little Flower Junior College to do his intermediate. After that, he went on to do mechanical engineering in the highly-reputed College of Engineering, Guindy, Chennai(also called as Anna University). He attended the University of Michigan where he got a masters degree in Automobile engineering. His first marriage was to Lakshmi, sister of Venkatesh, on February 18, 1984. That marriage ended in a divorce. Nagarjuna is married to Amala a former South Indian actress. He has two sons: Naga Chaitanya (born November 23, 1986) - from his first marriage and Akhil (born April 8 1994) - from his second marriage.
Career
His first movie Vikram released on May 23, 1986 was a remake of the Hindi film Hero. After acting in four films, he acted in Majnu as a tragedy hero; similar roles were known to be his father's forte. He acted with his father in the movie Collectorgari Abbayi. His first big hit was Akhari Poraatam co-starring Sridevi that ran for 100 days in 12 centers. Geethanjali a love story directed by Maniratnam followed by Shiva an action film directed by Ram Gopal Varma were highly successful and established him as one of the top heroes. He was known for encouraging new directors such as Ram Gopal Varma by giving them a chance to make movies with him. He later married Amala, his co-star in Shiva He also made his Bollywood debut with the Hindi remake of Shiva. Movies such as President gari pellam and Hello Brother gave him the status of a mass hero. After that, Ninne Pelladutha directed by Krishna Vamsi followed and was a huge hit. Later, he took up the challenge of portraying Annamacharya, the legendary singer/poet of Medieval times in the movie Annamayya It ran for 100 days in 42 centers and is one of the biggest hits in Telugu cinema.
In 2006, Nagarjuna's latest movie is Sri Ramadasu, a period film based on the life of great saint-composer Ramadasu, and directed by K. Raghavendra Rao. Nagarjuna plays the title role, and his performance was praised by critics as subtle and yet powerful and true to the saint himself.
Trivia
- He revived his father’s production Annapurna Studios which has become one of the most successful production companies of recent times in Tollywood.
- Nagarjuna never works after 6pm. If there is night shoot, he has to be informed 4 days earlier.