Happy Birthday Vijay Deverakonda: From Tollywood to Bollywood, tracing the heartthrob's film journey
Tollywood heartthrob Vijay Deverakonda celebrates his 31st birthday today (May 9). Born to Govardhana Rao, and Madhavi Deverakonda, Vijay has become one of the promising actors of Telugu cinema
Vijay Deverakonda made his acting debut with actor-director Ravi Babu's rom-com Nuvvila (2011) but gained critical acclaim with his supporting role in Nag Ashwin's Yevade Subramanyam (2015)
He rose to fame playing the lead role in director Tharun Bhascker Dhassyam's slice-of-life comedy Pelli Choopulu (2016), which won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film (Telugu)
He became an overnight sensation with the stupendous success of director Sandeep Reddy Vanga's black comedy Arjun Reddy (2017)
His performance as an alcoholic surgeon battling anger-management issues has received critical acclaim from critics and audience alike
His performance as photographer Vijay Anthony in Nag Ashwin's Mahanati (Nadigaiyar Thilagam in Tamil), a biopic on late actor Savitri, has become one of the high points of the film
Interestingly, he was offered Gemini Ganesan's role, but things didn't work out and he settled with the photographer's role
Vijay cemented his place as the heartthrob of youth with his restrained performance in Parasuram's rom-com Geetha Govindam (2018)
The same year, he delivered another super hit Taxiwaala
Besides playing lead roles, he made friendly appearances in films like Ee Nagaraniki Emaindhi (2018) and Meek Maathrame Cheptha (2019)
He had two South-Indian releases with films NOTA (2018) and Dear Comrade (2019) to mixed responses
Vijay was placed 72nd in the Forbes India celebrity 100 lists 2018. He launched a film production company, King of the Hill Entertainment and was featured by Forbes India in 30 Under 30 (2019) list
The same year, according to the annual report by the search engine Google, he was the most searched South Indian actor in 2019
Vijay also launched his clothing line Rowdy and his brand T-shirts are a rage among the youth
Vijay conceptualized and founded The Deverakonda Foundation, an NGO, which is currently providing Covid-19 relief to the needy across the Telugu State
His brother Anand is also an actor and made his acting debut in a lead role with Dorasani (2019)
Vijay Deverakonda is making his Hindi debut with Puri Jagannadh's upcoming martial arts drama Liger. The film is slated for release in 2021
