9 Telugu movies that define superstar Mahesh Babu’s career

By Hemanth Kumar CR 26 February 2020

The actor, best known for action dramas, has been consistently reinventing himself to stay on top of his game. Here, we list out some of the movies that have made him one of the biggest stars in Telugu cinema

Long before Mahesh Babu made his debut as a lead actor in Rajakumarudu (1999), he had already acted in eight movies as a child artist. His father, superstar Krishna, who was also a producer and director, was a trailblazer in Telugu cinema himself—he introduced several technological changes such as the first cinemascope film (Alluri Seetharamaraju), the first 70mm film (Simhasanam), and even the cowboy genre with movies like Mosagallaku Mosagadu (1971). Mahesh Babu often played a child artist in his father’s films too, like in Koduku Diddina Kapuram (1989) and Mugguru Kodukulu (1988). “My father was quite busy with his films, and whenever I got holidays at school, I would spend time with him on the sets of his films. That’s how I ended up acting as a child artist,” Mahesh Babu says in an earlier interview.

Eventually, in 1999, filmmaker K Raghavendra Rao introduced him as a lead actor in Raja Kumarudu, opposite Preity Zinta. Though the movie went on to become a hit, it wasn’t until Murari (2001) that he established himself in the industry. “Murari was a game changer for me. I had a couple of flops before that and I was in a do-or-die situation. Thankfully, people liked the film and I didn’t have to look back,” he says. Since then, the actor has appeared in numerous action dramas, and become one of the biggest stars in the industry. Over the years, there have been numerous ups and downs in his acting career, but Mahesh Babu has managed to bounce back each time, and explored a different side of his acting persona.

Here are nine movies from Mahesh Babu’s career that made him a superstar in Telugu cinema:

Murari (2001)

Krishna Vamsi’s romantic drama Murari, which starred Sonali Bendre as the female lead, was a major turning point in Mahesh Babu’s career. The film is based on a curse haunting a zamindar’s family, and it’s predicted that every 48 years, the heir of the family will succumb to it. Murari (Mahesh Babu) is the cynosure of all eyes in his family and when he falls in love with Vasundhara (Sonali Bendre), he senses an opportunity to reunite their two families. However, things take a dramatic turn when his grandmother realises that Murari’s own life is at risk due to an age-old curse. The dazzling romance between Mahesh Babu and Sonali Bendre, coupled with Mani Sharma’s chart-busting music, turned the film into a huge hit and marked the beginning of bigger things to come in Mahesh Babu’s career.

Streaming on Sun NXT

Okkadu (2003)

Mahesh Babu’s first major action drama, Okkadu was also one of the defining films of the 2000s in Telugu cinema. Directed by Gunasekhar, the film is a thriller where Ajay (Mahesh Babu), a kabaddi player, rescues Swapna (Bhumika Chawla) from a faction leader, Obul Reddy (Prakash Raj). The makers even erected a huge set resembling Charminar, which is used as a safe place for hiding Swapna while Ajay fended off Reddy’s threat. Around the 47th minute, there’s a iconic scene in the film where Ajay confronts Reddy for the first time, and in hindsight, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that this was the scene that turned Mahesh Babu, the actor from Murari, into a star.

Streaming on JioCinema

Athadu (2005)

If there’s one Telugu film that can give a tough competition to the record set by Suryavamsam (1998) for most number of reruns on TV, it has to be the Mahesh Babu- and Trisha-starrer, Athadu. Directed by Trivikram Srinivas, the film has been hailed as a classic over the year, but, surprisingly, at the time of its release, it wasn’t a record-breaking hit. Mahesh Babu himself went through a makeover for Athadu, which had him playing a reclusive assassin. Apart from his terrific writing style, Srinivas also ushered in a new style of filmmaking, where conversations are often terse and actors letting their actions speak louder than words. The film is modelled on the lines of a cat-and-mouse chase between Pardhu (Mahesh Babu) and a CBI officer, played by Prakash Raj; although most of the drama revolves around Pardhu’s growing relationship with his family.

