Nagarjuna

Name: Akkineni Nagarjuna

Nick name: Nag

Born: August 29, 1959

Birth Place: Chennai,Tamil Nadu, India

Zodiac sign: Virgo

Height: 6' (1.83 m)

Nationality: Indian
Religion: Hindu

Education:

Schooling: Hyderabad Public School

Intermediate: Little flower school, Abids, Hyderabad

B.E (Mechanical) : Guindy Engg. College, Madras

MS (Automobile) : University of Michigan, USA

Family:

Father: Sri.Akkineni Nageswara Rao (ANR)

Mother: Smt. Annapoorna

First Marriage: Lakshmi (18 February 1984)

Second Marriage: Amala (11 June 1992)

Sons: Naga Chaitanya (Born on 23 November 1986-Mother-Lakshmi-Birth Place-Hyderabad), Akhil (Born on 8 April, 1994-Mother-Amala-Birth Place-San Jose,USA)

Other Family Members:

Mr.Venkat Akkineni (brother) Ms.Satyavathi (Sister) Mr.Yarlagadda surendra (Bava) Mr.Sumanth (Nephew, Premakadha fame) Ms.Supriya (Niece, Akkada ammayi-Ikkada abbai fame) Mr.Chalasani Ramesh (Bava)

Mother tongue:Telugu

Address:

Plot No.959-A. Road No.48, Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad-500033

First Shooting: Sep 20, 1985 at Annapurna Studios

Debut Movie: Vikram, 23rd May 1986

Fast Facts: • First film Vikram released on 23-05-1986
• Child artist in Sudigundaalu
• Sang a song in Sitaramaraju - Vinudu Vinudu Ee cigarette

NAGARJUNA ENTRY TO THE TELUGU FILM INDUSTRY:

Akkineni Nagarjuna (born August 29, 1959 in Chennai, India) 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. Nagarjuna with his misty eyes, agile smiles, poise looks and soft-spoken nature, hoarded many lady buffs similar to his father Nata Samarat Akkineni Nageswara Rao, one of the kingpins of Telugu Cinema who also has many more number of female fans even today. Nagarjuna is a very frank and open person and this caliber in him brought him so many a friends and an ample reputation in the Film Industry. Nag's foray into films is an act of passion.

The celluloid scientist Nagarjuna was born on 29th August 1959. He made out his schooling in Little Flower School, Hyderabad. He graduated with an Engineering degree from University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA.

Vikram (1986), his debutante film (a Telugu remake of Hindi Hero), made a splash at the hearts of youth. Being just 4 films old he proved that he can match his father's image as a tragedy king with a lovely film called 'Majnu'. He developed the strategy of inducting debutante directors to his films with Sankeerthana. Though this musical saga did not sustain at box-office, Nag has gone a step ahead as an actor.

He paired up with his legendry father Sr. Akkineni for Collectorgari Abbai. But it was the midas touch of Aswini Dutt that proved Nag's Box-office credentials. For the first time he paired up with Sridevi, who has done innumerable films with Nag's father Nageswara Rao, in the film 'Akhari Poratam' that ran for 100 days in 12 centers.

It was Geetanjali that has taken Nag's image as a romantic hero to new heights. Deft direction by Maniratnam and crafty camera work by P.C.Sriram added to necessary gloss to the romantic image of Nag. If you think Geetanjali is a big hit, you are in a soup. Because the box-office magnitude of 'Geetanjali' appears minuscule compared to the stormy film that followed which has taken all the youth's heart away. 'Shiva' gave Nag much needed action hero image and Nag made inroads into the hearts of students. Ultimate winner of 'Shiva' is none but Ram Gopal Varma, a raw director. It was the Nag's risky decision to employ a video operator as the director for his home production that did the trick. All the scorning critics who criticized Nag for his decision to choose Varma during the production of film are silenced by it's stupendous success.

Fueled by the success of Shiva, Nag made a grand entry into Hindi filmdom with the remake of Shiva. If you think Nag is fond of Shiva just because it changed the pace of his cine career, you are mistaken. This film has also got him Amala, his soul mate.

After the storm of Shiva, there was a period lull for sometime. Again Nag stormed with 'President gari pellam' that brought him the image of a mass hero. And his heavy box office romancing continued till Hello Brother. Hello Brother showed the stamina of Nag at box office by running 100 days in 28 centers. His comic antics are best exploited by the director E.V.V. With this film Nag's portfolio of acting is enriched with a rich ingredient called comedy.

Again the period of lull continued for few years till he spotted another creative director in making, Krishna Vamsi. Nag paired up with Vamsi to produce one of the biggest Telugu romantic blockbusters, Ninne Pelladatha. After this film Nag faced the biggest challenge in his cine career. That is to act as Annamayya, the legendary singer/poet of Medieval times. And Nag came out flying colors. Talk about the result. It ran for 100 days in 42 centers. He has become a household demigod with his presence of Annamayya.

Every good thing in life comes with a few sacrifices. He wanted to get rid of sacred 'Annamayya' image and wanted people to accept him as a romantic hero. He produced a string of romantic films later. All of them disappointed him at box-office and he went through the same kind of lull he had after 'Shiva' and 'Hello Brother'. All his fans waited in an unabated breathlessness for him to produce a film of Shiva magnitude. And Nag did not disappointed them. He came up with the blockbuster of the year, Nuvvu Vastavani. The super good films caption for this film, 'We don't break records ... we create records', seems to be very appropriate for Nag. Nagarjuna then did a hattrick by coming up with an Azad action film with patriotic tinge followed by a cameo in 'Ninne Premista'. This hattrick gave way to another lean patch which was broken by the stupendous hit of Santosham.

Nag is called as the celluloid scientist. He is best talent spotter around. To his credit he blooded Geetha Krishna, Ram Gopal Varma, Uppalapati Narayana Rao, Praveen Gandhi, V.R.Pratap and Jonnalagadda srinivasa Rao, Dasarath. He offered 'Ninne Pelladatha' to a new comer Krishna Vamsi just by looking at a 5 minute rushes of 'Gulabi'. Nag will be known as the person who changed the mindset of industry with his creative thinking. He encouraged the new technology in his films. And others followed him. Nagarjuna is never after the number game and did not encourage the culture dragging movies for 50 days and 100 days for the sake of records and false prestige.

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 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.

Always propagating quality cinema with clean entertainment, Nagarjuna years to make good movies, which would not only rise above the typical commercial movies but also enhance our heritage, rich tradition and family values.

He revived his father’s productionAnnapurna Studios and has become one of the most successful production companies of recent times in Tollywood.

* Nagarjuna never hesitates to experiment when he produces films.He gave a chance to a newcomer who had no prior experience in movies to direct him. The newcomer didn't disappoint him and went on to become one of the finest directors of Indian film industry. The director is none other than RamGopal Verma. Nag is also known for his swiftness in decision making. He agreed to work with Krishna Vamsi(director) after seeing 10-minute-rushes of the director's film Gulabi. His decision proved to be bang on target as they made the blockbuster movie ninne pelladutha.

* Nagarjuna never works after 6pm. If there is night shoot, he has to be informed 4 days earlier.

* Nag is not very keen on acting in Tamil films despite the fact that he has a huge fan following in Tamilnadu.His films like Geethanjali and Shiva had seen excellent runs in Tamil nadu. His re-entry in Tamil however was marred by the listless movie, Ratchagan. Nag however got raving reviews for his performance in Ratchagan and obviously the screenplay/story of the movie was a letdown.

* He also own's a major share in MAA TV.