Telugu Movie Review Mahanati - Cast & Crew

Charulatha Mani is a renowned playback and Carnatic singer. She was born on January 21, 1981, in Madras, Tamil Nadu in India. At the age of 18, she is already doing Carnatic concerts. Charulatha also performed in many television shows and radio programs in and outside the country. She has crooned songs and had several CD and DVD albums. Aside from that, she also acted on television, particularly on Jaya TV’s Isai Payanam. Hemlatha is a popular playback singer who had become one of the most prominent musicians in both India and abroad. She had received enormous praises from different countries for her melodious, rich, and beautiful inner voice.

Ramya Behara who was born on 1 February in the year 1994 is a singer in Telugu industry. She was born in Narasaraopet, Guntur District, and Andhra Pradesh. She has sung for many Hindi films and mainly sings in regional films. One of the most popular sung by her was “Main Tujhse Pyaar Nahi Karti” in one of the most popular Bollywood movie named “Baby” starring Akshay Kumar.

Shreya Ghoshal, one of the most famous singers in Bollywood today, was born on March 12th, 1984, in Berhampore, West Bengal. Her father Biswajit Ghoshal is an electrical engineer and mother Sharmistha Ghoshal is a postgraduate in literature. She started singing since the age of 4 when her mother taught her. She started her formal training in Hindustani classical Gharana of music when she was only six years old. She was trained for 18 months after which she continued her training in Mumbai with Late Mukta Bhideji. She completed her graduation in Arts with majors in English. Her first on-stage performance was at their club’s annual function. Her first studio album was in Bengali in 19998 and was named Bendhechhi Beena, and her first onscreen performance was in Awaz Nayi Andaaz Wohi. In 1995, she became the winner of All India Light Vocal Music Competition. Her fame and career began with her winning a television singing reality show named Sa Re Ga Ma Pa.

She was born on May 10, 1978 in Guntur city of Andhra Pradesh into a Telugu Brahmin family. Her original name was Sunitha Upadrashta.

She started training at an age of 3 in Carnatic vocal and light music. She learnt music for eight years. At the age of fifteen she won national award for All India Radio. She began her career as playback singer in 1995 for the movie Gulabi (a musical hit Telugu cinema).

She worked as playback singer, anchor and dubbing artist. She got married very early at an age of 19, her husband Kiran also works for media. Couple got two children, son and a daughter.

She gave voice to famous heroines like Jyothika (wife of actor surya), Anushka Shetty (famous south Indian actress), Bhoomika(famous heroine in south Indian films), Charmi kaur (predominant telugu heroine), Laila, Meera Jasmine (national award winning actress), Soundarya (versatie actress), Sonali Bendre (Indian actress, television personality and model, also appeared in Bollywood), Shreya Sharan (south Indian actress from Dehradun), Genelia dsouza (Indian actress and wife of Ritesh Deshmuk), Sneha (Telugu born beauty),  Katrina Kaif (leading Bollywood heroine), Tamannah (milk beauty from Punjab), Trisha Krishnan (an established leading actress), Kamlini Mukherji (famous for her homely appearence), Nayanatara (Diana Mariam Kurian, a kerala beauty and leading actress) etc. All the above mentioned heroines acted with top actresses and have blockbusters in their career; many of them are still seen on screen. She had a record of dubbing sixty movies in a single year. She dubbed almost 750 films, also received four Nandi awards from AP government as best dubbing artist.

She worked with almost more than twenty music directors, she sang more than 3000 songs in films itself. She is even associated with Tamil and Kannada. She had given many stage shows abroad as singer. She won a film fare award as best female playback singer. She won many Nandi awards as playback singer for both movies and TV serials.

She won many gold medals in her childhood itself and she won more than 25 other awards as best female singer. She was internationally recognized.

She participated in many TV shows also. She gave more than 500 programmes on AIR, Doordarshan, ETV, Gemini TV, and MAA TV.

