Pawan Kalyan's birthday: His most notable films over the years
Politician-actor "Power Star" Pawan Kalyan has been ruling the Telugu film fraternity for years now! Younger brother of superstar Chiranjeevi and born into a film family, Kalyan has added to his family's prestigious legacy through his work in films, philanthropy, and politics. On his 53rd birthday, we take a look at the most notable movies of his career that catapulted him to stardom.
'Tholi Prema'
Tholi Prema, directed by A Karunakaran, was the recipient of the National Award for Best Feature Film in Telugu and was later remade in Hindi as Mujhe Kucch Kehna Hai and in Kannada as Preethsu Thappenilla. Starring Kalyan as the young and carefree Balu and Keerthi Reddy as his love interest Anu, the film was a sensation and had a successful theatrical run.
'Thammudu'
This sports action film was so well-received that it spawned several remakes: Badri (Tamil), Yuvaraja (Kannada), and Champion (Bengali). Directed by PA Arun Prasad, it featured Kalyan as Subrahmanyam, an irresponsible loafer whose life takes a 180-degree turn when he trains hard for a crucial kickboxing championship and eventually wins it. Preeti Jhangiani and Aditi Govitrikar co-starred in the drama.
'Gabbar Singh'
Harish Shankar's Gabbar Singh, reportedly inspired by Salman Khan starrer Dabangg, starred Kalyan in the eponymous role. Shruti Haasan and Abhimanyu Singh co-starred, while the music was by Devi Sri Prasad. A blockbuster hit, the film won Kalyan a Filmfare Award for Best Actor - Telugu at the 59th Filmfare Awards South. A sequel, Sardaar Gabbar Singh, followed in 2016.
'Gopala Gopala'
A remake of Akshay Kumar-Paresh Rawal's cult classic OMG—Oh My God!, Gopala Gopala was released in 2015 and turned out to be a blockbuster. Kalyan played the role of Lord Krishna, who descends on Earth to help out an atheist businessman Gopala Rao (Venkatesh) who loses his shop following a destructive earthquake. It was directed and co-written by Kishore Kumar Pardasani.
