Nagarjuna

Bollywood has proved its caliber in its history of the last 70 years. But yet it couldn't resist the intense and intimidating power of Southern cinema. The film industry in the South has produced many talented artists, just like Bollywood. Their talent has empowered them to cross the Southern boundaries in leap into the world of Hindi film industry. One such talented Southern star is the bold, handsome and dashing Nagarjuna.

He has worked in 90 films till date in Hindi, Telugu and Tamil film industries. He is also credited for winning several film awards of national level. Apart from being a film personality, he is also a philanthropist and social worker.

Nagarjuna Akkineni was born on 29th August 1959 in the city of Chennai, Tamil Nadu. He is the son of popular Southern actor Nageshwara Rao Akkineni. He completed his schooling from Hyderabad Public School and later did junior college from Little Flower Junior College both in Hyderabad. He later finished his engineering from College of Engineering, Chennai. He also finished his M.S. from the Eastern Michigan University, in automobile Engineering. His wife Amala Akkineni is an actress and has two sons, Naga Chaitanya and Akhil, of which the first one is also an actor.

Nagarjuna commenced his acting career in 1967 as a child artist; in the A. Subba Rao(Adurthi Subba Rao) directed Telugu film 'Sudigundalu'. However, his first leading role came in 1986, in the Telugu film 'Vikram'. V. Madhusudan Rao was the director of this film. Later in 1988, he was seen starring opposite to Sridevi in the Kovelamudi Raghavendra Rao directed film 'Aakhari Poratam'. His first major success came in 1989 when he starred in a romantic drama named 'Geetanjali', directed by celebrated filmmaker Maniratnam. In the following year, the film won the National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment.

In the early 90s, he starred in films such as 'Killer', 'Nirnayan', 'Chaithanya', 'Varasudu', 'President Gari Pellam' and 'Gharana Bullodu', where he got an opportunity to work with popular filmmakers like Priyadarshan. In 1994, came his first bilingual movie, in Telugu and Hindi, named 'Criminal', which was popular for its music. Mahesh Bhatt directed the film. In that year, he also starred in 'Hello Brother', which was his first comedy film. It was later re-made in Hindi as the Salman Khan starrer 'Judwaa'. His first production came in 1996, titled 'Ninne Pelladata', in which he was featured in a key role. The film won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Telugu as well as the Filmfare Award for Best Film - Telugu. This was the very first Filmfare award that he won. In the following year, he starred in the film 'Annamayya', where he played Annamacharya, a medieval Telugu poet and singer. His role made landed him with the Filmfare Best Actor Award as well as the Nandi Award for Best Actor, which was his first. In the early 2000s, he acted in films like, 'Nuvvu Vastavani', 'Azad', 'Ninne Premistha', 'Santosham', 'Shivamani'and 'Manmadhudu', the last three being comic capers. In the middle of the decade, he was seen in films such as 'Nenunnanu', 'Mass', 'Super', 'Sri Ramadasu', 'Don' and 'King'. He was awarded a second Nandi Award for his role in the 'Ramadasu', where he played the role of a well known Telugu composer of the 18th century.

By the 2010s, he was seen in 'Kedi', 'Ragada', 'Gaganam'and 'Rajanna Damarukam'. His latest film is 'Greeku Veerudu' which commenced its shoot on June 2012 and will be releasing on 3rd April.

Apart from being a film personality, he is also a T.V producer. In 2009, he made his T.V production debut with 'Yuva'.

But merely being an artist and producer of films and serials is not the Nagarjuna's whole identity. He and his wife are the founders of Blue Cross of Hyderabad, which is an NGO that works for animal welfare. In the year 2010, he also acted in animated software for providing information on HIV/AIDS, made by TeachAIDS.