Nagarjuna

Akkineni Nagarjuna (Telugu: ????????? ?????????) is an Indian film actor in Tollywood and Bollywood, and a producer. He has won three Nandi Awards, which is presented by the government of Andhra Pradesh and regarded as the highest award for films in the state.[1][2] and National Film Award for his role in Annamayya(1997).[3][unreliable source?] His first leading role was in 1986 film Vikram. He has starred other films including Geethanjali(1989), Shiva(1989), Hello Brother(1994), Manmadhudu(2003), Sri Ramadasu(2006) Ragada (2010) and Gaganam(2011).



Early life

Nagarjuna was born Akkineni Nagarjuna Rao on 29 August 1959 in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India to actor Nageswara Rao Akkineni and Annapurna Akkineni. The family later moved to Hyderabad where he attended Hyderabad Public School, and studied his "Intermediate" from Little Flower Junior College, Hyderabad and B.E. (Mechanical) from the College of Engineering, Anna University and the University of Michigan[citation needed]. Nagarjuna completed M.S. (Automobile) from the University Of Louisiana At Lafayette .[4][5][citation needed]
[edit]Career

[edit]Tollywood
Nagarjuna acted in Sudigundalu as a child artist. The film Vikram was released on 24 May 1986. In 1989, he starred in Geethanjali, a love story directed by Maniratnam which was dubbed into Tamil. The film cemented his status as a star. In the same year, Nagarjuna followed with Shiva, an action film directed by Ram Gopal Varma which was hugely successful and has been described as a trendsetter in the Telugu film industry. He subsequently made his Bollywood debut with the Hindi remake of the same film Shiva. The film earned him Filmfare Best Actor Award.[6] He then followed it with action films Killer and Nirnayam (1991 film) directed by Priyadarshan. President Gari Pellam was released in 1993. He followed with films, Varasudu, Gharana Bullodu, and Allari Alludu. Criminal (1994) was released as a bilingual. In 1994, he ventured into comedy for the first time with Hello Brother in which he played a dual role. It was later remade into Hindi as Judwaa. Hello Brother was also dubbed into Tamil. In 1996, Nagarjuna starred in & produced Ninne Pelladatha, which was directed by Krishna Vamsi. Later, Nagarjuna portrayed Annamacharya, the 15th-century Telugu singer and poet, in Annamayya (film) which won him third Filmfare Best Actor Award and his first Nandi Award for Best Actor. In 2000, Nagarjuna starred in Nuvvu Vastavani. His subsequent films that year were Ninne Premistha and Azad (film). He starred in the romantic comedies Santhosham, Manmadhudu, and Shivamani.
He produced Satyam in 2003, starring his nephew Sumanth.
In 2004, Nagarjuna had two releases- Nennunnanu and Mass. Mass was produced by Nagarjuna and directed by choreographer Raghava Lawrence. In 2005, Nagarjuna acted in and produced Super. In 2006, Nag starred in Sri Ramadasu, his second period film based on the 18th-century Telugu composer of the same name.[7] Nagarjuna received the Nandi Award for best actor that year. In December 2007 he appeared in Don. An year later, he appeared in King alongside Trisha Krishnan & Srihari. In February 2010, he appeared as Rummy in Kedi and in December 2010 he appeared in Ragada. His latest film Gaganam was released on Feb 11th 2011. Its Tamil version is Payanam.
[edit]Philanthropic work

Nagarjuna, with his wife Amala, is the co-founder of Blue Cross of Hyderabad,[8] a non-government organization (NGO) in Hyderabad, India, which works towards the welfare of animals and preservation of animal rights. He is also involved in some of the welfare programs undertaken by the MAA TV association.[9]
In 2010, he starred in an HIV/AIDS animated software tutorial created by TeachAIDS, a nonprofit founded at Stanford University.[10]
[edit]Work in Bollywood and Tamil films

Nagarjuna has acted in various Hindi films such as Shiva (1989 film), Drohi (1992 film), Khuda Gawah (1992), Criminal (1994), Mr. Bechara (1996), Zakhm (1998), Angaarey (1998), Agni Varsha (2002) and LOC Kargil (2003). He has also acted in Tamil films like Ratchagan which was dubbed as Rakshakudu in Telugu. His Telugu films which were dubbed into Tamil are Shiva as Udhayam, Geetanajli as Idhayathai Thirudathae, Annamayya, Sisindri and Hello Brother. He fluently speaks Telugu, Tamil, English and Hindi. Nagarjuna has played the role of a Commando in Gaganam/Payanam.
[edit]Television production

Nagarjuna made his début as a television producer in 2007 with the serial Yuva.[11] He is one of the shareholders of the television channel Maa TV.[12]
[edit]Awards

National Film Award
1997 - Special Jury Award / Special Mention (Feature Film) (Actor) Annamayya (film)[13]
Nandi Awards - Andhra Pradesh State
1997 - Nandi Award for Best Actor for Annamayya (film)[14]
1999 - Kansya (Bronze) Nandi Award for producing PremaKatha
2002 - Nandi Award for best Actor for Santhosham[14]
2002 - Swarna (Gold) Nandi Award for producing Manmadhudu
2006 - Nandi Award for Best Actor for Sri Ramadasu
Filmfare Awards South
1990 - Filmfare Best Actor Award (Telugu) for Shiva[14]
1996 - Filmfare Best Film Award (Telugu) for Ninne Pelladatha
1997 - Filmfare Best Actor Award (Telugu) for Annamayya[14]
Bharathamuni Awards
1989 - Best Actor for Geethanjali
1997 - Best Actor for Annamayya (film)
Vamsee Berkeley 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)
2011- TSR kala ratna AWARD.