Jagapati Babu

Veeramachaneni Jagapathi Chowdary (born 12 February 1962), professionally known as Jagapathi Babu , is an Indian actor known for his works in Telugu cinema. He has also appeared in Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi films. Babu has appeared in 170 feature films, and has received four Filmfare Awards and seven state Nandi Awards.

He has worked with notable directors like Kodi Ramakrishna, S. V. Krishna Reddy, Ram Gopal Varma, Krishna Vamsi, E. V. V. Satyanarayana, Gunasekhar, Chandra Sekhar Yeleti, Siva, A. M. Rathnam, K. Raghavendra Rao, Radha Mohan, Mohan Raja, J. D. Chakravarthy, Boyapati Srinu, Trivikram Srinivas, Vysakh, K. S. Ravikumar, Sukumar, Koratala Siva and Prashanth Neel.

Early life Babu was born on 12 February 1962 in the Benz Circle area of Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh to producer-director V. B. Rajendra Prasad. He was brought up in Chennai, Tamil Nadu before working in Telugu cinema. He married Lakshmi and has two daughters.

Career

1989–2013: Lead roles

Babu made his lead debut in Telugu with the movie Simha Swapnam (1989) which was produced by his father and directed by V. Madhusudhana Rao. That same year, he starred in Adavilo Abhimanyudu. His first commercial success came with Peddarikam released in 1992. He had his breakthrough in the form of Gaayam directed by Ram Gopal Varma in the year 1993. In 1994, with the super hit film Subhalagnam, he reached family audience. He won the Nandi Award for Best Actor in 1996 for his role in the movie Maavichiguru directed by S V Krishna Reddy.

1997 saw hit films including Subhakankshalu and Pelli Pandiri. In 1998, he won the Nandi Award for Best Supporting Actor for the film Anthahpuram. In 2000, he won the Nandi Best Actor Award for his performance in the thriller Manoharam. In 2003, he starred in the multistarrer Hanuman Junction. In 2003–05, he did runway hit films like Kabaddi Kabaddi, Athade Oka Sainyam, Pedababu and Anukokunda Oka Roju. In 2006, he appeared in Samanyudu and Pellaina Kothalo. He received the Nandi Best Supporting Actor Award for the second time in the year 2007 for his role in the film Lakshyam in addition to a won Filmfare Award. In 2011, he received the Kala Bhushana Award for his contribution to cinema by TSR Lalitha Kala Parishat.

His first Tamil movie was Madrasi, and in 2012, he appeared as the antagonist in Tamil film Thaandavam. He played the lead role in Jai Bolo Telangana, which won five Nandi Awards. In 2012, he debuted in the Kannada film Bachchan as a cop.

2014–present: Supporting roles

Since 2014, Babu decided to play antagonistic and supporting roles. He appeared in Nandamuri Balakrishna-starrer Legend (2014), where played an antagonist for the first time. His performance as Jitendra won many accolades. Grossing more than 2 billion, Rangasthalam was the highest grossing Telugu of that year. Alongside this, he played a Bangladeshi-terrorist in Goodachari, which became a sleeper hit.

He also played the role of Rajamannar in the blockbuster film Salaar: Part 1 – Ceasefire directed by Prashanth Neel in 2023.

Filmography

Awards and nominations

Filmfare Awards

SIIMA Awards

Asianet Film Awards