She hosted many TV shows related to music, ‘Navaragam’ on Gemini TV, ‘Jhunmmandi Naadam’, ‘Saptasvaralu’, ‘Paaduta Teeyaga’ on ETV, ‘Saregamapa’ on ZEE Telugu. She was taking part in ‘Super Singer (reality-based Indian singing competition)’ series on MAA TV from 4th series as participant, mentor and judge. She bagged ‘Super Singer-7’ title recently.

Archana Rao is a Telugu movie actress based in India. She is well known for her work in Mahanati, a biographic drama film released on 8 May 2018, directed by Nag Ashwin, written by Nag Ashwin, Sai Madhav Burra, and Padmavathi Visweswar, and starring Keerthy Suresh, Dulquer Salmaan, and Samantha Ruth Prabhu. She worked on Stand Up Rahul, a comedy, drama, and romantic film released on 18 March 2022, directed and written by Santo, and starring Varsha Bollamma, Indraja, and Vennela Kishore. She worked in Bheja Fry, a comedy and drama film released on 17 June 2011, directed by Sagar Ballary, written by Rohit Joshi, Sharat Katariya, and Sagar Ballary, and starring Vinay Pathak, Kay Kay Menon, and Minissha Lamba. She also worked in Pitta Kathalu, a romantic drama Netflix television series released on 19 February 2021, starring Satyadev Kancharana, Shruti Haasan, and Jagapathi Babu.

Keerthy is the daughter of yesteryear actress Menaka and producer 'R Suresh Kumar' who made her debut with Priyadarshan’s ‘’Geetanjali’’. Naturally, she had dreamt always to become an actress. And then she also had the support of her parents who wanted Keerthy to grow up as an actor. She never had any second thoughts about her career and she had always wanted to become an actor only. Although she is from a family where acting is the only passion, she had naturally gotten to the skin of many characters and had left a mark with each character that she had played.

She was given various roles to portray, whether it is a bubbly and loud girl as Maya in Rajini Murugan( Tamil -2015), or an urban, calm and quiet Chennai girl in Idhu Enna Maayam (Tamil-2015), every character had helped her to evolve as an actor. But before making a debut as a leading lady, in Mollywood (Geetanjail), she was seen as a child artiste. She appeared as a child artiste in her father’s productions such as’ Pilot’, ‘Achaneyanenikku Ishtam’, and’ Kuberan’(all films had released in 2002).

She acted even in a Telefilm that was made by Suresh Krishna. She has a keen interest in fashion design too. With her sparkling screen presence in ‘Geethanjali’, she grabbed other films too in hand. After ‘Geetanjali’, she was in demand and rightly so in other regional languages too. With her performances, she has proved that she can pull off any role that is offered to her. Will she be seen in a Hindi film too? This is because her sister Revathy Suresh, had acted in many Indian languages, and considered to be a very versatile screen performer. Like most of the actors these days, Keethy also looks for a good script. For Keerthy, making her inroads in cinema was not a cakewalk. The entry was easy, of course, because of her parents and elder sister Revathy’s connections. But she had a talent too in her genes. Apart from two Telugu films such as ‘’Aina Nuvvu Ishtam” and “Harikatha” (2015), she has been signed up for a project with Dhanush too.

Keerthy Family Tree (Infographic Family Tree)

Born on April 28 1987 Samantha is a model and actress, who has acted in Telugu and Tamil films. Samantha was brought up in Chennai and she was involved in modeling in her teens. The Telugu film Ye Maya Chesave was her first film and she was instantly successful; she got the Filmfare award for Best Debut. She also has a Nandi award to her credit, for this film.

Divya Vani’s original name is Usha Vani. Divya Vani is her screen name. Divya Vani’s native place is Tenali, Andhra Pradesh. She studied in Guntur up to 10th standard. She has one sister and one brother. Her sister Baby Rani is a classical dancer. She got married at the age of 17 years. Divya Vani’s husband’s name is Devanand. He is an industrialist.

