Naga Chaitanya

Early life and family

Chaitanya was born on 23 November 1986 in Chennai, Tamil nadu. His parents are the actor and entrepreneur Akkineni Nagarjuna, the son of actor Akkineni Nageswara Rao and Lakshmi Daggubati, the daughter of producer D. Ramanaidu. His maternal uncle Daggubati Venkatesh and cousins Rana Daggubati, Sumanth and Sushanth are also actors. Nagarjuna and Lakshmi divorced after which the former married actress Amala Mukherjee, to whom Chaitanya's half brother Akhil Akkineni was born.

After his parents' divorce, Chaitanya left to Chennai, Tamil Nadu with Lakshmi. He used to play keyboard and bass guitar in his school band and went on to study keyboard from Trinity College London. During his stay in Chennai for eighteen years, he completed his schooling and returned to Hyderabad to pursue a B. Com degree. He expressed his desire to take up acting as his profession to Nagarjuna during his second year of graduation. He took a three-month course in acting in Mumbai and received further training in acting and martial arts in Los Angeles apart from trying to gain perfection in Telugu diction for one-and-a-half years before making his acting debut.

After a courtship from November 2015, he got engaged to actress Samantha Ruth Prabhu on January 29, 2017.

Debut and struggle (2009–2013)

Chaitanya debuted in 2009 with the film Josh directed by Vasu Varma in which he played the role of a college student. Rediff.com wrote "As a debutant, Naga Chaitanya has performed well. He has his moments where he's proven himself. There is always scope for improvement and one hopes that he will hone his skills in the years to come." Chaitanya won the Filmfare Award South for Best Male Debut.

He next starred in the romantic film Ye Maaya Chesave directed by Gautham Menon which was the simultaneously shot Telugu version of the Tamil film Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa with a different cast and climax. He played the role of a Hindu-Telugu assistant director who falls in love with a Syrian Christian Malayali girl. A reviewer from Sify.com wrote "Naga Chaitanya is at home in romantic scenes. His asset is his voice and his casual acting style. Chaitanya has improved much better in performance from his first film. He can now confidently act in more romantic films and strengthen his position." However, the reviewer felt that he should concentrate on his looks as he felt that Chaitanya looked "very boyish". The film was a surprise hit at the box office and went on to receive a cult status. He also received a nomination for Filmfare Award South for Best Actor Male.

After Ye Maaya Chesave, he paired up with Sukumar for another love story titled 100% Love in which he played the role of a studious and egoistic college student who is the top ranker of his college. IndiaGlitz wrote "Naga Chaitanya's action has improved from his previous films. Though his expressions fall flat at places, the music, characterization, camera and the look covers it all. His timing and grasping of his role is commendable. Though he didn't impress with his action, he didn't depress either. His best is perhaps yet to come." However, the reviewer opined that Chaitanya should improve his dancing skills.

His next film was Dhada directed by debutante director Ajay Bhuyan. The film's story is based on an engineering graduate student who was to complete his studies in USA and return to India in another 10 days. The Times of India wrote "After good performances in his last two films, Naga Chaitanya doesn't live up to expectations. He has the same expression stuck on his face throughout the movie."

His last release of the year was Bejawada directed by Vivek Krishna. The film saw Chaitanya portraying the role of a college student-turned-gangster. The film received negative reviews with critics calling it the worst film of Chaitanya which even outshines Dhada in being the worst. His performance was also panned by critics. The Times of India wrote "This film might have even outdone "Dhada", in being called the worst film of Naga Chaitanya's career. While the young actor still needs to work on his facial expressions, he was saddled with a poorly sketched character in this film, devoid of all heroism, and he fails to rise above it."

Breakthrough and experimentation of genres (2013–present)

Chaitanya's next film Tadakha was an official remake of N. Lingusamy's Tamil action film Vettai. The Hindu wrote "Naga Chaitanya shows tremendous improvement over his last outing, the debacle called Bejawada. He is in sync with his role, exudes confidence and seems to have had fun both during the stunt sequences and comic portions. Reprising a role played by an established actor like Arya is no mean task and Chaitanya pulls it off rather well." The film was a Hit at the Box office giving the actor a much needed break.

In 2014, Chaitanya appeared in the period-drama Manam which also featured his grandfather, Akkineni Nageswara Rao, and father, Akkineni Nagarjuna. He played two roles in the film which were of a middle class father in 1983 and a happy-go-lucky college student in present age. Deccan Chronicle wrote "Naga Chaitanya has done a decent job and compared to his earlier films he matured a lot as an actor." Sify.com wrote "There is lot of improvement in Naga Chaitanya`s acting. He looks natural and has done justice to his role."

His next release was the political-drama Autonagar Surya directed by Deva Katta in which he played the role of Surya, a skilled mechanic. Upon release, the film received mixed reviews from critics who however appreciated Naga Chaitanya's performance in the film calling it as one of his best efforts. The film was still managed to do well at the box office. The Hindu wrote "One rarely gets to see Naga Chaitanya smiling in this film. Chaitanya brings in the right amount of grit and intensity required for his role and shows that he can carry a film on his shoulders with the help of an able director."

Chaitanya starred in Oka Laila Kosam, a romantic film for Chaitanya and his performance in the film was well appreciated by critics. His next release was the action-crime drama, Dohchay directed by Sudheer Varma whose shoot started in mid-July 2014. The movie released in mid-April 2015.

Later on that year, he was brought aboard for Gautham Menon's bilingual romantic thriller film Sahasam Swasaga Sagipo which won him further critical acclaim.

Meanwhile, he had also starred in the remake of Malayalam's 2015 cult-romantic film Premam with the same name co-starring Shruti Hassan. Premam released in October 2016 and garnered huge success and praise in spite of the criticism brought along with remake rights.This film brought out him one of the biggest success of his career.

In May 2017, Rarandoi Veduka Chudham, a family-entertainer, released and went on to become a box office super-hit and brought further acclaim to Chaitanya's performance.

His another film Yuddham Sharanam has been released on 8th September 2017.