Manchu Vishnu

Early life and education

Manchu Vishnu Vardhan was born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, to veteran actor Mohan Babu and mother late Vidya Devi. He grew up with his siblings- brother Manchu Manoj and sister Manchu Lakshmi.

After completing schooling from the Padmaseshadri Balabhavan School, Vishnu Manchu went on to take an Engineering Degree in the Sree Vidyanikethan Engineering College majoring in Computer Sciences and Information Technology. During this time, he represented the Bhaskar JNTU Cricket team, and also captained the University Basketball team.

Personal life

In the year 2008, he married Viranica Reddy, Niece of the late Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, the then Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. In 2011, Vishnu Manchu and Viranica Manchu were blessed with twins Ariaana and Viviana.

Introduction to Acting

Vishnu Manchu made his acting debut as a child artist in his father Manchu Mohan Babu’s 1985 film Ragile Gundelu, in which he appeared in a cute role.

As an Actor

Vishnu entered into Telugu Cinema with the 2003 film Vishnu, directed by Shaji Kailas, he went on to win the Filmfare Award for the Best Debut Male for his performance. He proceeded to play lead roles in the 2004 movie Suryam, 2005 film Political Rowdy, 2006 films, Asthram and Game. He finally got his critical breakthrough with the movie Dhee alongside Genelia D'Souza. Released in 2007, Dhee became his first commercial blockbuster movie. It was remade into Tamil as Mirattal, Bengali as Khokababu and Oriya as Tu mo girlfriend. He then went on to appear in 2008 movie Krishnarjuna, 2009's Saleem and the 2010 movie Vastadu Naa Raju.

Early Work 2003–2006

He landed his first lead role in the film Vishnu (2003), for which he won Filmfare Best Male Debut award. He played a guy who wants to win his childhood love with his own merits against many hurdles. The following year, he was seen in the film Suryam (2004) in which he played a guy who aims to fulfill the last wish of his mother. Vishnu made a cameo appearance as a dancer in Political Rowdy (2005), a romantic action drama. He next appeared in the action-drama Astram(2006) as an IPS officer who has been appointed to finish off the ultras. His performance in the movie was lauded by critics and fans. Soon after, Vishnu was cast in Game (2006) as Vijay Raj, sharing screen space with his celebrity father Mohan Babu and yesteryear heroine Shobana.

Breakthrough 2007

In Tollywood, a breakthrough film can be a blessing. Vishnu was struggling actor in Tollywood since 2003, getting lucky with when Dhee, a fast-paced commercial entertainer came along to substantially boost his career in 2007. The actor was truly the toast of Tollywood. He fit the bill for the role with his comic timing and matured performance. Vishnu did a pretty decent job as he was instantly plunged into the limelight with this role. In all honesty, the film was so good because of the amazing performances of Brahmanandam (playing the role of Srirangam Sheshadri Chary), Srihari (Shankar Gowd) and Vishnu Manchu (Srinivas Rao).

2008-2010

Vishnu’s next films were Krishnarjuna (2008), Saleem (2009) and Vastadu Naa Raju (2010). Though they were only moderately successful films, he ultimately earned many more accolades for his portrayals.

2012-Present

In 2012, Vishnu starred in the G. Nageswara Reddy's Denikaina Ready, which became a superhit and succeeded in changing his image. The next year, he received an opportunity to exhibit his versatility as an actor in the titular role of Veeru Potla's rom-com, Doosukeltha. The movie not only established Vishnu as an A-list actor, but it also grossed more than 620 million at the box office. His next project fared much better, when he played the Gambler Gopi in the ensemble comedy Pandavulu Pandavulu Tummeda (2014), which also featured Mohan Babu, Manchu Manoj, Raveena Tandon, Hansika Motwani, Pranitha Subhash and Varun Sandesh.

Vishnu delivered perhaps the most outstanding performance of his career, playing Krishna in Rowdy (2014) alongside his father Mohan Babu. Showing his range as an actor, Vishnu later portrayed DCP Goutham in the commercially unsuccessful but critically adored film Anukshnam (2014), helmed by Ram Gopal Varma. He continued to show his tremendous skill as a dramatic actor in 2014’s Erra Bus, produced and directed by late versatile director Dasari Narayana Rao. He then appeared in the action thriller Dynamite, directed by Deva Katta. Vishnu further proved his comedic talents with thie romantic comedy entertainer Eedo Rakam Aado Rakam (2015) in which he co-starred with Raj Tarun. In 2017, he starred in Luckunnodu which performed poorly at the box office. By the end of 2017 he had already appeared in 20 films.

Near-fatal Accident

While filming the light-hearted comedy Achari America Yatra, Vishnu Manchu had a near-fatal experience on the set. The actor, who was shooting in Malaysia suffered serious injuries when he hit his opponent with the helmet during a fight scene.

Television

Vishnu Manchu made his foray into Television by directing the 100th episode of Zee Telugu's series titled Happy Days. The episode went on to achieve the highest TRP ratings among the 700 episodes part of the series. Happy Days also happens to be produced by 24 Frames Factory. He has also directed Lakshmi Talk Show or Premathoo Mee Lakshmi.

Producer

Manchu Vishnu also heads the 24 Frames Factory Production house and ThinkSmart, a post-production company.In 2014, 24 Frames Factory will also produce Pandavulu Pandavulu Tummeda, a comedy flick with an ensemble cast. ThinkSmart on the other hand, handles post-production including graphics and other elements for cinema.Atanokkade

As an Educationalist

Vishnu’s father the great Mohan Babu started his life as a teacher. As Vishnu is the director of Spring Board International Preschools, we regard him as an educationist. When he joined hands with Sree Vidyanikethan Educational Trust set up by his father, it was already a well-established educational institution. He followed his dreams as he took charge of this institution and build them into model institutions offering value-based education to the students. He expanded and diversified it into Spring Board Academy, Founder and Chairman at The New York Academy. He believed that early childhood education would help children to become well-rounded contributors to society.

Contributions to education

Manchu Vishnu runs the Sree Vidyanikethan Educational Trust, founded by his father. The trust runs the Sree Vidyanikethan International School, Sree Vidyanikethan degree College, Sree Vidyanikethan Engineering College, Sree Vidyanikethan College of Pharmacy, Sree Vidyanikethan College of Nursing, The Sree Vidyanikethan College of Management and the Sree Vidyanikethan College for Post Graduation Studies.

Army Green

Manchu Vishnu started a social unit called Army Green for promoting environmental awareness. Army Green adopted small settlements in the vicinity of the Sree Vidyanikethan Institutions.