Naveen Babu Ghanta, fondly known as
Nani has successfully completed
10 years
in Telugu cinema as a male lead. His debut film ‘
Ashta Chamma
’ released on this very day a decade back. Silently carving a niche for himself, the roles done by the 34-year-old actor have been realistic and relatable which helped him grab the boy-next-door image, rather than that of a star. His simple looks, convincing acting chops, and the gift of gab catapulted him to turn into the
Natural Star
of
Tollywood
.
Starting his professional career as an RJ for World Space Satellite in Hyderabad, Nani worked as an assistant director with filmmakers like K Raghavendra Rao and Bapu for a bunch of movies which include ‘Radha Gopalam’, ‘Dhee’ and ‘Allari Bullodu’, after which he started getting roles as a lead actor. Mohan Krishna Indraganti noticed Nani in an advertisement directed by Nandini Reddy and casted him for ‘Ashta Chamma’ which became a runaway hit.
Following up with terrific performances in hit films like ‘Bheemili Kabaddi Jattu’, ‘Ala Modalaindi’ and ‘Pilla Zamindar’, Nani acquired national recognition in 2012 with SS Rajamouli’s National-Award winning film ‘Eega’. Despite his limited screen presence in the revenge-fantasy, the ‘Ride’ actor managed to strike a chord with his chocolate boy looks and energetic personality. The same year he also bagged his first Nandi Award for the brilliant act in Gautham Menon’s ‘Yeto Vellipoyindhi Manasu’ which had
Samantha playing the female lead.
After all the success in the initial years, Nani’s career went into doldrums in 2014 with three back-to-back failures at the ticket counters. But the talented actor’s flair in picking up offbeat & interesting scripts made him bounce back in no time with the 2015 coming-of-age drama ‘Yevade Subramanyam’.
Since then, there has been no looking back for the ‘
MCA
’ star with eight super-hits in a row accompanied by immense popularity among the family audience. To cash-in on this reputation, the makers of Telugu Bigg Boss have passed on the host baton from
Junior NTR to Nani for the second season. His maiden outing as a producer, ‘Awe’, earned him applauds for supporting an unconventional film helmed with dazzling technicalities.
Nani single-handedly created a new rom-com fever in Tollywood and paved the way for many to try out their luck in the genre. He is currently sharing screen space with Nagarjuna for the mega multi-starrer ‘
Devadas’ and is portraying the role of a cricketer in the upcoming sports-drama ‘Jersey’. As the successful Lover Boy steps into his eleventh year as an actor, hope he would continue to try out new genres along with commercial films, and surprise us all.
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