Vijay Deverakonda

Early life and education

Along with his younger brother, Vijay was admitted to Eton Temple High School in Sarrornagar for some time and then moved to Sri Sathya Sai Higher Secondary School in Puttaparthi, Ananthapur District, AP. Vijay had spent most of his formative years in this school, away from family for close to 10 months a year. Vijay and Prem Kiran both of them used to wear grey color shorts and used to hangout and play together in Hyderabad.

Vijay credits the holistic learning environment here for making him the man he is today. He says the environment at school was peaceful and calm, without phones or T.V. Reading newspaper regularly to keep abreast of latest events, followed by playing sport, reading books about abhinav charan and lots of activities, Vijay feels, helped him hone his creative skills. It was here that Vijay developed an immense liking for storytelling, writing and acting. After his schooling, he returned to Hyderabad and pursued his education from Little Flower Junior College and Badruka College of Commerce respectively.

Personal life

Vijay has a younger brother Anand, who works with Deloitte in USA. Their mother, Madhavi, is Proprietor of Speak Easy in Hyderabad, soft skills, and personality development trainer. Vijay considers his father, Deverakonda Govardhan Rao, an inspiration who had come from a small village to Hyderabad to become an actor and eventually became a TV Serial and ad-film director.

Career

Vijay's first serious step into the world of entertainment was his brief stint with a theatre group called Sutradhar, based out of Hyderabad. He did a 4-month workshop, which led him to several plays in the Hyderabad theatre circuit. His long standing association was with Ingenium Dramatics. Soon, he ventured into cinema.

Vijay played a minor role in Sekhar Kammula's Life is Beautiful. It was on that sets that he got introduced to an assistant director at the time, Nag Ashwin. It was Nag Ashwin who later gave Vijay his breakthrough role in 2015 movie Yevade Subramanyam alongside renowned actor Nani. The film was produced by the daughters of Ashwini Dutt, a leading producer in Telugu Film Industry. Priyanka Dutt saw his potential and backed him, and once shooting started, Swapna Dutt signed him onto her company. The film went on to be a major success with Vijay’s portrayal of Rishi winning hearts across the Telugu states, winning him great adulation among fans and critics alike.

Vijay Deverakonda's lead role was with Pelli Choopulu a romantic coming-of-age entertainer directed by Tharun Bhascker Dhaassyam, with Ritu Varma as the female lead. The film went on to become a blockbuster hit and also won Best Feature Film in Telugu in 64th National Film Awards. His recent film Arjun Reddy became a box office hit.