Venu Thottempudi (born 4 June 1968) is an Indian actor who primarily works in Telugu cinema. He has appeared in several successful Telugu films as a lead actor from 1999 to the early 2000s.
Venu Thottempudi | |
|---|---|
 Thottempudi in 2014 | |
| Born | 4 June 1968[1] |
| Other names | Venu |
| Occupation(s) | Actor, businessman |
| Years active | 1999 – 2013 2022 - present |
| Spouse | Anupama Choudary[2] |
Career
editAfter finishing his engineering from Dharwad Engineering College, Venu started pursuing acting as his career. For his first acting job, he was cast as the main lead in a movie directed by Bharathiraja. After a brief period of shooting, the movie was stalled and later cancelled due to production problems. To promote Venu, his friend Venkata Shyamprasad formed S. P. Entertainments. Under this banner, in 1999 Venu started his career with the movie Swayamvaram, directed by K. Vijaya Bhaskar. Co-starring Laya, the movie was very successful at the box-office and Venu won a Nandi Special Jury Award for the movie. Venu became well known for his dialogue delivery, timing, expressions and clear portrayal of emotions.[citation needed] In 2000 after the unsuccessful Manasu Paddanu Kaani, Venu won at the box office once again with Chirunavvutho. G. Ramprasad, who earlier worked with B. Gopal as an assistant director, was roped in as the director for this movie. This movie co-starring Shaheen Khan was produced once again by S. P. Entertainments. Chiru Navvutho became one of the most successful Telugu movie in the year 2000 and received acclaim for Trivikram Srinivas's writing and Venu's performance as a chef whose marriage gets cancelled due to elopement of the bride.
After a couple of successful films, Venu received several offers.[citation needed] Later he appeared in some unsuccessful films like Durga (2000),[3] Veedekkadi Mogudandi? (2001),[4] Priya Nestama (2002),[5] Malli Malli Choodali (2003),[6] Pellamtho Panenti (2003),[7] Cheppave Chirugali (2004)[8] and Illalu Priyuralu (2006). He later bounced back with a couple of hits like Hanuman Junction (2001),[9] Kalyana Ramudu (2003),[10] Pellam Oorelithe (2003),[11] Kushi Kushiga (2004),[12] and Sri Krishna 2006 (2006).[13] His next releases were Sadaa Mee Sevalo (2005) directed by Neelakanta,[14] Bahumati directed by S. V. Krishna Reddy[15] and Allare Allari directed by Muppalaneni Siva.[16]
In 2007, his movie Yamagola Malli Modalayindi co-starring Srikanth, Meera Jasmine and Reemma Sen was released. This movie was successful at the box-office.[17] In 2008, he was seen in Deepavali and a small yet vital role in the movie Chintakayala Ravi starring Venkatesh.[18] In 2009 he was seen in Gopi Gopika Godavari directed by Vamsy and co-starring Kamalinee Mukherjee.[19] In 2011, Venu was seen in Dileep Polan's Mayagadu opposite Charmy Kaur.[20] Venu was also seen in N. T. Rama Rao Jr.'s movie Dammu, directed by Boyapati Srinu.[21] His next release was titled Ramachari and directed by Eshawar. He is paired with Kamalinee Mukherjee in this movie.[22] Venu subsequently took a break from films and campaigned for his brother-in-law in Khammam.[23] After nine years Venu was seen in Ravi Teja's movie Ramarao on Duty, directed by Sarath Mandava.[24]
Filmography
edit| Year | Title | Role(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Swayamvaram | Venu | |
| 2000 | Manasu Paddanu Kaani | Venu | |
| Chirunavvutho | Venu | ||
| Durga | Pratap | ||
| Pottu Amman | Tamil film | ||
| 2001 | Hanuman Junction | Sathru | |
| Veedekkadi Mogudandi? | Sriram | ||
| 2002 | Priya Nestama | Surya | |
| 2003 | Malli Malli Choodali | Venu | |
| Kalyana Ramudu | Kalyana Ramudu | ||
| Pellam Oorelithe | Subbu | ||
| Pellamtho Panenti | Madhu | ||
| 2004 | Kushi Kushiga | Sree Kumar | |
| Cheppave Chirugali | Venu | ||
| 2005 | Sadaa Mee Sevalo | Tilak | |
| 2006 | Illalu Priyuralu | Venu | |
| Sri Krishna 2006 | Venkateshwarlu | ||
| 2007 | Bahumati | Venkata Ramana | |
| Allare Allari | Anand | ||
| Yamagola Malli Modalayindi | Jr. Chitragupta | ||
| 2008 | Deepavali | Venu | |
| Chintakayala Ravi | Srikanth | ||
| 2009 | Gopi Gopika Godavari | Gopi | |
| 2011 | Mayagadu | Leela Krishna | |
| 2012 | Dammu | Rama Chandra's brother in law | |
| 2013 | Ramachari | Ramachari | |
| 2022 | Ramarao on Duty | CI Jammi Murali | [24] |
Television
edit| Year | Title | Role | Network | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Athidhi | Ravi | Disney+ Hotstar | [25] |
Awards and nominations
edit| Year | Award | Category | Film | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Nandi Awards | Special Jury Award for Best Performance in Debut film | Swayamvaram | Won | [26] |
References
edit- ^ "date of birth". Retrieved 19 November 2011.[dead link]
- ^ "Welcome to Corner House". www.flyingelephant.co.uk.
