Tarun (Telugu actor)

Indian actor (born 1981)

"Tarun Kumar" redirects here. For the Bengali actor, see Tarun Kumar (Bengali actor).

Tarun

Born|

Tarun Kumar

(1983-01-08) 8 January 1983 (age 42)

Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh India

Occupation| Actor
Years active| 1990–present
Parent(s)| Roja Ramani (mother)
S Chakrapani (father)

Tarun Kumar (born 8 January 1983)[1] is an Indian actor known for his works predominantly in Telugu cinema, with appearances in a few Tamil and Malayalam films.[2]

Tarun began his career as a child actor and received the National Film Award for Best Child Artist for his performance in Anjali (1990), directed by Mani Ratnam.[3] He has also won the Nandi Award for Best Child Actor three times.[2]

He made his debut as a lead actor with Nuvve Kavali (2000) and starred in successful films like Priyamaina Neeku (2001), Nuvvu Leka Nenu Lenu (2002), Punnagai Desam (2002), Nuvve Nuvve (2002), Ninne Ishtapaddanu (2003), and Nava Vasantham (2007).

## Early life

[edit]

Tarun was born into a Telugu family to actors Roja Ramani and Chakrapani. His mother, Roja Ramani, hails from Rajahmundry and was raised in Madras. He acted in multiple film industries, including Malayalam, Telugu, and Tamil, and was a prominent dubbing artist in Telugu cinema during the 1980s and 1990s, lending her voice to several leading actresses.

Chakrapani was born into a Telugu family[4][5] with ancestral roots in Palasa, Srikakulam district.[6] Chakrapani's grandfather lived in Vizag, while his father worked as a mechanical engineer for Indian Railways at Khurda Road Junction railway station in Orissa, where Chakrapani was raised.[6] He acted in both Odia and Telugu films and was once a leading actor in the Odia film industry.

## Career

[edit]

Tarun started his career as a child actor with the Telugu-language film Manasu Mamatha (1990). As a child, Tarun was a fan of Mani Ratnam's films such as Nayagan (1987) and Agni Nakshatram (1988) and accepted the offer to work in the Tamil-language film Anjali (1990) as distraught Shamlee's brother. Tarun won the National Film Award for Best Child Artist for his role in the film.[3] He also received critical acclaim for the Malayalam film Abhayam (1991), which won the National Film Award for Best Children's Film, and earned him the Best Child Artist award at the Furoshiki Film Festival in Japan.[7]

He also worked on the Telugu television serial Wonder Boy for Eenadu TV. He participated on quiz show but left the show after it interfered with his education. He won the Nandi Award for Best Child Actor for Manasu Mamatha (1990), Pillalu Diddina Kapuram (1991) and Teja (1992). Tarun collaborated again with Mani Rathnam in Thalapathi (1991) in a minor role. He also starred in Aditya 369 (1991), the Malayalam films Abhayam (1991), My Dear Muthachan (1992), and Johny (1993) and the Tamil film Meera (1992). Tarun also worked in the unreleased telefilm En Jeevane produced by Radhika.

After a hiatus, Tarun then worked on commercials for Spinz Talc and Fanta with Richa Pallod. His role in the Fanta advertisement helped him bag the lead role in K. Vijaya Bhaskar's Nuvve Kavali in 2000, the Telugu remake of Niram (1999).[8] The film ran for more than a hundred days.[9] For the film, he won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Telugu for that year, and Tarun won the Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut – South for his work in the film.[citation needed] Post Nuvve Kavali, he and Richa Pallod collaborated again for Chirujallu (2001), which released to negative reviews.[10] He had some successful films such as Priyamaina Neeku (2001), Nuvvu Leka Nenu Lenu (2002)[11] and Nuvve Nuvve (2002) while his other films such as Ela Cheppanu flopped.[7] The success of Priyamaina Neeku lead the makers to release the film in Tamil.[12] He made his full-fledged Tamil debut with Punnagai Desam (2002). That same year, he starred in the bilingual Enakku 20 Unakku 18/Nee Manasu Naaku Telusu, which was a failure despite having a notable soundtrack by A. R. Rahman and he stopped taking up Tamil films.[7] Nava Vasantham, the Telugu remake of Punnagai Desam by the same director, and Sasirekha Parinayam (2009) were his last successful films.[13][14] He collaborated again with K. Vijaya Bhaskar for Bhale Dongalu (2008), a movie inspired by Bonnie and Clyde, but the film flopped.[15]

After a four year gap, he returned with Chukkalanti Ammayi Chakkanaina Abbayi (2013), which released to negative reviews.[16] He was then seen in Yuddham (2014), Veta (2014) and Idi Naa Love Story (2018), all of which had a low-key release.

