Mahesh Babu

Mahesh Babu (born Mahesh Ghattamaneni, 9 August 1975) is an Indian actor, producer, media personality and philanthropist known for his work in Telugu cinema. He owns the production house G. Mahesh Babu Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. The younger son of actor Krishna, Mahesh holds a bachelor's degree in commerce. At the age of four, he made his debut as a child artist in Needa (1979) and acted in eight other films as a child artist. He made his debut as a lead actor with Rajakumarudu (1999) and won the Nandi Award for Best Male Debut.

Mahesh received breakthrough with the films Murari (2001) and Okkadu (2003); the former fetched him his first Nandi Special Jury Award and the latter fetched him his first Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Telugu. The commercial successes of the films Athadu (2005) and Pokiri (2006) established him in the Telugu film industry. He later went on to act in other commercially successful films such as Dookudu (2011), Businessman (2012), Seethamma Vakitlo Sirimalle Chettu (2013) and Srimanthudu (2015). To date, he has won seven Nandi Awards, four Filmfare Awards, three CineMAA Awards, two South Indian International Movie Awards and one International Indian Film Academy Awards.

Athadu

Athadu (English: He) is a 2005 Indian Telugu action-drama film written and directed by Trivikram Srinivas. The film features an ensemble cast of Mahesh Babu, Trisha Krishnan, Sonu Sood, Kota Srinivasa Rao, Sayaji Shinde, Nassar and Prakash Raj. It was produced by D. Kishore and M. Ram Mohan under the Jayabheri Arts banner while actor Murali Mohan was the presenter of the film. Story, Screenplay and Dialogues were penned by Srinivas while Sirivennela Sitaramasastri and Viswa penned the lyrics for the songs. The soundtrack was scored by Mani Sharma. K. V. Guhan handled the cinematography of the film while Sreekar Prasad edited it. Thota Tharani was the art director of the film while Peter Hein was the stunt and fight choreographer.

The film narrates the story of two professional killers Nandu and Malli who are orphans. Nandu is assigned an assassination attempt on a politician who gets killed by somebody before Nandu could shoot. During his escape, Nandu turns the reason for Pardhu's death who was returning to his native town after running away in his childhood. Nandu masquerades as Pardhu before his family and the rest of the film is the bond he shares with them and the consequences when he comes to know the real killer of the politician who turns out to be his partner-in-crime Malli.

Trivikram Srinivas

Trivikram Srinivas (born Akella Naga Srinivasa Sarma, 07 November 1971) is an Indian film screenwriter and director known for his works exclusively in Telugu Cinema. In 2002 he directed Nuvve Nuvve which was his critically acclaimed directorial debut. His subsequent directorial works include, box office hits such as Athadu (2005), Jalsa (2008), Julai (2012), Attarintiki Daredi (2013), and S/O Satyamurthy (2015). As a dialogue writer, Srinivas has won the State Nandi Award for Best Dialogue Writer five times, and two Filmfare Award for Best Director – Telugu awards for Athadu and Attarintiki Daredi.

Early life

Trivikram was born Akella Naga Srinivas in Bhimavaram, Andhra Pradesh. He did his schooling at S.Ch.B.R.M.High School and Intermediate at D.N.R. College in Bhimavaram and graduated with a Bachelor of Science (B.Sc) from DNR College, Bhimavaram. After that, he went on to complete Masters Degree in nuclear physics from Andhra University as a gold medalist.

Trivikram and actor Sunil graduated from the same college in Bhimavaram. They are close friends, and were roommates in the initial stage of their film careers. Sunil considers Trivikram as the most influential person in his life. Trivikram also worked as a teacher in a school, teaching Maths and Science. His teaching methods were innovative and he was successful in making the students understand the subjects very easily. Later, he reached Hyderabad, and stayed with Sunil, writing stories for Daily Serials.

Mani Sharma

Mani Sharma is a music director known for his works in Telugu and Tamil films. He is also known as "Melody Brahma" (God of Melody) for his contributions to music in Tollywood. Legendary singers S. P. Balasubrahmanyam & K. S. Chithra recorded maximum number of songs in his composition. Mani has scored music for more than 175 films in Telugu, Tamil and other South Indian Languages. He has received two Nandi Awards, three Filmfare Awards and three Music Mirchi Awards.

Early life

Mani Sharma was born in Machilipatnam, Andhra Pradesh to violinist Y.N. Sharma. He spent most of his childhood days in Chennai.

Career

Mani Sharma started his career as a keyboard player in the late 1980s under the guidance of music director Sri Satyam. As a keyboard player, he toured with Padma Bhushan Dr. S.P.Balasubrahmanyam. He used to work with Murali Krish and Chakri Policherla under Maestro Ilaiyaraaja in Chennai.

Mani was also a keyboard player for Raj-Koti and M. M. Keeravani. He was approached by Ram Gopal Varma for the background score of Antham. Varma asked him to compose a single song for his film and he agreed. Then he continued to compose background music for other films like Raathri (Raat), Preminchukundam Raa etc. His first film as a full-time music composer was Super Heroes. Later he got the breakthrough with Chiranjeevi's 1998 film Bavagaru Bagunnara.

Sonu Sood

Sonu Sood is an Indian film actor and model who acts predominantly in Hindi and Telugu films. He has also appeared in few Tamil and Kannada films.

In 2009, he received Andhra Pradesh State Nandi Award for Best Villain and Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor – Telugu for his work in the Telugu blockbuster, Arundhati. In 2010, He garnered Apsara Award for Best Actor in a Negative Role and IIFA Award for Best Performance in a Negative Role for the Bollywood blockbuster, Dabangg. In 2012, He received SIIMA Award for Best Actor in a Negative Role for Julayi. He is best known for roles in blockbuster films like Yuva (2004), Athadu (2005), Aashiq Banaya Aapne (2005), Jodhaa Akbar (2008), Dookudu (2011) and Shootout at Wadala (2013).

He also appeared in commercials for Apollo Tyres, Airtel etc.

Career

In 1999, Sood was introduced to Tamil language films with Kallazhagar. He then appeared as an antagonist in the Telugu film Hands Up!, in 2000. In 2001, he appeared in Majunu. He then began starring in Hindi films, with Shaheed-E-Azam, as Bhagat Singh, in 2002. Sood earned recognition as Abhishek Bachchan's brother in Mani Ratnam's Yuva in 2004 and in Aashiq Banaya Aapne in 2005.