5 actors who completely redefined their image in Tollywood

Over the years, Telugu cinema has progressed a lot from doing the same old formulaic films. However, such films still dominate the lot. One of the most prominent actors in this regard is Nandamuri Balakrishna. But with the teaser of his upcoming film ‘Gautamiputra Satakarni’, he has shed a lot of negative notions that people had about him. Not just him, many big actors have taken the road less travelled and did films that totally redefined their image. Let's check out who they are…

Nandamuri Balakrishna

For at least the past decade or two, Balakrishna has been mostly doing commercial films. Over the years, the films have been getting more and more ridiculous and even his fans realized this fact not long ago. However, all the criticism can be put to rest with his next film ‘Gautamiputra Satakarni’. The veteran actor has undergone an extreme makeover for this movie. He will be seen playing a legendary king from the second century Satavahana kingdom. The awesome teaser of the movie has blown away people’s mind and it is amazing to see what a National Award winning director like Krish can do a mass hero like Balayya.

Mahesh Babu

Mahesh has generally never shied away from doing different films. He mostly oscillated between romantic or action films. All that changed with Sukumar’s ‘1 Nennokadine’. This psychological thriller was one of the boldest attempts ever made in Tollywood history. The Telugu superstar played Gautham, a person who suffers from vivid hallucinations of his parent’s killers. It is his journey as he uncovers who killed them and for what reason. It is commendable to note that Mahesh did such an experiment at the peak of his career and although it failed at the box office, he earned a lot of respect with ‘1 Nennokadine’.

Allu Arjun

Allu Arjun was always a bit of a chocolate boy in the industry. He mostly worked in romantic dramas with a few action movies thrown in between. He changed his image twice, once with ‘Vedam’ in 2010 and now with ‘Sarrainodu’. ‘Vedam’ was a critically acclaimed movie where the Stylish Star played Cable Raju, a slum dweller who is hell bent on getting Rs 40,000 so that he can party with his girlfriend. But as the movie progresses, he sees the pain of fellow poor people and renounces his selfish ways. On the other hand ‘Sarrainodu’ established Arjun as an out-and-out action star. It remains to be seen what else he is capable of.

Nani

Nani, the Natural Star, is really famous for romantic comedies. Most of his movies are of the same genre, with a couple of exceptions. The first was the 2015 film ‘Yevade Subramanyam’. It was a film about a man called Subbu and his journey towards self discovery. For an actor who plays charming, Romeo like characters, this philosophical role was as different as it can be. Next up, he played a rather grey character in the thriller, ‘Gentleman’. It was this film that really made him extremely popular in Tollywood.

Prabhas

Prabhas has one man to thank for his stardom today, SS Rajamouli. The Tollywood hunk used to do commercial action flicks at best and was mostly just another brick in the wall. But ‘Baahubali’ brought out a whole new side of the actor as he played a royal prince Mahendra Baahubali. His physical transformation as well as his performance in the dual roles was the talk of the town. With this huge experiment, Prabhas has definitely entered the category of stars and his career looks highly promising.