Shalini Pandey is an Indian film actress. She kick-started her career with her debut film Arjun Reddy. Shalini has also started her career as a producer; her first production Daas Dev released in the year 2018, and has worked as an associate producer in the movie. She has worked for seven movies till now, and is also filming for some films presently. She entered the industry in the year 2017, with the cinema Arjun Reddy. Due to her marvelous and appreciable acting skills, she is recently working for more than three films now. She has a charming and bold personality. Shalini was born on September 23rd, 1993, and belongs to Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh. She comes from a family belonging to an amusing culture. Her father is a government employee, and her mother is a homemaker. She completed her graduation from Global Engineering College.

A multi-talented Indian actress, Tulasi started her career as a child actress following it was her role as the main lead and then as a motherly figure in supporting roles. Her linguistic film approach has made her a quite famous actress. In 1967, when she was three months old, she acted in her first film. In the Telugu film, Bharya a baby was needed, and she was placed in the cradle. The film ‘Jeevanatarangalu’ also had her at the age of one and a half years old. Then later she went to become a full-fledged actress at the age of three. The fact was that she never went to school. Her marriage story is also very interesting. She says that at the age of 28, she met the man of her dreams in the morning and tied the knot with him in the evening.

Gireesaaya is an Indian-Director. He primarily works in the Tamil Film Industry. He is thinking of working the other film industries which include the Hindi Film Industry, Telugu Film Industry, Kannada Film Industry, and Malayalam Film Industry. He is a hardworking and dedicated director. He works in the Television Industry and the Film Industry.Along with being a Director, he is also interested in exploring the media industry.

Ramajogayya Sastry was born on August 24, 1970 in the small village called Arepalli Muppalla, Ipur Mandal which is near Narasaraopet of Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh to parents Suryaprakasa Rao and Saraswatamma in an agricultural family. His father was a priest and an agriculturist by profession. His mother is a home-maker. He was the only child of his parents. He is a Computer Science Engineer who persuaded his B.Tech from NIT Warangal and his Master’s degree in M.Tech at IIT Kharagpur.

Sirivennela Seetharama Sastry is an Indian Lyricist and Poet. He works in the Telugu Film Industry as a Lyricist. His actual name is Chembolu Seetharama Sastry. Sastry was born on the 20th of May in the year 1955. He was born in Anakapalli, Andhra Pradesh. He is currently staying in Hyderabad, Telangana. Seetharama Sastry had his debut with writing songs for the legendary director K. Vishwanath.

Anurag Kulkarni is a playback singer from Hyderabad. He was born on the June 7th 1993. He is a playback singer in the Telugu Film Industry. He started to learn Hindustani Classical Music for three years from late Sri. Kakunoori Jangaiah, a famous Hindustani vocalist and guru. He pursued his bachelor’s degree in Computer Science Engineering from Vignan Institute of Technology and Aeronautical Engineering in 2015.

Naga Chaitanya is a Telugu actor and he is into the film industry since 2009. His debut film Josh fetched him several awards, though he didn’t get the expected positive reviews for it. Naga Chaitanya was born in Hyderabad on 23rd November 1986. His parents are Telugu superstar Akkineni Nagarjuna and Lakshmi Daggubati. His granddads Akkineni Nageswara Rao and Daggubati Naidu were both prominent faces in Telugu film industry. Film celebrities Daggubati Venkatesh, Rana Daggubati, Sushanth and Sumant Yerlagada are also relatives to him.

When his parents parted ways Chaitanya came to Chennai. Amala Akkineni is the stepmother of this star. Though Chaitanya stayed with Lakshmi, he used to visit Hyderabad to see Nagarjuna. He did his schooling in Chennai. He performed drums and guitar while at school. Since Chaitanya was from a film family, everyone expected him to enter the industry, but he was not initially inclined. Eventually he nodded in the affirmative and pursued acting training in Mumbai. Later, in order to be trained in fight and dance, he journeyed to Hollywood Studios.