- ^ "Durga". Sify. Archived from the original on 9 March 2014. Retrieved 15 September 2014.
- ^ "RP Patnaik to score for Chiranjeevi". Idlebrain. 20 November 2001. Archived from the original on 2 May 2022. Retrieved 2 May 2022.
- ^ Srihari, Gudipoodi. "Shoddy and sluggish". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 21 December 2022. Retrieved 27 November 2023 – via Idlebrain.com.
- ^ "Malli Malli Choodali review at Full Hyderabad". Archived from the original on 11 March 2023. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
- ^ G. V, Ramana. "Telugu cinema review — Pellamtho Panenti — Venu, Laya, Kalyani — SV Krishna Reddy". www.idlebrain.com. Retrieved 17 November 2017.
- ^ "Telugu cinema Review - Cheppave Chirugali - Venu, Ashima Bhalla, Abhirami". Idlebrain.com. 24 September 2004. Retrieved 5 August 2012.
- ^ Kumar, K. Naresh (12 July 2022). "Masala mix of melodrama and action". The Hans India. Retrieved 18 January 2024.
- ^ Moviebuzz. "Review: Kalyana Ramudu". Sify. Archived from the original on 17 January 2005.
- ^ "Telugu Cinema - Review - Pellam Voorelithe - Srikanth, Venu, Rakshita, Sangeeta, Sunil- SV Krishna Reddy - Mani Sharma". www.idlebrain.com. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
- ^ Moviebuzz. "Review: Khushi Khushiga". Sify. Archived from the original on 18 January 2005.
- ^ "Success Meet - Sri Krishna 2006". Idlebrain.com. 19 June 2006. Archived from the original on 12 November 2022. Retrieved 12 November 2022.
- ^ "'Service' is passable". Thehindu.com. 26 March 2005. Archived from the original on 8 February 2022. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
- ^ "Bahumathi". Sify. Archived from the original on 8 February 2022.
- ^ "Give Allare Allari a miss". Rediff.com.
- ^ Vardhan, G. P. Aditya. "Yamagola Malli...review". Rediff.com. Retrieved 3 March 2022.
- ^ "Chintakayala Ravi - Review - Filmibeat".
- ^ "Average flick Film Review". The Hindu. 11 July 2009.
- ^ Chowdhury, Y. Sunitha (16 July 2011). "Mayagadu: It doesn't cast a spell". The Hindu.
- ^ "Dhammu film review - NTR, Trisha & Karthika". www.idlebrain.com.
- ^ Rao, Sushil (17 May 2013). "RAMACHARI MOVIE REVIEW". The Times of India.
- ^ "Happy birthday Venu Thottempudi: Did you know the reason behind his long absence from films?". The Times of India. 4 June 2021.
- ^ a b Outlook (7 July 2022). "Venu Thottempudi's First Look From Ravi Teja-Starrer 'Ramarao On Duty' Is Out Now". Archived from the original on 21 September 2023. Retrieved 21 September 2023.
- ^ The New Indian Express (31 August 2023). "Venu Thottempudi set to make OTT debut with Athidhi". Archived from the original on 21 September 2023. Retrieved 21 September 2023.
- ^ "నంది అవార్డు విజేతల పరంపర (1964–2008)" [A series of Nandi Award Winners (1964–2008)] (PDF) (in Telugu). Information & Public Relations of Andhra Pradesh. Retrieved 21 August 2020.