Early career and breakthrough (1979–2003)
At the age of four, Babu visited the sets of the Telugu film Needa (1979) where its director Dasari Narayana Rao shot a few sequences of his as a part of the narrative in the presence of the former's brother Ramesh. Needa marked his debut as a child actor. During the shoot of Poratam (1983) at Vauhini Studios, after watching Babu on the sets, director Kodi Ramakrishna suggested to Krishna that he cast Babu in the role of the protagonist's brother. Initially terrified, Babu agreed to act in the film after being persuaded by the film's crew. He went on to act as a child artist in the films Shankharavam (1987), Bazaar Rowdy (1988), Mugguru Kodukulu (1988) and Gudachari 117 (1989). He played a dual role in the film Koduku Diddina Kapuram (1989). Babu then appeared in Bala Chandrudu (1990), and Anna Thammudu (1990). Later, he continued his college studies.[17]
In 1999, Babu made his debut as a lead actor with the film Raja Kumarudu, directed by K. Raghavendra Rao and co-starring Priety Zinta. The film was commercially successful, and people began referring to him with the title Prince.[18] He received the Nandi Award for Best Male Debut.[19] He starred in two films the following year – Yuvaraju and Vamsi. Following their poor performance at the box office, Babu starred in Krishna Vamsi's Murari the next year. He called Murari an important film in his career and the role he played in it one of his favourites.[20][21] Murari was a commercial success and earned him the Nandi Special Jury Award.[19] Though his 2002 releases Takkari Donga and Bobby performed poorly at the box office, Babu received his second Nandi Special Jury Award for his performance in the former.[19]
Babu had two film releases in 2003, the first one being Gunasekhar's Okkadu co-starring Bhumika Chawla, which went on to become the highest grossing Telugu film of the year collecting ₹23 crores at the box office.[22] He won his first Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Telugu for his performance in the film.[23] The other release was Teja's Nijam co-starring Rakshita. The film was noted for introducing Dolby EX surround system in Telugu cinema.[24] Though the film was a commercial failure,[25] Babu received praise from the critics for his performance in the film, with Vijayalaxmi of Rediff.com calling him the only reason to watch the film's second half which she termed a routine tale of vendetta.[26] He won his first Nandi Best Actor Award for his performance in the film.[27]
Mainstream film acclaim and success (2004–2010)
Manjula produced his next film, Naani, directed by S. J. Surya co-starring Amisha Patel. While its simultaneously shot Tamil version New featuring a different cast was commercially successful, Naani flopped at the box office.[20] He received the Nandi Special Jury Award for his performance in his next film, Arjun, directed by Gunasekhar and produced by Ramesh.[28] The failure of Naani depressed both Babu and Manjula, who took a small break in Goa before resuming their other commitments. He chose to act in Trivikram Srinivas's Athadu, co-starring Trisha Krishnan, whose script had been approved back in 2002 before the production of Naani and Arjun had begun.[30] Athadu became one of the highest-grossing films of the year.[31] The film was a commercially profitable venture for the producers and distributors.[32] The film benefited Babu's career as he won the Nandi Best Actor Award for his performance in the role of a hired assassin.[33] Athadu collected a share of ₹25 crores at the box office.[34]
Babu collaborated with Puri Jagannadh in 2006 for the film Pokiri, which was jointly produced by Jagannadh and Manjula.[35] Made on a budget of ₹100 million and shot within six months,[36] Pokiri became the highest grossing Telugu film of all time by the end of its run, and was screened at the 7th IIFA Awards held in Dubai.[37] Babu received praise for his performance, with Y. Sunita Chowdary of The Hindu opining that "Mahesh's understated performance in Pokiri allows him effortlessly to reclaim the title of a star, overshadowing more questionable recent career choices".[35] He won the Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Telugu for the second time.[38] Pokiri grossed ₹67 crores at the box office.[39] That same year, his next film, Sainikudu, co-starring Trisha, was released amid huge expectations but flopped at the box office.[40]
The following year saw Babu acting in the film Athidhi, co-starring Amrita Rao marking her Telugu debut. The film was produced by Mahesh Babu's's brother Ramesh.[41] UTV Motion Pictures acquired the film's distribution rights for ₹185 million, which became its first Telugu film venture.[42] In 2008, Babu provided voice-over for the film Jalsa directed by Trivikram Srinivas.[43]
