Ghattamaneni Mahesh Babu (born 9 August 1975) is an Indian actor, producer, media personality, and philanthropist who works mainly in Telugu cinema. He has appeared in more than 25 films, and won several accolades including, eight Nandi Awards, five Filmfare South Awards, four South Indian International Movie Awards, three CineMAA Awards, and one IIFA Utsavam Award.[3][4] He also owns the production house G. Mahesh Babu Entertainment.
The younger son of veteran Telugu actor Krishna, Babu made his debut as a child artist in a cameo role in Needa (1979), at the age of four, and acted in eight other films as a child artist. He made his debut as a lead actor with Rajakumarudu (1999) which won him Nandi Award for Best Male Debut. Babu achieved his breakthrough with the supernatural drama Murari (2001), and the action film Okkadu (2003). He went on to act in other commercially successful films such as Athadu (2005), Pokiri (2006), Dookudu (2011), Businessman (2012), Seethamma Vakitlo Sirimalle Chettu (2013), 1: Nenokkadine (2014), Srimanthudu (2015), Bharat Ane Nenu (2018), Maharshi (2019), and Sarileru Neekevvaru (2020). Pokiri held the record of being the highest-grossing Telugu film while Sarileru Neekevvaru, his highest grosser, collected over ₹2.6 billion at the box office.[5][6]
Referred to in the media as the Prince of Tollywood, he is one of the most popular and influential actors of Telugu cinema,[7][8] and is described as the superstar of Telugu cinema by his fans.[9] In addition to being an actor, he is a humanitarian and philanthropist – he runs a charitable trust and non-profit organisation, Heal-a-Child.[10] He is also associated with Rainbow Hospitals as their goodwill ambassador.[11] He plunged into the film exhibition business along with Narayandas Narang of Asian Group with the inauguration of the seven-screen superplex at Gachibowli AMB Cinemas.[12]
Early life and family[edit]
Ghattamaneni Mahesh Babu was born on 9 August 1975 in a Telugu family in Madras (now Chennai), Tamil Nadu, India.[13] He is the fourth of the five children of Telugu actor Krishna and Indira, after Ramesh Babu, Padmavathi, and Manjula and before Priyadarshini. Their family hails from Burripalem in Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh.[14] Babu spent his childhood mostly in Madras under the care of his maternal grandmother Durgamma and the rest of his family.[15] Since Krishna was busy with his film commitments, Ramesh Babu used to look after Mahesh Babu’s academic performance.[13] Along with his siblings, Babu used to play cricket regularly at the VGP Golden beach in Madras. To spend time with him, Krishna used to make sure that his films’ shoots would be conducted at the VGP Universal Kingdom during the weekends.[13]
Krishna also made sure that none of his children would reveal his name during their schooling to ensure a peaceful environment.[13] He was educated at St. Bede’s Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School, Chennai where actor Karthi was his schoolmate.[16][17] Babu in an interview said that actor Vijay and he have been longtime close friends and studied at the same college,[18] before establishing themselves in their respective film industries.[19] Babu was an above average student. He obtained a bachelor’s degree in commerce from the Loyola College, Chennai.[20] After graduating, he met with director L. Satyanand in Vishakhapatnam for further training in acting which went on for three to four months.[20] Being unable to read and write Telugu, he used to memorise the dialogues given by his directors during the dubbing phase of his films.[21]
Acting career[edit]
Early career and breakthrough (1979–2003)[edit]
At the age of four, Babu visited the sets of the Telugu film Needa (1979) where its director Dasari Narayana Rao shot a few sequences of his as a part of the narrative in the presence of the former’s brother Ramesh. Needa marked his debut as a child actor.[22] During the shoot of Poratam (1983) at Vauhini Studios, after watching Babu on the sets, director Kodi Ramakrishna suggested to Krishna that he cast Babu in the role of the protagonist’s brother. Initially terrified, Babu agreed to act in the film after being persuaded by the film’s crew.[22] He went on to act as a child artist in the films Shankharavam (1987), Bazaar Rowdy (1988), Mugguru Kodukulu (1988) and Gudachari 117 (1989). He played a dual role in the film Koduku Diddina Kapuram (1989). Babu then appeared in Bala Chandrudu (1990), and Anna Thammudu (1990). Later, he continued his college studies.[23]
In 1999, Babu made his debut as a lead actor with the film Raja Kumarudu, directed by K. Raghavendra Rao and co-starring Priety Zinta. The film was commercially successful, and people began referring to him with the title Prince.[24] The film had a 50-day run in 80 centres and a 100-day run in 44 centres. Raja Kumarudu collected a share of ₹10.51 Crores from Andhra Pradesh.[25] It was dubbed in Hindi as Prince No. 1 and in Tamil as Kaadhal Vennila.[26] The film was again dubbed and released theatrically in Tamil during January 2017 as Ivan Oru Thunichalkaran.[27] He received the Nandi Award for Best Male Debut.[28] He starred in two films the following year – Yuvaraju and Vamsi. Following their poor performance at the box office, Babu starred in Krishna Vamsi‘s Murari the next year. He called Murari an important film in his career and the role he played in it one of his favourites.[29][30] Murari was a commercial success and earned him the Nandi Special Jury Award.[28] Though his 2002 releases Takkari Donga and Bobby performed poorly at the box office, Babu received his second Nandi Special Jury Award for his performance in the former.[28]
