Venkatesh Daggubati, known mononymously as Venkatesh, is an Indian film actor known for his works predominantly in Telugu cinema. In a career spanning over 30 years, he portrayed the lead role in 74 films, including two Hindi movies. He has played a variety of roles, which included rebellious streaks, rustic roles and also smart urbane characters. He has won five Nandi awards for the best actor category given by the government of Andhra Pradesh — matching with Telugu film industry icon Akkineni Nageshwara Rao who held the record of winning the highest number of Nandi awards. He also got a special jury award for his debut film Kaliyuga Pandavulu in 1986 and for Swarnakamalam in 1988. He also received three Filmfare Awards for Telugu films for the best actor category and two Filmfare Awards for Excellent Performance. Along with his brother Daggubati Suresh Babu, Venkatesh is the co-owner of Suresh Productions, one of the largest film production companies in India. He acted in several films produced under his home production house. He is also the mentor of the Telugu Warriors, representing Tollywood in the Celebrity Cricket League.
Early and personal life
Venkatesh was born to film producer and former MP, Ramanaidu Daggubati and Rajeshwari at Karamchedu village of Prakasam district in Andhra Pradesh, India. He has an elder brother Suresh Babu Daggubati, who runs Suresh Productions, and a younger sister Lakshmi. Venkatesh did his schooling in Don Bosco, Egmore, Chennai and graduated in commerce from Loyola College, Chennai. He got his MBA from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, USA. After his return to India, he wanted to get into film production but instead, became an actor in Telugu films. He married Neeraja Daggubati in 1985 and the couple has four children, three daughters and one son. His eldest daughter Aashritha Daggubati married Vinayak Reddy, the grandson of R. Surender Reddy, the chairman of Hyderabad Race Club.
Career
Venkatesh acted as a child artist in the 1971 filmPrema Nagar, where he played the role of the younger brother of the female leadVanisri. He debuted as a full-fledged lead in Kaliyuga Pandavulu in 1986 alongside Khushbu Sundar for whom, the film was a debut in South Indian film industry. It won him a Nandi Award in special jury award category. During the early phase in his acting career, Venkatesh acted in one of the classics of Telugu film industrySwarnakamalam, which was directed by K Viswanath. The film was showcased at the 1989 International Film Festival of India and got him a Nandi Award in special jury category in 1988. He also acted in critically acclaimed musical romance filmPrema, which fetched him a Nandi Award for best acting. In 1988, he had another successful film, Brahma Putrudu, which won him a Filmfare Award for best actor in Telugu films category. The real turnaround for him as an actor came in 1990 with Bobbli Raja. In this movie, Venkatesh acted as a young man, who seeks to undo injustice done to her mother. The movie turned out to be one of big hits and proved to be a turning point of his career. It firmly placed him as the top four heroes of the Telugu film industry. A year later, his action in Ram Gopal Varma's Kshana Kshanam along with Sridevi won great accolades. His portrayal of an innocent village man in Chanti in 1992 opened up a new genre of films in the Telugu film industry and made him a family hero. His In 1996, he starred in Dharma Chakram, which won him yet another Nandi Award and one more Filmfare Award for his performance. His role in Ganesh as a person fighting against the ills in the Indian public healthcare system won rave reviews and got him both Nandi and Filmfare awards.
