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Deverakonda Vijay Sai (born 9 May 1989), better known as Vijay Deverakonda, is an Indian actor and film producer who works predominantly in Telugu cinema. He is the recipient of a Filmfare Award, a Nandi Award, and a SIIMA Award. Since 2018, he has featured in ''Forbes India''s Celebrity 100 list due to his income and popularity.

Deverakonda made his debut with ''Nuvvila'' (2011) and received praise for his role in ''Yevade Subramanyam'' (2015). He established himself as a leading film actor with the blockbusters ''Pelli Choopulu'' (2016) and ''Arjun Reddy'' (2017), and gained further success by starring in ''Mahanati'' (2018), ''Geetha Govindam'' (2018), and ''Taxiwaala'' (2018). Deverakonda won the Filmfare Best Actor Award for his performance in ''Arjun Reddy''.

Deverakonda ventured into production under the banner King of the Hill Entertainment, which notably backed '' Meeku Maathrame Cheptha'' (2019) and '' Pushpaka Vimanam'' (2021). Beyond his film career, Deverakonda endorses many products and designed his own fashion brand ''Rowdy Wear'', which premiered on Myntra in 2020.

Early life

Deverakonda Vijay Sai was born in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh (now Telangana) to Govardhan Rao and Madhavi. His family hails from Thummanpeta village of erstwhile Mahbubnagar district (now Nagarkurnool). His father was a small television serial director who quit doing them due to lack of success.

Vijay completed his Schooling in Sri Sathya Sai Higher Secondary School (a boarding school) till 10th grade in Puttaparthi. He then studied Intermediate at the Little Flower Junior College, Hyderabad. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree. He has a younger brother, Anand, who is also an actor.

Career

Early career (2011–2015)

Deverakonda made his debut with Ravi Babu-directed romantic comedy ''Nuvvila'' (2011). He later appeared in Sekhar Kammula's '' Life is Beautiful'' in a minor role. He was introduced to Nag Ashwin, who later cast him in a supporting role for the 2015 film ''Yevade Subramanyam'' alongside actor Nani. The film was produced by the daughters of Ashwini Dutt, a producer in the Telugu film industry; Priyanka Dutt backed him and once shooting started, and Swapna Dutt signed him onto her company.

Breakthrough and success (2016–present)

Deverakonda's first lead role was in ''Pelli Choopulu'', a romantic coming-of-age film directed by Tharun Bhascker. The film became commercially successful and won the Best Feature Film in Telugu and the Filmfare Award for Best Film – Telugu at the 64th National Film Awards. He starred in the masala film, '' Dwaraka'' in 2017. His next film ''Arjun Reddy'' received praise and criticism alike for being very bold and radical. Vijay's portrayal as a self-destructive, short-tempered, and alcoholic surgeon received critical acclaim, and won him awards like the Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Telugu. In 2019, ''Film Companion'' ranked Deverakonda's performance in ''Arjun Reddy'' in "100 Greatest Performances of the Decade"''.''

Following ''Arjun Reddy'' was ''Ye Mantram Vesave'', which was supposed to release in 2013 but released on 2018. He then starred in ''Mahanati'', a biographical film around the life of actress Savitri. Deverakonda's next release in 2018 was Geetha Arts' romantic comedy ''Geetha Govindam'', in which he starred as an innocent and nervous college professor. His next film, released on 5 October, was the Tamil political thriller '' NOTA'', directed by Anand Shankar, which performed poorly at the box office. His next project was UV Creations' supernatural comedy thriller ''Taxiwaala''.

In 2019, Deverakonda was seen in Bharat Kamma's ''Dear Comrade'', a romantic action drama, alongside Rashmika Mandanna. He later signed ''Hero,'' directed by Anand Annamalai co-starring Malavika Mohanan. But the film was reportedly shelved after beginning its production. In 2020, he acted in Kranthi Madhav's romantic drama '' World Famous Lover'' opposite Raashi Khanna, Catherine Tresa, Aishwarya Rajesh, and Izabelle Leite which opened to negative reviews. In 2022, he acted in the Hindi–Telugu bilingual film ''Liger'' which was directed by Puri Jagannadh and produced by Karan Johar which also opened to negative reviews.He is currently acting in '' Kushi'' which is directed by Shiva Nirvana and is scheduled to release on 23 December 2022. He also is signed onto ''Jana Gana Mana'' which is being directed by Puri Jagannadh, and is scheduled to release on 3 August 2023.

Other work

He was the brand ambassador of food delivery app Zomato. On 15 October 2018, Deverakonda launched his fashion brand ''Rowdy Wear''. Later, in 2020 ''Rowdy Wear'' was launched on Myntra.

Deverakonda has donated to relief funds, including a donation to families of victims in the 2019 Pulwama attack.

Deverakonda conceptualised and founded The Deverakonda Foundation'','' a nonprofit organisation in April 2019. In early 2020, he donated ₹24,000 through the Foundation to help Ganesh Ambari, a kickboxer who won the Vaco Indian Open International Kick-boxing Championship Title 2020.

An initiative was started to battle COVID-19 pandemic crisis. The foundation has successfully aided 17,000 middle-class families with their groceries and basic essentials, spending ₹1.7 crores, with the help of his Middle Class Fund (MCF). More than 8,500 volunteers donated over ₹1.5 crores to join his community effort. Organizers decided to end the initiative on 2 June 2020.

In the media

Deverakonda says his family used to call him a ''rowdy'' every time he did something that they did not approve of. Over time, he started using this term for himself and his fans.

Deverakonda is known to express his real, unfiltered opinions on stage or at interviews and has gathered a lot of popularity and some criticism for his brutal honesty, like his speech at the ''Arjun Reddy'' audio launch in 2017.

Deverakonda placed 72nd in the Forbes India Celebrity 100 list of 2018. He was ranked in The Times Most Desirable Men at No. 4 in 2018, at No. 3 in 2019, at No. 2 in 2020. He was additionally featured by ''Forbes India'' in their 30 Under 30 list, and became the most searched South Indian actor according to Google's annual report.

Filmography

*''All films are in Telugu unless otherwise noted.''

As actor

As producer

TV shows

Awards and nominations

References

External links

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Vijay Deverakonda
at Bollywood Hungama

{{DEFAULTSORT:Deverakonda, Vijay
1989 births
Living people
Filmfare Awards South winners
Male actors in Telugu cinema
Indian male film actors
Indian male stage actors
21st-century Indian male actors
Telugu male actors
Male actors from Telangana
People from Nagarkurnool district
Male actors in Tamil cinema
Male actors in Hindi cinema
Nandi Award winners
South Indian International Movie Awards winners