Babu had two film releases in 2003, the first one being Gunasekhar‘s Okkadu co-starring Bhumika Chawla, which went on to become the highest grossing Telugu film of the year collecting ₹23 crores at the box office.[31] He won his first Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Telugu for his performance in the film.[32] The other release was Teja‘s Nijam co-starring Rakshita. The film was noted for introducing Dolby EX surround system in Telugu cinema.[33] Though the film was a commercial failure,[34] Babu received praise from the critics for his performance in the film, with Vijayalaxmi of Rediff.com calling him the only reason to watch the film’s second half which she termed a routine tale of vendetta.[35] He won his first Nandi Best Actor Award for his performance in the film.[36]
Mainstream film acclaim and success (2004–2010)[edit]
Manjula produced his next film, Naani, directed by S. J. Surya co-starring Amisha Patel. While its simultaneously shot Tamil version New featuring a different cast was commercially successful, Naani flopped at the box office.[29] He received the Nandi Special Jury Award for his performance in his next film, Arjun, directed by Gunasekhar and produced by Ramesh.[37] The failure of Naani depressed both Babu and Manjula, who took a small break in Goa before resuming their other commitments.[38] He chose to act in Trivikram Srinivas‘s Athadu, co-starring Trisha Krishnan, whose script had been approved back in 2002 before the production of Naani and Arjun had begun.[39] Athadu became one of the highest-grossing films of the year.[40] The film was a commercially profitable venture for the producers and distributors.[41] The film benefited Babu’s career as he won the Nandi Best Actor Award for his performance in the role of a hired assassin.[42] Athadu collected a share of ₹22 crores at the box office.[43] Idlebrain gave it a rating of 3.25/5 and mentioned Mahesh Babu is stylish and brilliant as professional killer.[44]
Babu collaborated with Puri Jagannadh in 2006 for the film Pokiri, which was jointly produced by Jagannadh and Manjula.[45] Made on a budget of ₹100 million and shot within six months,[46] Pokiri became the highest grossing Telugu film of all time by the end of its run, and was screened at the 7th IIFA Awards held in Dubai.[47] Babu received praise for his performance, with Y. Sunita Chowdary of The Hindu opining that “Mahesh’s understated performance in Pokiri allows him effortlessly to reclaim the title of a star, overshadowing more questionable recent career choices”.[45] He won the Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Telugu for the second time.[48] Pokiri grossed ₹67 crores at the box office.[49] That same year, his next film, Sainikudu, co-starring Trisha, was released amid huge expectations but flopped at the box office.[50]
The following year saw Babu acting in the film Athidhi, co-starring Amrita Rao marking her Telugu debut. The film was produced by Mahesh Babu’s’s brother Ramesh.[51] UTV Motion Pictures acquired the film’s distribution rights for ₹185 million, which became its first Telugu film venture.[52] In 2008, Babu provided voice-over for the film Jalsa directed by Trivikram Srinivas.[53]
After Athidhi‘s release, Babu took a break from films for seven months; two months later, he signed Khaleja, but the break was unintentionally extended for two years due to several delays. During this time, Babu’s grandmother and his wife Namrata’s parents died. Krishna was worried about Babu’s career as the film’s shoot was delayed for so long.[54] Upon release, Khaleja received mixed reviews from critics and was a commercial failure in India.[55] However, it managed to perform well at the overseas box office.[56]Rediff gave a 3 out of 5 rating and noted “The duo of Mahesh-Trivikram delivers a product that is watchable, entertaining with good humour, couple of well-orchestrated action sequences and songs and with a bit to take home as well. It’s Mahesh’s show all the way, much to the delight of his fans. Mahesh is the soul of the movie, be it his dialogue delivery, his action, his dances or emotions, he is effortless.[57] The film is considered one of the “25 Greatest Telugu Films Of The Decade” by Film Companion.[58]
Stardom and career setback (2011–2014)[edit]
In 2011, Babu collaborated with Srinu Vaitla for the film Dookudu, which was inspired in part by the 2003 German tragicomedy film Good Bye, Lenin!.[59] Co-starring Samantha Ruth Prabhu, the film received positive reviews upon release and became one of the highest-grossing films of the year. Dookudu had the largest opening for a Telugu film, and collected a share of ₹101.1 million and a gross of ₹125.8 million on the first day of its release.[60] The Los Angeles Times called Dookudu the “biggest hit you’ve never heard of”.[61] For his performance in the film, Babu won the Best Actor Award at the 2012 Nandi Awards ceremony.[62] He also won the Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Telugu at the 59th Filmfare Awards South and 1st South Indian International Movie Awards ceremonies.[63][64] After the film’s gross crossed the ₹1 billion mark, Income Tax Department officials conducted a raid on Babu’s Jubilee Hills residence as he was rumoured to be getting a remuneration of more than ₹1.2 million for his next projects.[65] The film collected a distributor share of ₹574 million in its lifetime and grossed more than ₹1 billion in its lifetime.[66] Suresh Kavirayani of The Times of India rated it 4 out of 5 and wrote “Dookudu is a typical Srinu Vytla film with a generous sprinkling of comedy. His narrative manages to keep the audience engaged until the end of the movie. This movie comes as a blessing for not just Mahesh Babu, but also for Tollywood, which is badly in need of a hit, after the recent spate of box office debacles. Srinu Vytla and Mahesh Babu have come out with a winner in Dookudu“.[67]