Gautham Menon’s “Em Maya Chesave” (Tamil film Vinnaithandi Varuvaaya) is the second venture of Chaitanya and he was lauded by critics for his performance in the film. Autonagar Surya, 100 percent love, Dada, Bejawada, Tadaka, Manam, Oka Laila Kosam are some of the films in which this star acted. Tadakha, which is the remake of Tamil flick Vettai, starring Arya, gave the much-needed appreciation for Chaitanya (the film set the cash registers ringing at the box office) since his previous venture Bejawada was lashed at by the critics for his poor performance. The 2014 flick Manam in which Chaitanya shared screen space with his father and grandfather saw a great transformation in this actor. Some of the other films of Chaitanya were also highly appreciated.

Akkineni Nagarjuna Family Tree (Infographic Family Tree)

Mahesh Achanta is an Indian-Actor. He primarily works in the Telugu Film Industry. He is thinking of working in other film industries which include Tamil Film Industry, Hindi Film Industry, Malayalam Film Industry, and Kannada Film Industry. He believes in becoming a multi-tasking person, so he is exploring more in the media industry. Some of the movies in which he has worked include Sadha Nannu Nadipae, Ninnu Thalachi, Nenu Naa Nagarjuna, Burrakhata, and 118.

Prakash Raj, born on 26th of March, 1965, as Prakash Rai, in Bangalore, is an actor, director, and producer. He is also a television presenter and has worked in films of many languages. He is best known for his work in the film industry of South India, and for playing roles of a villain in quite a few Bollywood films. He hails from a Tulu and Kannada-speaking household and is fluent in various other languages such as Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, and Telugu. He also has an actor brother named Prasad Raj. He studied at St. Joseph’s Boy’s School, and subsequently, at St. Joseph’s College of Commerce. Both institutions are in Bangalore. Prakash has three children, Meghana, Pooja, and Sidhu, from his earlier marriage to the actress Lalitha Kumari. His son, unfortunately, passed away in the year 2004. He is currently married to the choreographer Pony Verma. In the first few years of his career, he worked in Kannada Doordarshan, doing serials like Guddada Bhootha, and he also acted in supporting roles in Kannada movies like Nishkarsha.

National Award-winning Director (Film Kanche), and co-director Krish is known as one of the creative Filmmakers in the industry. He is famous for his movies in different genres. He showcased his talent by achieving Film fare award for a 1st movie in his carrier, Gyanam a Telugu movie, it broke all the records, and its remake came into three different languages (Tamil, Bengali, and Kannada).

Sai Madhav Burra is a popular Indian screenwriter, who is popular for his works in the Telugu film industry. Madhav had written the dialogues for the movies Kaidi No. 150 and Gautamiputra Satakarni for the superstars Chiranjeevi and Balakrishna. His earlier works in dialogues include Malli Idi Rani Roju and Krishna Vande Jagadguru.

Srinivas Avasarala is a Telugu film celebrity, who was born to Satya Narayana Murthy and Nagamani Avasarala. He is a popular director, actor, screenplay writer as well as dialogue writer. Being impressed to screenplay writing, he attended a course in Screen writing in California. He also learnt acting from the Lee Strasburg Theatre and Film Institute. He has also worked as a theater artist in New York and also worked as an assistant director in the film Blind Ambition. Working at Universal Studios is really amazing and this opportunity was given to Srinivas Avasarala and he did perfectly, as a script screener. Though he is a post graduate in Mechanical Engineering and worked in Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, his interest was in the cinema industry. Ashta Chasma was his first Telugu movie, which is released in the year 2008. He has acted in Orange, Chammak Challo, Sukumarudu, Aravind 2, Adda, Jill and few more films. In the film Golconda High School, he wrote the dialogues and rendered his voice too. In the film Oohalu Gusagusalade, he became a director and the film was a box office hit. He also appeared in the film in the role Udaya Bhaskar. Hailed from Hyderabad, Srinivas Avasarala went around the world for his career setup.

Tharun Bhascker Dhaassyam was born on 5th November, 1988 in Hanamkonda, Warangal district of Telangana, India. He is a writer and director by profession who majorly works for Telugu Film Industry. He is 28 years old. He started his career in the year 2012. His genre for writing is mainly romantic comedy. He was brought up in Marredpally situated in Hyderabad.