Mahesh Babu filmography

Mahesh Babu is an Indian film actor known for his work in Telugu cinema. He first appeared in the 1979 film Needa when he was four years old.[1][2] He continued to work as a child artiste in several films, most of which featured his father Krishna.[3] His first lead role as an adult was the in the 1999 film Rajakumarudu, for which he won the Nandi Award for Best Male Debut.[4] Afterwards, his career stagnated until successes like Murari (2001), Okkadu (2003) and Athadu (2005) brought him fame.[5][6] In 2006, he played a gangster in Puri Jagannadh's action-thriller Pokiri, which set several box office records upon its release[7][8][9] and cemented Babu's reputation as a "superstar".[10][11]

Mahesh Babu on the set of Spyder in 2017.

In the wake of his 2007 film Athidhi, Babu took a hiatus for three years.[12] During that period, he acted in the fantasy action film Khaleja (2010).[13] In 2011, he starred in Dookudu, which became the first Telugu film to gross over ₹1 billion (US$14 million).[14] His next film Businessman (2012) 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.[15][16] The following year, Babu co-starred alongside Venkatesh in the critically and commercially acclaimed drama film Seethamma Vakitlo Sirimalle Chettu,[17][18] which was considered the first Telugu multi-starrer in decades.[19][20] In 2014, he teamed up with the director Sukumar for the psychological thriller 1: Nenokkadine where Babu played a celebrity suffering from schizophrenia.[21] The film received mixed reviews and failed to make back its budget.[22][23] Aagadu, his next release that year, suffered a similar fate,[24][25] despite being his highest opening to that date.[26]

His 2015 action-drama Srimanthudu was a commercial success[27] and earned him his fifth Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Telugu[28] as well as his eighth Nandi Award.[29] Babu's next film Brahmotsavam (2016) as well as his first bilingual film Spyder (2017) underperfomed at the box office.[30][31] His next role was as an inexperienced chief minister in Koratala Siva's political film Bharat Ane Nenu (2018).[27] The film was the year's highest grosser[32] and reviewers praised his performance.[33] His following two films, Maharshi (2019) and Anil Ravipudi's action-comedy Sarileru Neekevvaru (2020), also made substantial profits[34][35][36] despite receiving mixed reviews.[37][38]