Nani is an Indian actor, producer and television presenter who works predominantly in Telugu cinema and appears in a few Tamil language films. He made his acting debut with Mohana Krishna Indraganti's 2008 comedy film Ashta Chamma, an Indian adaptation of Oscar Wilde's play The Importance of Being Earnest. After Ashta Chamma's commercial success, Nani played the lead roles in three Telugu films in the next two years: Ride (2009), Snehituda (2009) and Bheemili Kabaddi Jattu (2010). In 2011, Nani collaborated with B. V. Nandini Reddy on the romantic comedy film Ala Modalaindi which was profitable. The same year, he made his Tamil cinema debut with Anjana Ali Khan's Veppam, a crime drama set in the backdrop of North Chennai. The following year, Nani collaborated with S. S. Rajamouli and Gautham Vasudev Menon on the Telugu-Tamil bilingual Eega and the romance film Yeto Vellipoyindhi Manasu respectively. The former, which was about a murdered man reincarnating as a housefly and avenging his death, earned Nani an award in the Best Hero category at the 2013 Toronto After Dark Film Festival. He received the Nandi Award for Best Actor for his performance in Yeto Vellipoyindhi Manasu.
Nani ventured into film production in 2013 as a co-producer for the film D for Dopidi. He faced three box office failures in the upcoming years: Paisa (2013), Aaha Kalyanam (2014) and Janda Pai Kapiraju (2015). Nani termed it a "low phase" in his career and worked on the "planning of films and the timing of their release". He then played the lead role in Nag Ashwin's Yevade Subramanyam (2015), a film focusing on a businessperson's journey to the Himalayas seeking self exploration. Nani later starred in Maruthi's comedy film Bhale Bhale Magadivoy (2015), in which he played an absent minded scientist easily prone to distraction. It was the actor's first blockbuster success, and earned him the Critics Award for Best Actor – South at the 63rd Filmfare Awards South ceremony. With his subsequent releases, the profitable ventures Krishna Gaadi Veera Prema Gaadha (2016) and Gentleman (2016), he gained stardom in Telugu cinema. Nani later played the lead in the commercially successful Telugu films Majnu (2016), Nenu Local (2017) and Ninnu Kori (2017). In 2018, Nani featured as the host of the second season of the Telugu game show Bigg Boss.
Films
† | Denotes films that have not yet been released |
- All films are in Telugu, unless otherwise noted.
Year | Title | Role(s) | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
2008 | Ashta Chamma | Rambabu / Mahesh | ||
2009 | Ride | Arjun | ||
Snehituda | Sai | |||
2010 | Bheemili Kabaddi Jattu | Suribabu | ||
2011 | Ala Modalaindi | Gautham | ||
Veppam | Karthik | Tamil film | ||
Pilla Zamindar | Praveen "PJ" Jayaramaraju | |||
2012 | Eega | Nani | Won—Toronto After Dark Best Hero Award | |
Bilingual film | ||||
Naan Ee | ||||
Yeto Vellipoyindhi Manasu | Varun Krishna | Won—Nandi Award for Best Actor | ||
Neethaane En Ponvasantham | Train passenger | Tamil film; Cameo in the song "Kaatrai Konjam" | ||
2014 | Paisa | Prakash | ||
Aaha Kalyanam | Shakthivel | Tamil film | ||
Nimirndhu Nil | Himself | Tamil film; Cameo in the song "Rajadhi Raja" | ||
2015 | Janda Pai Kapiraju | Aravind Shivashankar / Maya Kannan | ||
Yevade Subramanyam | Subramanyam | |||
Dongaata | Himself | Special appearance in the song "The Party Tonight" | ||
Superstar Kidnap | Himself | Cameo | ||
Bhale Bhale Magadivoy | Lucky | Won—Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor – South | ||
2016 | Krishna Gaadi Veera Prema Gaadha | Krishna | ||
Gentleman | Gautham / Jai | |||
Jyo Achyutananda | Jyo's boyfriend | Cameo | ||
Majnu | Aditya | |||
2017 | Nenu Local | Babu | ||
Ninnu Kori | Uma Maheswara Rao | |||
Middle Class Abbayi | Nani | |||
2018 | Krishnarjuna Yudham | Krishna / Arjun Jayaprakash | ||
Neevevaro | Customer | Cameo | ||
Devadas | Das | |||
2019 | Jersey | Arjun | Also dubbed for Harish Kalyan | |
Nani's Gang Leader | Pencil Parthasarathy | |||
2020 | V | Yendluri Vishnu | ||
2021 | Tuck Jagadish | Jagadish Naidu | ||
Shyam Singha Roy | Shyam Singha Roy / Vasudev Ghanta | |||
2022 | Ante Sundaraniki | Sundara Prasad | ||
HIT: The Second Case | Arjun Sarkaar | Cameo | ||
2023 | Dasara | Dharani | ||
Hi Nanna | Viraj | |||
2024 | Saripodhaa Sanivaaram † | Surya | Filming |
Television
Year | Title | Role | Network | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2015 | Meelo Evaru Koteeswarudu 2 | Guest contestant | Star Maa | ||
2017 | 2nd IIFA Utsavam | Host | Gemini TV | Television special | |
Meelo Evaru Koteeswarudu 4 | Guest contestant | Star Maa | |||
2018 | Bigg Boss 2 | Host | |||
2023 | Kumari Srimathi | Himself | Amazon Prime Video | Cameo |
Producer
Year | Title | Ref. |
---|---|---|
2013 | D for Dopidi | |
2018 | Awe | |
2020 | HIT: The First Case | |
2022 | Meet Cute | |
HIT: The Second Case |
Voice artist
Year | Title | Role | Actor | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2015 | OK Bangaram | Adhi | Dulquer Salmaan | Telugu version | |
2018 | Awe | Nani | Fish | ||
2019 | Jersey | Adult Nani | Harish Kalyan | Cameo role | |
The Lion King | Simba | Animated Role | Telugu version |
Other crew positions
Year | Title | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|
2005 | Radha Gopalam | Assistant director | |
Allari Bullodu | Assistant director | ||
2006 | Asthram | Assistant director | |
2007 | Dhee | Assistant director | |
2013 | D for Dopidi | Narrator; Co-producer | |
2018 | Amoli | Narrator (Telugu version) | |
Ee Maaya Peremito | Narrator |