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Mahesh Babu is an Indian actor and producer known for his work in Telugu cinema. He first appeared in the 1979 film Needa when he was four years old. [1] He continued to perform as a child actor in several films, most of which featured his father Krishna. [2] Following his role as the titular protagonist in Balachandrudu (1990) while still a child, his career went on hiatus so he could concentrate on his education until taking on his first lead role as an adult in the 1999 film Rajakumarudu , for which he won the Nandi Award for Best Male Debut. [3] [4] Afterwards, his career stagnated until successes like Murari (2001), Okkadu (2003) and Athadu (2005) brought him fame. [2] [5] .Okkadu was released on 15 January 2003 to critical acclaim. The film received praise for its acting, action sequences, and direction and went on to become a major commercial success grossing over ₹50 crore at the box office with a distributors' share of ₹25-30 crore.It became Mahesh Babu's first big blockbuster in his career after the successes of Rajakumarudu and Murari and led him to achieve stardom. [6] .Athadu was released on 10 August 2005 and received critical acclaim from critics and audiences and emerged as one of the highest-grossing Telugu films of the year collecting a distributor's share of approximately ₹22 crore (US$2.6 million) in its total run. It won three Nandi Awards and a Filmfare Award South for Best Director – Telugu. Over time, Athadu gained recognition as a modern classic in Telugu cinema and holds the record for being the most telecast Telugu film, having aired over a thousand times on television. [7] . In 2006, he played a gangster in the Puri Jagannadh-directed action-thriller Pokiri . The film became the highest-grossing Telugu film of all time, [8] [9] and according to Vogue India , cemented Babu's reputation as a "superstar". [10]
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In the wake of the failures of Sainikudu (2006) and Athidhi (2007), Babu took a long-term break from cinema for personal reasons. [10] [11] His next project, the fantasy action film Khaleja , was released in 2010 after significant delays. [12] In 2011, he starred in Dookudu , which became the first Telugu film to gross over ₹ 1 billion. [13] Businessman (2012), his next film, was well received and became one of the year's highest grossing Telugu films at a time that was particularly harsh on other big-budget productions. [14] [15] .The film collected a distributor share of ₹39 crore [16] and grossed over ₹70 crore in its lifetime at the global box office. [17] . The following year, Babu co-starred alongside Venkatesh in the critically and commercially acclaimed drama film Seethamma Vakitlo Sirimalle Chettu , [18] which was considered the first Telugu multi-starrer in decades. [19] [20] . Seethamma Vakitlo Sirimalle Chettu netted 38.75 crore at the AP/Nizam box office during its run earning a distributor share of 51 crores at the global box office and declared a commercial success. [21] . It was the second-highest-grossing Telugu film of the year, after Attarintiki Daredi. He then featured in Sukumar's 2014 psychological thriller film 1: Nenokkadine . [22] . Although Babu's performance as a schizophrenic rock star was lauded by critics, the film itself received mixed reviews and failed to recover its budget. [23] . [24] . Aagadu his next release that year, suffered a similar fate. [25] . [26] .Despite the film's opening gross being his highest at the time. [27] .
His 2015 action-drama Srimanthudu was a commercial success and earned Babu his fifth Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Telugu as well as his eighth Nandi Award in any category, the most by any individual. [28] [29] [30] The film was also his first as a producer. [31] His subsequent film Brahmotsavam (2016) and his first bilingual film Spyder (2017) under-performed at the box office. [32] [33] The actor's next role was as an inexperienced chief minister in Koratala Siva's Bharat Ane Nenu (2018). [34] The film was the year's second highest-grossing Telugu production and critics praised Babu's performance. [35] .His following two films, Vamshi Paidipally's action-drama Maharshi (2019) and Anil Ravipudi's action-comedy Sarileru Neekevvaru (2020), also made substantial profits despite receiving less favourable reception. [36] . [37] .Maharshi was the third highest grossing Telugu film of 2019 and one of the highest-grossing Telugu films. At the 67th National Film Awards, Maharshi won in two categories: the Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment and Best Choreography. [38] It also fetched the state Telangana Gaddar Film Award for Best Feature Film, five SIIMA Awards and two Zee Cine Awards Telugu. [39] . By the end of its theatrical run, the film had grossed ₹2 billion (US$24 million) worldwide. [40] . Sarileru Neekevvaru produced with a budget of ₹75 crore, grossed ₹260 crore at the box office and became the second highest-grossing Telugu film of 2020, the fourth highest grossing Telugu film at the time of its release and the highest-grossing film of Babu surpassing Bharat Ane Nenu and Maharshi. [41] . Babu's 2022 film Sarkaru Vaari Paata also received a mixed response, however, his performance was appreciated by critics. [42] . Sarkaru Vaari Paata grossed ₹185 crores worldwide in its theatrical run and became the third highest-grossing Telugu film of 2022. [43] . In 2024, Babu reunited with Trivikram Srinivas for their third collaboration in the film Guntur Kaaram. [44] .It eventually grossed ₹212 crores worldwide against its budget of ₹200 crores, becoming a below-average grosser. [43] [45] . His next film titled Varanasi will be directed by S. S. Rajamouli & slated for a release in 2027.