Star Portrait-Prakash Raj

Prakash Raj is a popular character artist. He was born on 26 March 1965  in Puttur, Karnataka in a Bunt family.

Education

He completed schooling at St. Joseph's Boys' High School, Bangalore and  later joined St. Joseph's College of Commerce, Bangalore.

Personal

 Prakash Rai changed his name to Prakash Raj based on prominent Tamil  film director K. Balachander's advice, however he is still called Prakash  Rai in his home town Karnataka.Prakash married actress Lalitha Kumari in  1994. They have two daughters—Meghana and Pooja and a son, Sidhu. Sidhu  died of injuries sustained in a fall in 2004.The couple divorced in  2009.He married choreographer Pony Verma on August 24, 2010

Films

 He is actor, director, producer and television presenter, who mainly  works in the South Indian film industry. After working in the Kannada  cinema for a few years, he entered Tamil film industry, through K.  Balachander in his movie Duet (1994). In remembrance, he named his  production company Duet Movies. He has played a variety of roles,  most notably as the antagonist and of late, as a character actor. He has  won a National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1998 for Mani  Ratnam's Iruvar and a National Film Award for Best Actor in 2009 for his  role in Kanchivaram, a Tamil film directed by Priyadarshan. Prakash  Raj is also the host of Neengalum Vellalam Oru Kodi from the game show's  second season onwards.

Producer

Prakash Raj Produced Naanu Nanna Kanasu in Kannada (2010), a remake of his own Tamil production Abhiyum Naanum.His latest directorial venture is a Tamil – Telugu bilingual, sports venture Dhoni named after Indian cricket captain.

Director

He took on the mantle of director and has directed several movies in Tamil (Kollywood). Most of the movies he produced turned out to be box-office hits and were also critically acclaimed.

He produced the movie Dhaya in which he acted as the hero with actress Meena which was a hit and earned him a special jury award for his performance.. He made Puttakkana Highway in Kannada which won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Kannada in 2011.

Star Portrait-Suman

Mangalore Suman Talwar is well known as handsome hero Suman for entire film industry. He is one of most popular heroes who acted in Tollywood, Kollywood and Mollywood too. He is the only one Telugu actor who shared a screen space in English film. He was born on 28 August 1959 in Mangalore to the couple Sri & Smt Susheel Chander, Kesari Chander. His mother Late Smt Kesari Chander was the Principal of the prestigious Ethiraj College for women in Chennai and His father worked for I.O.C. Chennai. Due their job they moved to Chennai where childhood was spent in Chennai. Suman did his kindergarten at Church Park Convent, Chennai. He completed his schooling at The Besant Theosophical High School, Chennai. He joined the Pachayappas College to do his B.A. in English Literature. He is now residing at Hyderabad, with his Wife Smt. Sirisha who is a grand-daughter of well known Play-Wright Sri.D.V.Narasa Raju. Suman’s couple is blessed with a daughter Akilaja Prathyusha now she is his fifteen-year-old, his mother-in-law Smt.Kavita Raju and Sri.D.V.Narasaraju are also currently staying with Suman’s family. Suman holds a Black Belt 1st Dan in Karate, from Shotokan Karate Association which is affiliated to Japan Karate Association. He is the Chairman of the Andhra Pradesh Karate Association. Suman’s mother tongue is Tulu. He can speak Tulu, Telugu, Malayalam, English, Tamil, Kannada, and Hindi fluently. He learnt Sanskrit from Sri. H.A.S. Sashtri. He also learnt playing the Veena and the Guitar.

Film entry and journey till now.

