Pawan Kalyan: Going Gabbar at 42

Pawan Kalyan, known as the 'Power Star' among his fans, is one of the biggest matinee idol reigning over the Telugu film Industry. As he turns 42 today, we take a look at his cinematic journey.

Pawan, born as Konidala Kalyan Babu in Bapatla on September 2, 1971, is the youngest son of Venkat Rao Konidela and Anjana Devi Konidela. His eldest brother, Chiranjeevi is considered the megastar of Telegu film industry, while his other brother, Nagendra Babu, is also an actor. His nephew Ram Charan Teja, also an actor, recently made his Bollywood debut in the remake of Zanjeer opposite Priyanka Chopra.

Pawan, still sticking to his real name Kalyan Babu, made his cinema debut with 1996's Akkada Ammayi Ikkada Abbayi which was a remake of Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak. The film was a grand fiesta of Telugu filmy families. It was produced by Chiranjeevi's brother-in-law Allu Arvind and Kalyan's heroine was Akkineni Nagarjuna's niece Supriya. The movie was a major hit, and Pawan was lauded for his martial arts moves.

After his first film, he rechristened himself as Pawan Kalyan on screen. His next superhit was Tholi Prema (1998), the film was a superhit and the music was a chartbuster. It won six Nandi awards and a National Film award. The film was remade in hindi as Mujhe Kuch Kehna Hai .

Super hits Thammudu and Badri followed. In 2001, he did Kushi a remake of the Tamil film Khushi. The film, which also featured Bhoomika Chawla,was a blockbuster hit grossing nearly 35 crores and running close to 150 days in many centres.

He followed this up with successful films like Johnny and Gudumba Shankar. For the latter, he also choreographed songs and action sequences.

He, once again, joined hands with Tholi Prema director A Karunakaran for the superhit Balu ABCDEFG in 2005.

Pawan's first 2006 release, Bangaram, was a flop but he followed it up with box office blockbusters Annavaram (2006), Jalsa (2008) and Puli (2010).

He next appeared in a remake of Love Aaj Kal, titled Teenmar (2011), which did average business.

But he quickly regrouped and churned out Panjaa (2011) which made Rs 100 crores in 22 days.

In 2012, he did the Telugu remake of Dabangg titled Gabbar Singh. The film grossed Rs 150 crores , and became the biggest Telugu hit of the year. Cameraman Gangatho Rambabu, which released later in the same year did average business.

In 2013, he broke his own collection records with Attarintiki Daredi which went onto become the highest grossing Telugu film, both in domestic and foreign markets.

The actor has been married thrice. He got divorced from his first wife Nandini, after a decade of being married to her, in 2007. He then married his Johny co-star Renu Desai in 2009 and has two children with her. But even that marriage failed, and he divorced her in 2013 to marry Anna Lezhneva, a small time Russian actress whom he had met while filming Teenmaar.

The actor launched the Jana Sena party in March 2014 and campaigned for BJP-TDP coalition, a move which didn't sit well with his brother Chiranjeevi who is with Congress. His fans showed up to his rallies in huge numbers, and he is considered to be a political star on the rise.

The actor is currently awaiting the release of his next film Gopala Gopala, a remake of Oh My God! which will release in January 2015. After that he will be seen in the sequel to Gabbar Singh.

We wish him a very happy birthday, and many more blockbusters in future.