Mahesh Babu Ghattamaneni

Mahesh Babu Ghattamaneni

Mahesh Babu (born Mahesh Babu Ghattamaneni on 9 August 1975) is an Indian film actor best known for his work in Telugu cinema. Born to actor Krishna, Mahesh Babu faced the camera at the age of four as a child artist in 1979's Needa. His first leading role was in the film Rajakumarudu, which was released in August 1999

After playing the role of a young Kabaddi player in the 2003 blockbuster film Okkadu, Mahesh continued in this vein, gaining mass appeal and appearing in many successful films such as Murari (2001), Athadu (2005), Pokiri (2006), Dookudu (2011), Business Man (2012) and Seethamma Vakitlo Sirimalle Chettu (2013).[3] In 2012, he has won the CNN-IBN actor of the Year Award

Mahesh Babu has worked in nine films as a child artist and in seventeen films as a lead actor till date. He has won seven Andhra Pradesh state Nandi Awards, three Filmfare Best Telugu Actor Awards, three CineMAA Awards and one South Indian International Movie Award. In addition to the films, he also endorses several brands in Andhra Pradesh and South India. He is also the national brand ambassador for Thums Up.[5] He was listed #31 in Forbes India top 100 Celebrities for the year 2012.[4]

Mahesh Babu at the iUnivercell store in 2012

Born	Mahesh Babu Ghattamaneni 9 August 1975 (age 37) Madras, Tamil Nadu, India
Residence	Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India
Nationality	Indian
Alma mater	Loyola College, Chennai
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1979–1991 (child artist) 1999–2007 2010-present
Spouse(s)	Namrata Shirodkar (m. 2005)
Children	Gautam Krishna Ghattamaneni Sitara Ghattamaneni
Parents	Krishna Ghattamaneni Indira Devi
Relatives	Ramesh Babu (brother) Manjula Swaroop (sister) Vijaya Nirmala (step-mother) Jay Galla (brother-in-law) Sudheer Babu (brother-in-law)

Early life

Mahesh Babu was born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, to prominent Telugu Cinema actor Ghatamaneni Siva Rama Krishna and Smt. Indira Devi on 9 August 1975.[6] He is the younger brother of actor turned producer Ramesh Babu Ghattamaneni.[7] He also has two elder sisters, Padmavathi and actress-producer Manjula Ghattamaneni and one younger sister Priyadarshini.[8] All siblings have the rare honour of having acted in films as child artistes. Mahesh’s childhood was spent mostly in Madras under the care of his paternal grandmother Smt. Durgamma and the rest of his family.[9] As his father had to spend considerable amount of time away from home working, his elder brother Ramesh Babu had a significant role in his upbringing and he enjoys a great relationship with him. Growing up in a big family, Mahesh shares an equally warm relationship with all his sisters and his grand mother. All of them in the family fondly call him "Naani".

 His father made sure all the children spent sufficient time with him on location and on his sets, especially during holidays. Mahesh many times said that this was where his interest for acting began.[11] The film sets were a second playground and he did not hesitate to face the camera when asked to do a small role in his brother Ramesh Babu‘s debut film, Needa at the age of four.[11] Mahesh studied at St. Bede‘s School in Chennai while continuing to attend his dad’s filming during holidays.[12] Few of his schoolmates at St.Bede's were Surya (Tamil film actor) and Vishnuvardhan (Tamil film director).[13] Mahesh obtained an Honours Degree in Commerce from Loyola College, Chennai.[14] Mahesh Babu acted in seven of his father's films as a child actor.
Personal life

Mahesh dated Bollywood actress and former Femina Miss India Namrata Shirodkar for five years.[15] She was his co-star in the movie Vamsi. They got married on 10 February 2005 in Mumbai.[16] They have two children, son Gautam Krishna (b. 31 August 2006) and daughter Sitara (b. 20 July 2012)