After Athidhi's release, Babu took a break from films for seven months; two months later, he signed Khaleja, but the break was unintentionally extended for two years due to several delays. During this time, Babu's grandmother and his wife Namrata's parents died. Krishna was worried about Babu's career as the film's shoot was delayed for so long.[44] Upon release, Khaleja received mixed reviews from critics and was a commercial failure in India.[45] However, it managed to perform well at the overseas box office.[46]
Stardom and career setback (2011–2014)
In 2011, Babu collaborated with Srinu Vaitla for the film Dookudu, which was inspired in part by the 2003 German tragicomedy film Good Bye, Lenin!.[47] Co-starring Samantha Ruth Prabhu, the film received positive reviews upon release and became one of the highest-grossing films of the year. Dookudu had the largest opening for a Telugu film, and collected a share of ₹101.1 million and a gross of ₹125.8 million on the first day of its release.[48] The Los Angeles Times called Dookudu the "biggest hit you've never heard of".[49] For his performance in the film, Babu won the Best Actor Award at the 2012 Nandi Awards ceremony.[50] He also won the Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Telugu at the 59th Filmfare Awards South and 1st South Indian International Movie Awards ceremonies.[51][52] After the film's gross crossed the ₹1 billion mark, Income Tax Department officials conducted a raid on Babu's Jubilee Hills residence as he was rumored to be getting a remuneration of more than ₹1.2 million for his next projects.[53]. The film collected a distributor share of ₹574 million in its lifetime and grossed more than ₹1 billion in its lifetime.[54].
He later played the role of a mafia kingpin with a hidden personal agenda in the film Businessman, co-starring Kajal Aggarwal and directed by Puri Jagannadh.[55] Upon the film's release, Babu received praise from the critics for his performance in the film, with Y. Sunita Chowdary of The Hindu writing, "The film has no frills, no vulgar wastage and the hero is practically in every frame; you hear only his voice, he looks good, sounds good, he also steals the comedian's job. Mahesh plays it straight.".[56] It grossed approximately ₹187.35 million and collected a share of ₹137.8 million at the global box office on its first day creating an all-time record in terms of opening day collections.[57] Businessman became one of the highest grossing Telugu films of the year.[58] Businessman collected a share of ₹41 crores at the box office.[59] He received a nomination for Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Telugu at both the 60th Filmfare Awards South and the 2nd South Indian International Movie Awards ceremonies.[60][61] By then, Babu was reported to be the second highest-paid actor in South India after Rajinikanth.[62]
Babu had two releases in 2014, the first one being Sukumar's 1: Nenokkadine, an action thriller focusing on a celebrity suffering from hallucinations related to the murder of his parents and the discovery of a special variety of rice. Kriti Sanon played the female lead in this film, marking her acting debut.[70] Made on a budget of around ₹70 crores, 1: Nenokkadine was released amid huge expectations, but received mixed reviews from the critics, turning out to be a box office bomb by incurring a loss of around ₹26–27 crores.[71] However, Babu's performance received praise, with critics calling it one of his best performances.[72][73][74] He also earned a nomination for the Best Actor – Telugu at the 4th South Indian International Movie Awards.[75] Grossing over $1.32 million,1: Nenokkadine became the fourth-highest-grossing Telugu film in history at the United States box office at that time.[76] The other release, Aagadu, directed by Srinu Vaitla and co-starring Tamannaah, flopped at the box office,[77] even though it had a gross of ₹60 crores.[78].Karthik Pasupulate of The Times of India gave the film 3 out of 5 stars and called Aagadu "Dookudu 2.0" in operating system parlance. Pasupulate added that it seems more like a remake of Dookudu with a "much louder Mahesh Babu, more banal jokes, and a few superficial twists in the screenplay", and that the end product is "more slapstick than funny".[79].Babu then began filming for Srikanth Addala's Seethamma Vakitlo Sirimalle Chettu, whose script Babu had approved during the pre-production phase of Dookudu.[63] Co-starring Daggubati Venkatesh along with Anjali and Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Seethamma Vakitlo Sirimalle Chettu became the first Telugu multistarrer film to be produced in the last twenty-five years.[64] Released in January 2013, the film became one of the highest grossing Telugu films of the year and marked the completion of Babu's hat-trick of successful films.[65] He won the Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Telugu at the 61st Filmfare Awards South ceremony and the 3rd South Indian International Movie Awards ceremony.[66][67] He provided voice-over for Srinu Vaitla's Baadshah the same year.[68] Seethamma Vakitlo Sirimalle Chettu collected a distributor share of ₹512 million and was the second-highest-grossing Telugu film of the year.[69].