Suman started his career as Master in Karate. His family friend Mr. Kittu introduced him to a Tamil producer. He thus started off his film career in the year 1977.In his final year he acted in his first Tamil movie “Neechal kulam” produced by well-known producer in Tamil Nadu Late Sri.T.R.Rammanna. His first role was that of a Police officer. Then he gave a power packed performance in the remake of classic Hindi movie Deewar made into Tamil as Thee(1981),he played a sincere police officer with the upcoming superstar rajinikanth. In more than 3 decades, he acted more than 150 films as a hero in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, and English language films. After a break, he returned to acting by playing the villain in Kollywood movies Sivaji and Kuruvi. He is cast as the main villain in the Malayalam movie Sagar Alias Jacky. He Played action hero and romantic hero in Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam films during the 1980s. After a long while away from cinema, he returned to acting in Tamil films in 2007, starring in S. Shankar‘s Sivaji: The Boss with Rajinikanth. He has also appeared with Joseph Vijay in Kuruvi and with Ajith Kumar in Aegan. He acted in many action and romantic movies in Telugu, including Sitara, Tharangini, and Neti Bharatham. He appeared as a villain in Malayalam film Sagar Alias Jackie and enacted the historic character Pazhayamveedan Chandhu in the biopic malayalam movie Pazhassi Raja. Suman has witnessed three generations in the Telugu film industry. Today, Suman has to his credit more than 150 films, in Tamil, Telugu and Kannada. He is also the first actor from Telugu Film Industry to act in a Hollywood movie-”Death And Taxis” produced by Clear water pictures and directed by Kevin Mukherji.

Special Activities

He is a Black belt in karate, he also learnt Martial Arts of Kerala from Sri. Gopal Gurukkal. Suman attributes his Patience and Endurance to Martial arts. He is known for his famous stunts in movies, which got him the title of an Action Hero, due to his martial arts background. His film career was thanks to Martial arts, as his potential to be different and trend setting, was noticed by his producer in a School where he was teaching Karate. Suman takes an active part in all demonstrations and promotions, in Andhra Pradesh, to popularize martial arts as an effective way of striking a perfect balance, mentally and physically, to defend one’s self, with harmony, patience and restraint. Suman Budokan Karate Association is an extension of his involvement in promoting Martial Arts.

Political Appearance.

Suman joined as a supporter in the year 1999, to the Telugu Desam Party. He inspired by our Ex Chief Chandra Babu Naidu’s dynamic administrative and Leadership qualities.  

Star Portrait-Krishnam Raju

Uppalapati Venkata Krishnam Raju who is well known as Rebel Star Krishnam Raju is known for his rebellious acting. He is a popular actor Tollywood. He is the uncle of New generation actor Prabhas . Krishnam Raju starred in more than 183 Telugu films in his career and was a prominent actor of the 1970s and 1980s in Tollywood. After late 1990s he became active in politics. He is an all-round star action king and rebel star on the silver screen. He was born on 20 January, 1940 in Mogalthuru, West Godavari district to the couple Late Shri Uppalapati Veera VenkataSatyanarayana Raju. After completion of his graduation he entered into films. He is an all-round star action king and rebel star on the silver screen and real hero in Real life. Behind this tall, towering and fiery personality is a calm, concerned and genuine human being. Krishnam Raju is a versatile personality. Not many people may know that he was once a journalist. He worked as a reporter for the Andhra Patrika.

Film Journey.

He entered the films in 1966 with “Chilaka Gorinka” which was produced and directed by Kotayya Pratyagatma co-starring Krishnakumari. This film bagged the prestigious Silver Nandi Award at the time of its release. Though he entered films as a villain, he metamorphosed into a full-fledged ‘hero’ within a short period. He left his mark as a powerful actor in his 34-year long film career. His character was so multi-faceted and his talent so exceptional that some roles were actually created for him. Many in the industry believe that Krishnam Raju alone can suit certain roles. He played a variety of roles in Krishnaveni, Bhaktha Kannappa, Amara Deepam, Mana Voori Pandavulu, Katakatala Rudraiah, Seetha Ramulu, Thrishoolam, Bobbili Bhahmanna, Tandra Paparayudu, etc. He could enact a pious role as elegantly as he did that of an angry young man or a historical character. Recognition for his histrionics came in the form of the President’s Award and Filmfare Award for Amaradeepam and Mana Voori Pandavulu. Later, he entered the film production field and brought out many successful films under the banner Gopikrishna. He also produced a Hindi film Dharmadhikari starring stalwarts such as Dilip Kumar. He is widely considered as a master producer. Krishnam Raju is an optimist to the core. He is untiring in his pursuits and accepts success and failure with equanimity. In his long journey from Mogalthuru village to the national capital, he always exhibited dedication, honesty and hard work in whatever work he took up. No wonder he has a huge fan following as much in politics as in the film industry. Apart from producing films, he also turned industrialist with his Gopi Krishna Granites, through which he provided employment to hundreds of people. The film industry recognised his leadership qualities by unanimously electing him thrice as president of the Cine Artistes Society

Political Career.