Career

Early career (1979–1990) He started his acting career by playing a small role in his brother Ramesh Babu‘s debut film, Needa under Dr. Dasari Narayana Rao's direction in 1979, at the age of 4.[19] In 1983, at the age of 8, director Kodi Ramakrishna requested him to play a role in the film Poratam since they were having difficulty casting for the role of Krishna’s sibling. This was his first full length feature film.[20] Producer and director Dhoondy, one of the early backers of Krishna in his struggling days, watched a preview of the movie and was stunned to find out he was Krishna’s own son and remarked that there was a spark in him and he would become an excellent artist.[21] True to that prognostication, Mahesh became successful as a child artist through varied roles. In Sankharavam (1987) he faced the cameras with his father directing him for the first time.[22] Veteran director A. Kodandarami Reddy directed him and his brother Ramesh for Bazaar Rowdy (1988), where he won accolades for his acting.[23] Mugguru Kodukulu (1988) saw him again team up with his brother and father, the father directing them all this time.[24] Gudachari 117 (1989) reunited Mahesh with his first film director Kodi Ramakrishna in a James Bond type of flick for which his dad, the lead in the movie, was famous.[25] Koduku Diddina Kapuram (1989), directed by Krishna again, had Mahesh in a dual role.[26] Balachandrudu and Anna Tammudu (1990) saw the teenaged Mahesh Babu completing his first innings on celluloid after which he concentrated on his studies and went out of the public eye while letting nature take its course through the awkward adolescent years

1999–2004 

 In 1999, Mahesh was re-introduced as a full-fledged hero with the movie Raja Kumarudu (The Prince).[28] Directed by K. Raghavendra Rao and co-starring Priety Zinta, this movie was a debonair start for his career earning him Nandi Award for Best Male Debutant.[29] After the movie was released, both fans and the media started fondly calling him "Prince Mahesh".[30] His next release Yuvaraju followed in the year 2000.[31] Directed by Y.V.S Chowdary, the movie did moderately well at the box office completing 100 days in 19 centres all over AP.[32] In the same year, another movie Vamsi under the direction of B. Gopal was released and this movie had Namrata Shirodkar co-starring for the first time with Mahesh.[33] During the movie, the on screen couple Mahesh and Namrata started seeing each other in real life and this relationship later resulted in their marriage.[34] In 2001, his successful movie Murari, directed by Krishna Vamsi and co-starring Sonali Bendre, was released[35] and earned Mahesh plaudits from all sections of audience and from critics.[36] He bagged a Nandi Special Jury Award for his performance in the film.[37] Takkari Donga, produced and directed by Jayanth C. Paranjee was released in 2002, where Mahesh essayed the role of a cowboy.[38] The role and the movie were meant to honour the legacy of Krishna as the first ever Indian cowboy and also the first Indian cowboy movie Mosagallaku Mosagadu.[39] His untiring effort in the movie led to another Nandi Special Jury Award.[40] His next film Bobby was released in the same year. Mahesh was paired along Aarthi Agarwal in this movie which was directed by Sobhan.

Mahesh was next seen in Okkadu directed by Gunasekhar and co-starring Bhumika Chawla, the movie was produced by M.S. Raju.[42] This movie was released in 2003 and it remains as a landmark film in Mahesh Babu's career. He won his first Filmfare Best Actor Award (Telugu) for this movie.[43] His next movie Nijam co-starring Rakshita was directed by Teja.[44] Mahesh‘s performance acquired him the prestigious Nandi Award for Best Actor.[45] In 2004, he worked with director S. J. Suryaah and had paired with Amisha Patel for the movie Naani.[46] This movie was produced by his sister Manjula Ghattamaneni.[47] The same year also had Mahesh again collaborating with Gunasekhar for his next movie Arjun which was produced by his brother G. Ramesh Babu.[48] He received a Nandi Special Jury Award for his emotional performance in the film.

2005–2010

 In 2005, Mahesh married Namrata Shirodkar after being in a relationship with her for almost 5 years.[50] The year also saw the first release after his marriage and Trivikram Srinivas’s second directorial venture, Athadu.[51] He was paired alongside with Trisha Krishnan. Mahesh once again achieved critical acclaim for his performance in the movie and also earned himself the Nandi Award for Best Actor for the second time.[52] Pokiri, produced jointly by his sister Manjula Ghattamaneni and Vaishno Academy and directed by Puri Jagannadh was the highest-grossing Telugu film of the year.[53] The movie saw him paired alongside with Ileana D'Cruz. Pokiri was a success in AP as well as other states and overseas. The film completed 100 days in as many as 200 centres in Andhra Pradesh and completed silver jubilee in a record 63 centres.[54] Mahesh earned his second Filmfare Best Actor Award (Telugu) for this movie.