## Filmography

[edit]

Child Artist
Year | Film | Role | Language | Notes

|
|
|
|

1990 | Manasu Mamatha |  |  Telugu | Nandi Award for Best Child Actor
Bujjigadi Babai |  |
Anjali | Arjun |  Tamil | National Film Award for Best Child Artist
1991 | Thalapathi | Petty thief | Cameo appearance
Surya IPS | Surya's step brother | Telugu |
Abhayam | Vinu |  Malayalam | Best Child Artist Award - Furoshiki Film Festival
Aditya 369 | Kishore Kumar | Telugu |
1992 | Meera | Jesu | Tamil |
Teja | Teja | Telugu | Nandi Award for Best Child Actor
My Dear Muthachan | Manu | Malayalam |
1993  | Pillalu Diddina Kapuram | Anji and Prasad | Telugu | Dual Role; Nandi Award for Best Child Actor
Repati Rowdy[17] |  |
Johny | Johny | Malayalam |
1995 | Vajram | Young Chakri | Telugu |
2000 | Vijayaramaraju | Jabbaraban | Late release.

Lead Actor
Year | Film | Role | Language | Notes

|
|
|
|

2000 | Nuvve Kavali | Tarun | Telugu |
Uncle | Raja |
2001 | Priyamaina Neeku | Ganesh |
Chirujallu | Vamsi |
2002 | Nuvvu Leka Nenu Lenu | Radha Krishna |
Punnagai Desam | Ganesh | Tamil |
Adrustam | Tarun | Telugu |
Nuvve Nuvve | Rishi | AP Cinegoers Special Jury Award for Best Performance[18]
2003 | Ninne Ishtapaddanu | Charan | Telugu |
Ela Cheppanu | Sekhar |
Enakku 20 Unakku 18 | Sridhar | Tamil | Bilingual film
Nee Manasu Naaku Telusu | Sridhar | Telugu
2004 | Sakhiya | Hari |
2005 | Soggadu | Ravi |
Oka Oorilo | Seenu |
2007 | Nava Vasantham | Ganesh |
2008 | Bhale Dongalu | Ramu |
2009 | Sasirekha Parinayam | Anand/Abhiram |
2013 | Chukkalanti Ammayi Chakkanaina Abbayi | Sanjay |
2014 | Yuddham | Rishi |
Veta | Karthik |
2018 | Idi Naa Love Story | Abhi |

Dubbing artist
Year | Film | Actor | Notes

|
|
|

2020 | Anukoni Athidhi | Fahadh Faasil | Telugu dubbed version of Athiran

Television

* Wonder Boy (ETV)

## References

[edit]

1. ^ NaChaKi (24 August 2001). "Star Interviews - Tarun". Telugucinema.com. Archived from the original on 12 December 2001. Retrieved 22 March 2025.`{{cite web}}`: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
2. ^ a b maatv. "Tarun Birthday Special". YouTube. Archived from the original on 26 November 2023. Retrieved 19 September 2012.
3. ^ a b "38th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 December 2017. Retrieved 9 January 2012.
4. ^ Roja Ramani and Chakrapani | Open Heart With RK Full Episode. ABN Andhra Jyothi. 3 July 2019. Event occurs at 3:50. Retrieved 20 March 2025 - via YouTube.
5. ^ Alitho Saradaga | Rojaramani & Chakrapani (Actors). ETV. 19 July 2021. Event occurs at 4:00 to 4:40 - via YouTube.
6. ^ a b Alitho Saradaga | Rojaramani & Chakrapani (Actors). ETV. 19 July 2021. Event occurs at 2:34 to 3:05 - via YouTube.
7. ^ a b c "Chocolate HERO". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 5 October 2014.
8. ^ "rediff.com, Movies". Rediff.com. 7 December 2000.
9. ^ jeevi. "Nuvve Kavali - the Success Story". Idlebrain.com.
10. ^ "Number Six Blooper of the year 2001 - Chirujallu". Idlebrain.com. Archived from the original on 5 January 2002. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
11. ^ Sunil, Sreya; Jeevi. "Research - Telugu cinema in the first half of 2002". Idlebrain.com. Retrieved 15 November 2022.
12. ^ K Naresh Kumar (22 July 2022). "Masala mix of melodrama and action". The Hans India.
13. ^ "Review: Nava Vasantam". Rediff.com. Archived from the original on 23 August 2022. Retrieved 20 June 2023.
14. ^ "Sasirekha Parinayam - A good film that could have been great". 123telugu. 1 January 2009.
15. ^ "Telugu Movie review - Bhale Dongalu". Idlebrain.com. 11 April 2008.
16. ^ Sushil Rao (25 May 2013). "CHUKKALANTI AMMAYI CHAKKANAINA ABBAYI MOVIE REVIEW". The Times of India.
17. ^ "REPATI ROWDY | TELUGU FULL MOVIE | RAHMAN | AAMANI | LAKSHMI | TELUGU CINE CAFE". 26 November 2021 - via www.youtube.com.
18. ^ "Telugu cinema news - AP cine goers awards list for excellence in Telugu cinema". www.idlebrain.com.

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