He later played the role of a mafia kingpin with a hidden personal agenda in the film Businessman, co-starring Kajal Aggarwal and directed by Puri Jagannadh.[68] Upon the film’s release, Babu received praise from the critics for his performance in the film, with Y. Sunita Chowdary of The Hindu writing, “The film has no frills, no vulgar wastage and the hero is practically in every frame; you hear only his voice, he looks good, sounds good, he also steals the comedian’s job. Mahesh plays it straight.”.[69] It grossed approximately ₹187.35 million and collected a share of ₹137.8 million at the global box office on its first day creating an all-time record in terms of opening day collections.[70] Businessman became one of the highest grossing Telugu films of the year.[71] Businessman collected a share of ₹41 crores at the box office.[72] He received a nomination for Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Telugu at both the 60th Filmfare Awards South and the 2nd South Indian International Movie Awards ceremonies.[73][74] By then, Babu was reported to be the second highest-paid actor in South India after Rajinikanth.[75]
Babu receiving Best Actor – Telugu Award at the 61st Filmfare Awards South from Tamannaah for his performance in the film Seethamma Vakitlo Sirimalle Chettu (2013)
Babu then began filming for Srikanth Addala‘s Seethamma Vakitlo Sirimalle Chettu, whose script Babu had approved during the pre-production phase of Dookudu.[76] Co-starring Daggubati Venkatesh along with Anjali and Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Seethamma Vakitlo Sirimalle Chettu became the first Telugu multistarrer film to be produced in the last twenty-five years.[77] Released in January 2013, the film became one of the highest grossing Telugu films of the year and marked the completion of Babu’s hat-trick of successful films.[78] Sangeetha Devi Dundoo of The Hindu called the film a “delightful family drama with its celebration of family bonds, love and marriage laced with laughter”, and Addala “wants to leave his audience with a thought, wants them to reflect on their relationships and overlook skirmishes that can sour family bonds”. Dundoo cited Guhan’s cinematography as one of the film’s highlights, and praised its performances.[79] He won the Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Telugu at the 61st Filmfare Awards South ceremony and the 3rd South Indian International Movie Awards ceremony.[80][81] He provided voice-over for Srinu Vaitla’s Baadshah the same year.[82] Seethamma Vakitlo Sirimalle Chettu collected a distributor share of ₹512 million and was the second-highest-grossing Telugu film of the year.[83]
Babu had two releases in 2014, the first one being Sukumar‘s 1: Nenokkadine, an action thriller focusing on a celebrity suffering from hallucinations related to the murder of his parents and the discovery of a special variety of rice. Kriti Sanon played the female lead in this film, marking her acting debut.[84] Made on a budget of around ₹70 crores, 1: Nenokkadine was released amid huge expectations, but received mixed reviews from the critics, turning out to be a box office bomb by incurring a loss of around ₹26–27 crores.[85] However, Babu’s performance received praise, with critics calling it one of his best performances.[86][87][88] He also earned a nomination for the Best Actor – Telugu at the 4th South Indian International Movie Awards.[89] Grossing over $1.32 million,1: Nenokkadine became the fourth-highest-grossing Telugu film in history at the United States box office at that time.[90] Sangeetha Devi Dundoo of The Hindu wrote, “How often do we get to watch a Telugu film where the audience, along with the protagonist and supporting characters, is also required to think and distinguish between events unfolding in real and imaginary spaces?” and called 1 Nenokkadine a “visually stunning” film.[91].The film earned a distributor share of about ₹289 million, on a budget of ₹700 million.[92]. The film is considered one of the “25 Greatest Telugu Films Of The Decade” by Film Companion.[58] The other release, Aagadu, directed by Srinu Vaitla and co-starring Tamannaah, flopped at the box office,[93] even though it had a gross of ₹60 crores. Karthik Pasupulate of The Times of India gave the film 3 out of 5 stars and called Aagadu “Dookudu 2.0” in operating system parlance. Pasupulate added that it seems more like a remake of Dookudu with a “much louder Mahesh Babu, more banal jokes, and a few superficial twists in the screenplay”, and that the end product is “more slapstick than funny”.[94]
Resurgence and recent work (2015–present)[edit]
Babu collaborated with Koratala Siva for the action drama film Srimanthudu co-starring Shr