He entreated into politics in 1992, he contested in 1992 election for the Narasapuram Lok Sabha seat on a Congress ticket and he won. He shifted to Bharatiya Janata Party in 1998 and He won the 1998 Lok Sabha election from Kakinada on BJP ticket. He set a record with a thumping majority of over 165,000 votes. He was elected to 12th and 13th Lok Sabha from Kakinada and Narasapur constituencies. He was in the advisory committees of the Information & Broadcasting, and Commerce Ministries during 1998-99.  He served as a minister of state for external affairs in the Third Vajpayee Ministry from 1999 to 2004. He has joined in Praja Rajyam Party founded by southern megastar Chiranjeevi on 24th March 2009. In 2009 State assembly elections he contested for M.P. seat from Rajahmundry constituency and had Murali Mohan as a major opponent who's contesting on behalf of Telugu Desam Party (TDP). While both were film actors, both of them lost election to incumbent MP, Undavalli Arun Kumar of Indian National Congress.

Awards and Honours

He has won Five Film fare Awards including Film fare Lifetime achievement Award and Two Nandi Awards.

Star Portrait-Balakrishna

Nandamuri Balakrishna is popularly known as Ballaya Babu in Tollywood film industry, he is the sixth son of legendary actor and ex chief minister of Andhra Pradesh late Nandamuri Taraka Ramarao and late Basawatarakam. He was born in Chennai on June 10th, 1960. He completes his studies at Chennai itself and joined the film industry at the age of 14 years with film “Tatamma Kala” in year 1974. During his adolescence, he moved to Hyderabad following the shifting of the Telugu film industry to that city. He earned a bachelor’s degree in commerce from Nizam College in Hyderabad. Balakrishna married to in 1982 Vasundhara and they are blessed with one son Tarakarama Teja Mokshajna and two daughters Smt.Brahmini and kum.Tejaswini. His elder daughter Brahmani is an alumnus of Santa Clara University and Stanford University and she got married to TDP president Nara Chandrababu Naidu’s son Nara Lokesh few years ago. Balakrishna is also acting as director of Basavatarakam Cancer Research Hospital, Hyderabad.

Film Career.

He made his debut into film at the age of 14 with the film “Tatamma Kala” in the year 1974. His father late NTR is mentor for him in the film industry. He trained him to perfection in acting. Even they have acted together in two films “Annadammula Anubandham” and “Dhaana Veera Karna”. Later, he got break with the success of his film “Mangammagari Manumadu” and it never happens for him to turn around in his 38 years of carrier in Tollywood. He has number of hits to his credit like “Kadha Nayakudu”, “Muddula Mamayya”, “Lorry Driver”, “Aditya 369”, “Bhairava Dweepam”, “Rowdy Inspector”, “Samara Simha Reddy”, “Srikrishnarjuna Vijayam,” and by latest his mythological movie “Sri Rama Rajyam”. He acted in more than 96 films and still maintains the same pace till date.

Political Journey.

He is actively involved in politics and is a member of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) founded by his father .He has vigorously participated in TDP campaigning during 2009 general elections and recently announced that he will be contesting to Assembly in 2014 general elections. Although, there was a demand in the party asking him to take party reins as its president, which is now handled by Nara Chandrababu Naidu, Balakrishna prefers to become MLA first to gain some political experience before making any big claims for himself.

Awards and Honours

He has bagged Film fare Best actor Award for his performance in films “Bhairava Dweepam” in 1994 and prestigious Nandi Award as Best actor for his film “Narasimha Naidu” in year 2001 and for “Simha” in 2010. He also felicitated with Akkineni Abhinaya award in 2007. He has won two Andhra Pradesh State Nandi Awards and one Filmfare Award in his entire film career. He was the guest of honour at the 43rd International Film Festival of India. He won the CineMAA Award in the category of the Best Actor for the film “Simha” in 2010 . He won Santosham Film Awards for the films “Pandurangadu”, “Simha” and “Sri Rama Rajyam”. He also received TSR-TV9 Film Awards for the film “Simha” and “Sri Rama Rajyam”.  And other awards are Bharata Muni awardd for Best Actor of the year 2009 for the film “Pandurangadu”, for “Simha” in 2010 and for “Sri Rama Rajyam” in 2011.  A.P. CINE Goers Association Best Actor Award for the films “Narasimha Naidu”, “Chennakesava Reddy” and Pandurangadu.