Mahesh Babu, Telugu Cinema's Srimanthudu@40

Mahesh Babu - one of the Telugu cinema's most versatile actors - has turned a year older today.

Here's a pictorial journey through his life as he turns 40.

Christened Mahesh Babu Ghattamaneni, the actor was born to popular Telugu actor Siva Rama Krishna Ghattamaneni on August 9, 1975.

Hailing from the Ghattamaneni family, the transition to acting began very early for Mahesh Babu when he faced the cameras at the age of 4 in his brother Ramesh Babu‘s debut film, Needa (1979), which was directed by Dr. Dasari Narayana Rao.

After dating Namrata Shirodhkar - who was also crowned Femina Miss India in 1993 and later forayed into Bollywood - for five long years, Mahesh Babu finally married the love of his life on February 10, 2005.

The two successful actors have two children - son Gautham, who was born in August 2006, and daughter Sitara, who was born in July 2012.

This picture was posted on Twitter by @urstrulyMahesh

Mahesh Babu continued to act as a child artist in numerous films like Poratam, Bazaar Rowdy, Mugguru Kodukulu, Koduku Diddina Kapuram and Anna Tammudu. He made his entry into Telugu cinema as a full-fledged hero in 1999 with the K Raghavendra Rao film Raja Kumarudu (The Prince) for which he earned the Nandi Award for Best Male Debut.

"The Prince" tag has remained since then.

In 2000, Mahesh Babu appeared in Y V S Chowdary's Yuvaraju and Vamsi. Even though the latter turned out to be a flop, Mahesh went on to marry his Vamsi co-star five years later.

In 2001, he starred with Sonali Bendre in Krishna Vamsi's Murari. His performance earned him the Nandi Special Jury Award.

However, his next two films, Takkari Donga and Bobby bombed at the box office.

The 2003 film Okkadu revived his fortune at the box office and earned him his first Filmfare Best Actor Award (Telugu).

Over the period of the next two years, Mahesh Babu acted in movies like Nijam, Naani and Arjun, out of which Nijam earned him the Nandi Award for Best Actor and a Filmfare nomination for Best Actor.

Mahesh Babu won his second Nandi Award for Best Actor with the 2005 film Athadu, opposite Trisha Krishnan. It was also his first release post marriage, so a lucky turn of events for the young actor.

Mahesh Babu's good luck and great performances continued with the 2006 action film Pokiri.

Directed by Puri Jagannadh, Pokiri scripted history in the Telugu film industry. The Prince was well on his way to being the undisputed King, earning his second Filmfare Award.

Mahesh Babu then went to act in successful films like Saninikudu, Athidhi and Khalega.

For him, the year 2011 was largely defined by the Telugu action comedy Dookudu. The film was released on September 23, 2011, with the largest worldwide opening for a Telugu film.

The Los Angeles Times described the Dookudu as ‘the biggest hit you've never heard of.' The film set a box office record for the Telugu film industry.

Mahesh Babu's 2012 movie Businessman, which released on January 13, 2012, turned out to be a major hit and even won the talented actor a National Film Award nomination in 2012.

Seethamma Vakitlo Sirimalle Chettu (2013), which was touted as the first multi-starrer in contemporary Telugu cinema, was a blockbuster and fetched Mahesh Babu his fourth Filmfare Best Actor Award (Telugu).

In 2014, Mahesh Babu featured in two films - 1-Nenokkadine and Aagadu - both of which were hits. This year, his film Srimanthudu released two days before his birthday.

Here's wishing Mahesh Babu a very Happy Birthday and a great year ahead.

This picture was posted on Twitter by @urstrulyMahesh