Streaming on Prime Video

Pokiri (2006)

Towards the end of the film, when it’s revealed that Pandu (Mahesh Babu), a gangster, is, in fact, Krishna Manohar IPS, an undercover cop, the collective roar in the cinema halls was more than enough to change Mahesh Babu’s destiny forever. He became a superstar with the success of this film, which rewrote all records in Telugu cinema history at the time of its release. Directed by Puri Jagannadh, the film also turned the lead actress, Ileana D’cruz into a major star in Telugu cinema. Mahesh Babu reinvented himself, yet again, from a soft-spoken Pardhu in Athadu to a street-smart, cocky ruffian in Pokiri, and it made a world of difference to his acting career. Whether it’s the action sequence shot inside a train or shocking people around him with his attitude, Mahesh Babu’s performance and the film itself have become an important part of his legacy.

Streaming on Hotstar

Khaleja (2010)

Post Pokiri, Mahesh Babu’s career witnessed a downturn with films like Sainikudu (2006) and Athidhi (2007) not performing at the box office, and he took a long break from work to spend more time with his family. His return to the silver screen in Trivikram Srinivas’ eagerly awaited action drama, Khaleja (2010) couldn’t have been more dramatic. Mahesh Babu played a cab driver named Raju, who gets embroiled in a conspiracy hatched by a businessman who wants to wipe out an entire village. In the process, Raju discovers that he’s a messiah, who is meant to protect the villagers. The theme of the film didn’t strike a chord with the audience, and the film bombed at the box office. However, it untapped Mahesh Babu’s potential to pull off comedy on a whole new level. Years later, Khaleja gained a cult-like fan following and today, it’s remembered as the film that showed Mahesh Babu’s ability to blend action and comedy with sarcasm, which has become his trademark style.

Streaming on Sun NXT

Dookudu (2011)

Mahesh Babu got his mojo back with Sreenu Vaitla’s Dookudu, also starring Samantha Akkineni, which had the right melange of action and comedy to score a blockbuster at the box office. The actor played a cop who is sent on an undercover mission to stop a mafia don from wreaking havoc in India through illegal drugs and arms trafficking. Partly inspired from the 2003 German film, Good Bye Lenin!, Mahesh Babu impressed the audience with his style in this slick action drama. Whether it’s the segment where Mahesh Babu speaks in a Telangana accent or him taking an aspiring actor for a ride, the film presented Mahesh Babu in a new avatar.

Streaming on Hotstar

1-Nenokkadine (2014)

Sukumar’s action thriller 1-Nenokkadine, starring Mahesh Babu and Kriti Sanon, pushed the envelope in terms of its narrative style, cinematography and screenplay. However, it was Mahesh Babu’s performance as a rockstar, who struggles to recall exact events from his childhood, that stole the show. The actor was at his best in the action sequences, but the film was perhaps too experimental for mainstream cinema, which resulted in its box office failure. Yet, it’s one of the few films in Mahesh Babu’s career that underlined his temperament to explore different stories, even if they seem a tad too risky.

Streaming on Sun NXT

Srimanthudu (2015)

After a brief setback in 2014, which included 1-Nenokkadine and Aagadu flopping at the box office, Mahesh Babu’s first collaboration with director Koratala Siva, Srimanthudu felt like a shot in the arm in the actor’s career. The film focuses on the journey of Harsha, a business tycoon’s son who leaves everything behind to adopt a village in a remote corner in Andhra Pradesh. Mahesh Babu’s portrayal of a do-gooder was a major hit with critics and audience alike, and the film itself felt like the right fit for the actor’s simple and mature image, both on screen and off-screen.

Streaming on Zee5

Bharat Ane Nenu (2018)

Mahesh Babu and Koratala Siva’s second collaboration, Bharat Ane Nenu, had the actor playing a young chief minister of an undivided Andhra Pradesh, who wants to bring in radical reforms to change the society. Bharat Ane Nenu also marked Kiara Advani’s debut in Telugu cinema, and Koratala Siva succeeded in treading a fine line as he kept the film both enlightening and entertaining, but never preachy. Apart from the thematic similarities with S Shankar’s Mudhalvan (1999) and Sekhar Kammula’s Leader (2010), the film was a complete Mahesh Babu show all the way, and he garnered rave reviews for his performance in a role that was both idealistic and dramatic enough for an action film.

Streaming on Prime Video