Resurgence and recent work (2015–present)
Babu collaborated with Koratala Siva for the action drama film Srimanthudu co-starring Shruti Haasan. He co-produced the film under his newly formed banner G. Mahesh Babu Entertainment Pvt. Ltd, marking his first film production venture.[80] He opted to do so in order to control the film's budget, accepting a share in profits in lieu of remuneration.[81] Released on 7 August 2015, Srimanthudu opened to positive reviews from critics,[82] was commercially successful, and he gained the Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Telugu at the 63rd Filmfare Awards South,[83] marking his resurgence.[84] Sethumadhavan N. of Bangalore Mirror stated, Srimanthudu wouldn't have been as effective if it did not have Mahesh Babu who is at his charming best, adding that he "underplays the emotional scenes, making them a treat to watch".[85]
The film was a commercial success, grossing nearly ₹2.0 billion globally on a budget of ₹400-700 million and becoming the second-highest grossing Telugu film of all time and the highest grossing Telugu-language-only movie. After the film's release, many actors, bureaucrats and politicians announced plans to develop backward villages and encouraged the adoption of villages in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.[86] Babu himself has adopted his native village, Burripalem.[87]
Babu acted in Srikanth Addala's film Brahmotsavam co-starring Kajal Aggarwal, Samantha Ruth Prabhu and Pranitha Subhash. Originally produced as a bi-lingual, the film would've marked Babu's first straight Tamil film. However, later on the plan was altered due to its disastrous performance at the Telugu box office and the film wasn't released in Tamil.[88] While the film underperformed at the box office, the Deccan Chronicle stated that Mahesh Babu was its saving grace. The film was criticised by the public, for its lack of a proper story.[89] Babu stated that this was an error of judgement, where he had picked the wrong director.[90] He later appeared in the Telugu-Tamil bilingual Spyder, directed by A. R. Murugadoss, which finally marked his Tamil cinema debut[91] and grossed over ₹113 crores at the box office.[92] His next film was a political action drama Bharat Ane Nenu, directed by Koratala Siva and co-starring Kiara Advani. In this film, he played the role of a chief minister. It went on to become a hit and has grossed ₹225 crore, making it the 5th highest grossing Telugu film of all time, Mahesh Babu winning the Dadasaheb Phalke Best Actor Award for his performance.[93] His next film, Maharshi, was released on 5 April 2019. It collected a total of ₹175 crores in worldwide gross figures as of August 2019.[94].Hemanth Kumar of firstpost mentioned the film owes a lot to Mahesh Babu’s conviction to pull off his role and he makes you believe in his characterisation so much that it doesn’t feel like fiction. His flamboyance in the college sequences and the maturity with which he pulled off the village segments is noteworthy.[95]. Babu has confirmed, in an interview, that he will be working with director Sandeep Reddy Vanga on a new film whose title is yet to be determined.[96] His January 2020 release Sarileru Neekevvaru collected ₹260 crores in worldwide box office collections.[97][98].Hemanth Kumar of Firstpost mentioned Sarileru Neekevvaru packages oodles of humour and action in right measures for Babu to hit the ball out of the park. Everything else is just a bonus or a distraction.[99]. Babu's next Telugu film was announced on his father's birthday. The film has been titled Sarkaru Vaari Paata and will mark his maiden collaboration with director Parasuram.[100].
