Telugu Awards Nandi Awards 2011 - Cast & Crew

Nayantara also called as Nayanthara Kurian, is a renowned Indian actress from Kerala. She was born on 18th November in the year 1984 in Bangalore that is situated in Indian province Karnataka. Her actual name is ‘Diana Mariam Kurian’ the daughter of ‘Omana Kurian’ and ‘Kurian Kodiyatto’. Due to her father’s service, she stayed in several places of India. She joined in “Mar Thoma College” for attending her B.A in English Literature. Besides study she also initiated her modeling career.

Lakshmi Prasanna Manchu is an Indian celebrity known for her acting and hosting skills, along with being a producer. She was born on 8 October 1977 in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Her father (Mohan Babu) and brothers (Vishnu Manchu and Manoj Manchu) are accomplished actors. Her birth mother, Vidya Devi, is no more, but she has a step-mother, Manchu Nirmala Devi. She is quite a learned woman in the industry. She graduated in theater from Oklahoma City University. Later, she attended the film school at the University of Southern California. Lakshmi’s career kick-started with the role of Sarasvati, on the American comedy-drama television series titled ‘Las Vegas.’ She recurred in eleven episodes of the show from 2004 to 2007. In 2006, she not only acted in the short film titled ‘Private Lives’, but also directed and produced it. In 2008, she played the role of Najma in the English biopic, ‘The Ode.’

Sujatha Reddy is an Indian film and television actress. She rose to fame after bagging a role in the 2011 Tamil film, Inkennallu (2011), which was directed by Syed Rafi. Sujatha received the Nandi Award for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal in the film. She also became popular for her performance in the Telugu historical film, Rajanna (2011). She is also part of ETV’s ongoing daily serial, Adade Adharam, which tackles the role of a woman in everyone’s life. Sujatha also appeared on MAA TV’s daily soap, Puttinti Pattu Cheera.

Bhanu Prakash is the talented actor, producer cum event manager. He had excelled in all the fields he entered. After completing his higher secondary education in Tamilnadu, Bhanu Prakash joined Bangalore University and pursued Mechanical Engineering. Besides this, he is a Diploma holder in Film Technology. He completed his film technology course in Film and TV Institute, which is affiliated with Madras University. Bhanu Prakash had been the Event Manager of Celebrity Cricket League for all the shows hosted by Small Screen Association. Besides this, he had been the Event Co- coordinator for MEGA CM show by Film Personalities.

Born on 9 August 1975 in Chennai, Mahesh Ghattamaneni is a South-Indian actor and philanthropist. He was born and brought up in Chennai. His father is Krishna Ghattamaneni, a yesteryear superstar of the Telugu film industry. Mahesh Babu completed his schooling at St. Bede's Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School and graduated from Loyola College with a bachelor’s degree in commerce. He further underwent training in acting from director L. Satyanand. Mahesh first faced the cameras when he was just four. His debut was in ‘Needa’ and did nine films in total as a child artist. In 1999, he debuted opposite Preity Zinta in ‘Rajakumarudu,’ a rom-com Telugu film directed by K. Raghavendra Rao. The film got him his first Nandi award as well. He is best known for his work in films like ‘Okkadu,’ which won him a Filmfare Award and a CineMAA Award.

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.

Raj Madiraju is a Telugu movie director and script writer. He has directed three films till date: Uncle, Rushi, and Andhra Podi. He is a talented man himself, having dabbled in singing at stage shows over the years before breaking into the world of films. Raj Madiraju was brought up in Kothagudem in Andhra Pradesh. His father was an engineer and worked in the Kothagudem Thermal Power Station.

Shrinu Vaitla is an Indian film director predominantly working in Telugu film industry. The 43year old director is from Kandulapalem, East Godavari District. His first venture movie called ‘Nee Kosam’ having in lead Ravi Teja and Maheshwari, produced by Ghanta Srinivas in 1999 did not do well in box offices. But this movie made a path to the heart of critics and received applauds from the critic world. His next venture ‘Anandam’ in 2001 helped him marked his place in comedy stream. The Ace director is appreciated and credited for introducing parabolic narrative in Telugu in cinemas, and that is seen in most of his feature films like ‘Venky’, ‘Dhee’, ‘ubai Seenu’ and ‘Ready’.

M R Varma, who is an amazing editor starting off his career in 2007, with the movie Chirutha, a movie about to people who fell in love, who met each other unexpectedly on an island. Work was done well, though it was his first work, as a debut. Since then without a break, he has been asked for or called out for editing many movies which turned out to be a great. Then later he worked for the movie Swagatham (2008), a movie written and directed by Dasarath starring Jagapati Babu, Bhumika Chawla, and Anushka Shetty. A movie about a business man who came to the USA with his daughter, who seems to bring up a connection between an Indian girl who is quite a lot of financial problems. In the movie it was clearly seen, how good the picture was on the screen, giving the touch of professionalism. Ready (2008) a movie about a boy named Chandu, an engineering student who falls in love with a girl, Pooja. But then comes across some problems where she had to face in her life. Nenninthe (2008) A film about a man who struggles to follow his dream to be a director, though he is working under an established director while having some trouble with a local goon. A movie which requires action and scenes that should enhance the act, M R Varma took up the job very well in his hands. King (2008) a movie about a man whose heir to a large estate was thrown off, because of his relative, who had conspired against him.