Mahesh Babu filmography

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. He continued to perform as a child actor in several films, most of which featured his father Krishna. 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. Afterwards, his career stagnated until successes like Murari (2001), Okkadu (2003) and Athadu (2005) brought him fame..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..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.. 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, and according to Vogue India, cemented Babu's reputation as a "superstar". In the wake of the failures of Sainikudu (2006) and Athidhi (2007), Babu took a long-term break from cinema for personal reasons. His next project, the fantasy action film Khaleja, was released in 2010 after significant delays. In 2011, he starred in Dookudu, which became the first Telugu film to gross over ₹1 billion. 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..The film collected a distributor share of ₹39 crore and grossed over ₹70 crore in its lifetime at the global box office.. The following year, Babu co-starred alongside Venkatesh in the critically and commercially acclaimed drama film Seethamma Vakitlo Sirimalle Chettu, which was considered the first Telugu multi-starrer in decades.. 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.. 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. . 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...Aagadu his next release that year, suffered a similar fate...Despite the film's opening gross being his highest at the time.. 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. The film was also his first as a producer. His subsequent film Brahmotsavam (2016) and his first bilingual film Spyder (2017) under-performed at the box office. The actor's next role was as an inexperienced chief minister in Koratala Siva's Bharat Ane Nenu (2018). The film was the year's second highest-grossing Telugu production and critics praised Babu's performance..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...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. It also fetched the state Telangana Gaddar Film Award for Best Feature Film, five SIIMA Awards and two Zee Cine Awards Telugu.. By the end of its theatrical run, the film had grossed ₹2 billion (US$24 million) worldwide.. 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. . Babu's 2022 film Sarkaru Vaari Paata also received a mixed response, however, his performance was appreciated by critics.. Sarkaru Vaari Paata grossed ₹185 crores worldwide in its theatrical run and became the third highest-grossing Telugu film of 2022.. In 2024, Babu reunited with Trivikram Srinivas for their third collaboration in the film Guntur Kaaram..It eventually grossed ₹212 crores worldwide against its budget of ₹200 crores, becoming a below-average grosser.. His next film titled Varanasi will be directed by S. S. Rajamouli & slated for a release in 2027.