Akkineni Nagarjuna

Akkineni Nagarjuna Rao was born on 29 August 1959 in Madras (present-day Chennai) in a Telugu family to the veteran actor Akkineni Nageswara Rao and his wife Annapurna. His family hails from Ramapuram in Krishna District of Andhra Pradesh. His father moved to Madras seeking career as an actor.

The family later moved to Hyderabad, where he did his schooling in Hyderabad Public School and intermediate education from Little Flower Junior College, Hyderabad. He completed one year of his Mechanical Engineering from the College of Engineering, Guindy, Anna University in Madras, former Indian cricketer Krishnamachari Srikanth was his college mate during his Engineering days, and earned his BS in Mechanical Engineering from Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti, Michigan.

In February 1984, he married Lakshmi Daggubati, the daughter of D. Ramanaidu, a prominent film-maker, and sister of the actor Venkatesh and producer Suresh Babu. Lakshmi and Nagarjuna have one son, actor Naga Chaitanya born on 23 November 1986. However, the couple got divorced in 1990. Nagarjuna then married actress Amala on 11 June 1992, and the couple have one son, actor Akhil, born on 8 April 1994.Nagarjuna began acting as a child artist in the 1967 Telugu film Sudigundalu directed by Adurthi Subba Rao. He appeared as an infant in movie Velugu Needalu penned by Sri Sri. Both movies starred his father Akkineni Nageswara Rao in the lead role. Years later he made his debut as a lead actor through the 1986 Telugu film Vikram, directed by V. Madhusudhana Rao, with Shobana as the female lead. It is the remake of the 1983 Hindi film Hero. The film was a success, giving Nagarjuna a good start. Later, he starred in films like Majnu, directed by Dasari Narayana Rao, which was well received. Nagarjuna got positive reviews for his portrayal of a heartbroken man. He then starred in Sankeertana, a below average grosser directed by debutant Geetha Krishna with music by Ilaiyaraaja. The film was appreciated for its content and music.

In 1988, he starred in the blockbuster Aakhari Poratam, scripted by Yandamuri Veerendranath, and directed by K. Raghavendra Rao where he was paired opposite Sridevi and Suhasini. In 1988 he starred in Janaki Ramudu alongside Vijayashanti. This film, directed again by Raghavendra Rao, was also a hit. In 1989, he starred in the Mani Ratnam-directed romantic drama Geetanjali. The film won the National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment in 1990. Immediately, he saw another success, Siva. This film marked the debut of director Ram Gopal Varma. This film is considered a trendsetter in Telugu cinema, and made Nagarjuna a superstar. In 1990, he subsequently made his Bollywood debut with the Hindi remake of the same film titled Shiva. Even the Hindi version saw huge box-office success. He then starred in Jaitra Yatra, for which he received critical acclaim. He followed it up with sub fare like Prema Yuddham and Iddaru Iddare. Nirnayam where he acted again with Amala however was a hit.

He followed it up with box office hits like Killer, Neti Siddhartha, and Nirnayam, working with eminent directors such as Fazil, and Priyadarshan. Nagarjuna was fondly called "Celluloid Scientist" for his nature of experimenting with different scripts. Some of his prominent hit films released subsequently included President Gari Pellam, Varasudu, Gharana Bullodu and Allari Alludu. In 1994, he starred in his first Hindi-Telugu bilingual Criminal directed by Mahesh Bhatt. In the same year he ventured into comedy for the first time with Hello Brother which was a huge hit, and was later remade into Hindi as Judwaa. Many of his films were also dubbed into Tamil. In 1996, Nagarjuna starred opposite actress Tabu and produced Ninne Pelladata, directed by Krishna Vamsi. The movie won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Telugu and Filmfare Award for Best Film – Telugu. The next year, Nagarjuna acted in Annamayya, in which he portrayed the role of Annamacharya, a 15th-century Telugu singer and poet. This won him his Filmfare Best Actor Award and his first Nandi Award for Best Actor. He also received a National Award for this role. Later that year, he starred in the Tamil film Ratchagan, directed by Praveen Gandhi. The film was a success at the Tamil Nadu box office. His subsequent releases were Nuvvu Vastavani, Ninne Premistha and Azad.

He starred in romantic comedies such as Santosham, Manmadhudu, and Sivamani. He produced Satyam in 2003, which starred his nephew Sumanth. In 2004, Nagarjuna had two releases, Nenunnanu and Mass. The latter was produced by Nagarjuna and directed by choreographer Lawrence Raghavendra. In 2005, Nagarjuna acted in and produced Super. In 2006, he starred in Sri Ramadasu, his second period film based on the 18th-century Telugu Saint/poet of the same name. Nagarjuna received the Nandi Award for Best Actor for this film. In December 2007, he appeared in Don and a year later, he appeared in King alongside Trisha and Srihari.

In 2010, he had the films Kedi and Ragada. Gaganam was released on 11 February 2011. Its Tamil version was titled Payanam. In 2011 Nagarjuna signed three movies in a row: Rajanna, Damarukam and Shirdi Sai. His next film Greeku Veerudu alongside Nayanthara, was a sub par grosser. His next Bhai was a disaster at the box office. In 2014, Nagarjuna starred in the blockbuster family drama, Manam, directed by Vikram Kumar. He had a dual role in Soggade Chinni Nayana, which turned out to be one of his biggest blockbusters. Later he played a cripple in Vamshi Paidipally's bilingual film Oopiri, which Starred Karthi. Nagarjuna's comeback to Tamil cinema after Ratchagan.He got iffa utsavam award for best Supporting Actor for Tamil Version. He is perfect compliment for Karthi's confident lead. This movie which was a hit. In 2017, he played a devotional role in the film Om Namo Venkatesaya. It garnered average reviews from critics and turned out to be a disaster. He then starred in a horror film titled Raju Gari Gadhi 2, which had an average run at the box office. In 2018, he starred in the film Officer directed and produced by Ram Gopal Varma. It got poor reviews from critics and went on to become the biggest disaster in Nagarjuna's career. On 27 September 2018, Devadas, directed by Sriram Aditya, featuring Nagarjuna alongside Nani. This film co starred Rashmika Mandanna and Aakanksha Singh and turned out to be a moderate success.

Nagarjuna's new upcoming movie, "Naa Saami Ranga," is set to release during the Sankranthi season in 2024.