Today

Careers stories

Published reporting with preserved source evidence.

nandamuri balakrishna portrait — Image: President's Secretariat · GODL-India

Careers · 18 Sept 2026

At 61, Balakrishna got the biggest opening of his career by going even bigger

Akhanda was Balakrishna and Boyapati Srinu's third mass collaboration. Instead of exhausting the formula, it produced a career-high opening and turned their pairing into something sequel-sized.

anushka shetty portrait — Image: Bollywood Hungama · CC BY 3.0

Careers · 18 Sept 2026

Arundhati gave Telugu cinema a ₹70 crore answer to a simple question: can a woman carry the spectacle?

Anushka Shetty’s 2009 fantasy-horror did not merely succeed without a male superstar at the center. Its reported ₹70 crore worldwide run became a women-led Telugu benchmark that lasted for roughly sixteen years.

nagarjuna akkineni portrait — Image: Bollywood Hungama · CC BY 3.0

Careers · 18 Sept 2026

Nagarjuna was unhappy with his own movies. So he chased Mani Ratnam on his morning walks

Before Geethanjali made him a romantic icon, Nagarjuna says he spent about a month persuading Mani Ratnam to work with him. The career turn began with dissatisfaction, not a box-office plan.

ravi teja portrait — Image: People Media Factory · CC BY 3.0

Careers · 18 Sept 2026

Krack was a comeback for Ravi Teja — and a test for theatres too

Ravi Teja arrived after a string of underperformers; theatres were operating under pandemic restrictions. Krack broke both kinds of pessimism and became one of early 2021’s theatrical confidence boosters.

keerthy suresh portrait — Image: Verghese TK · CC BY-SA 4.0

Careers · 18 Sept 2026

Keerthy Suresh was not the obvious Savitri. That is what makes Mahanati’s casting story matter

Nag Ashwin later said Keerthy Suresh was not initially on anyone’s list for Savitri. The unconventional choice ended with the National Film Award for Best Actress.

chiranjeevi portrait — Image: Bollywood Hungama · CC BY 3.0

Careers · 18 Sept 2026

Chiranjeevi had been gone for a decade. Khaidi No. 150 tested whether the crowd was still his

Chiranjeevi later admitted he wondered whether fans would still be waiting after his political stint. His 150th film turned that uncertainty into one of Telugu cinema’s biggest comeback events.

mrunal thakur portrait — Image: https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/ · CC BY 3.0

Careers · 18 Sept 2026

Mrunal Thakur thought Sita Ramam would be her first and last Telugu film

Language difficulty nearly pushed Mrunal Thakur away from Telugu cinema. Instead, Sita Ramam gave her the repeat audience she said she had been missing — and led to more Telugu work.

jr ntr portrait — Image: Wikisorter · CC BY 4.0

Careers · 18 Sept 2026

Jr NTR calls Temper the turning point. The films after it show what he meant

Temper gave Jr NTR a needed commercial break in 2015. More importantly, he later identified it himself as the point where his relationship with roles and career choices changed.