The year also saw Mahesh working again with Director Gunasekhar and actress Trisha Krishnan for the movie Sainikudu.[56] In 2007, for his next venture Mahesh embraced corporate film making in Telugu Film Industry.[57] He collaborated with UTV and with young director Surender Reddy for Athidi which made him the first corporate hero in Telugu Film Industry.[58] He was paired alongside Amrita Rao.[59] After Athidi, Mahesh devoted more time to family matters with a new toddler to spend time with, supporting and helping Namrata cope with her father’s illness and then his death, followed by Namrata’s mother’s bout with cancer and her death.[60] In 2008, Mahesh lent his voice for the film Jalsa, directed by his friend Trivikram Srinivas.[61] In 2009 Mahesh started working on a movie with Trivikram Srinivas as director.


 In 2010, after a 3-year long hiatus Mahesh returned to the silver screen with the movie Khaaleja.[63] Directed by his friend Trivikram Srinivas, the movie languished in development hell due to production problems[64] and the telangana agitations.[65] Upon release, the movie received mixed reviews and also became one of the highest grossing Telugu films overseas.[66] The year also saw Mahesh embracing social networking site Twitter to interact with his fans.


 2011–present 

Dookudu completed a successful run in 52 centres after 50 days.[68] CNN-IBN for the year 2011, declared him as the Actor of the Year and Dookudu as the Hit of the Year in a survey conducted for Telugu films.[69] He also won his third Filmfare Best Actor Award (Telugu) for his performance in the movie.[70] He then co–starred with Kajal Aggarwal in the movie Business Man. The film was directed by Puri Jagannadh and produced by RR Movie Makers, releasing worldwide on 13 January 2012.[71] Similar to his previous release, it took the largest worldwide opening[72] by collecting INR18.73 crores on the first day[73] and INR 62.94 crores worldwide in the first week.[74] For the first time in his career, Mahesh along with the director Puri Jagannadh lent his vocals for a song in the project.[75] According to certain reports, Mahesh emerged as the highest paid actor in South India after Rajnikanth.[76] His next venture was a multi–starrer film Seethamma Vakitlo Sirimalle Chettu under the direction of Srikanth Addala.[77] Being produced by Dil Raju, the film also starred Daggubati Venkatesh in a leading role. The film was officially launched on 6 October 2011 and the filming began on 18 January 2012.[78] This film casted Samantha opposite him, for the second time. The Movie released on January 11, 2013 and was a Blockbuster at the Box Office, thus giving Mahesh a Hat-Trick in his career. His Performance was widely praised by critics. idlebrain.com wrote "Mahesh Babu is planning his career in a beautiful way. After doing an all-round entertaining character in Dookudu and terrific character of a ruthless angry young man in Businessman, Mahesh has selected a nice family guy role in this movie. The character is playful most of the times and highly intense in a few conflict scenes. It’s a right career move for Mahesh Babu."[79][80] He has also signed up for a role in a film under the direction of Sukumar. The film produced by 14 Reels Entertainment has debutant Kriti Sanon acting opposite him and the film was launched on 12 February 2012.[81][82] He also hired Hollywood trainer Mike Ryan as his personal trainer.


Popularity 

Mahesh Babu is considered as one of the most popular actors in Telugu cinema.[84] He was listed 5th in the Times 50 Most Desirable Men in India for the year 2011, becoming the only South Indian to have been done so.[85][86] In January 2013, Mahesh was ranked 31st on business magazine Forbes India's Celebrity 100 list.[87] Based on recorded earnings between September 2011 to October 2012, Forbes listed Mahesh at 15th among India's highest earning celebrities.[88] With earnings of over INR42.25 crore (US$7.7 million), he was the highest earning South Indian celebrity in 2012.

Brand endorsements

 In 2007, Mahesh Babu signed a five year endorsement deal with the cola company, Thums Up to replace Chiranjeevi as its brand ambassador in Andhra Pradesh. He endorses brands such as Navratna Oil, Amrutanjan,  Provogue in Andhra Pradesh and for Univercell, Idea Cellular, Jos Alukkas, Vivel, Mahindra Tractors, Santoor Soap and South India Shopping Mall in South India. In 2012, he replaced Akshay Kumar as the national brand ambassador for Thums Up.