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Varun Tej

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Varun Tej
Varun Tej in 2024
Born
Konidela Sai Varun Tej

(1990-01-19) 19 January 1990 (age 34)[1]
NationalityIndian
Alma materSt. Mary's College, Hyderabad
OccupationActor
Years active2014–present
Spouse
​
(m. 2023)​
[2][3]
FatherNagendra Babu
FamilySee Konidela–Allu family

Konidela Sai Varun Tej (born 19 January 1990) is an Indian actor who works in Telugu cinema. He made his acting debut in 2014 with Mukunda. He received praise for featuring in Krish's critically acclaimed war film Kanche (2015). He established himself as a leading actor with the romantic drama Fidaa (2017), a major critical and commercial success. He has since starred in films including Tholi Prema (2018), Gaddalakonda Ganesh (2019), F2 (2019) and F3 (2022). He is married to his co-actress Lavanya Tripathi.[4]

Early life and family

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Varun Tej is the son of Telugu actor and producer Nagendra Babu.[1] He is a nephew of actors Chiranjeevi and Pawan Kalyan. His younger sister Niharika is also an actress. Actors Ram Charan, Allu Arjun, Allu Sirish, Sai Tej and Panja Vaisshnav Tej are his cousins.[5] He was educated at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad, and at St. Mary's College, Hyderabad.[6]

Career

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Varun Tej debuted as a child artist in his father Nagendra Babu's film Hands Up when he was ten years old. He made his adult debut with Mukunda, starring opposite Pooja Hegde. The film earned positive reviews. His second venture was the 2015 war film Kanche, starring opposite Pragya Jaiswal and received positive reviews from critics.[7] Tej's performance as Dhupati Haribabu was praised with The Times of India praising his "capability to shift gears from intense to sobriety".[8] His second release that year Loafer, was a box office failure, along with his 2017 outing Mister.

The later half of 2017 saw the release of Fidaa, where he played an NRI falling in love with a village belle. The film was commercially successful grossing over ₹90 crore at the box office.[9] His 2018 release Tholi Prema was also a box office success and Tej's performance as an impulsive young man was widely appreciated.[10][11] His next film that year was space thriller Antariksham 9000 KMPH, directed by Sankalp Reddy.[12]

In 2019, Tej's first release was F2: Fun and Frustration which is a multistarrer with Venkatesh, Tamannaah and Mehreen Pirzada are also a part of this movie which is huge blockbuster.[13] After F2, he dubbed in Telugu for Aladdin's role in the film Aladdin. He later starred in Gaddalakonda Ganesh, a remake of Tamil film Jigarthanda, directed by Harish Shankar which was a failure at the box office.[14]

As of January 2020, Tej has two films under production, Ghani, and F2's sequel F3.[15][16] Tej next played the role of a boxer, in Ghani (2022) directed by Kiran Korrapati.[17][18][19] Following the film's release, Tej acknowledged the reviews and apologised, accepting the film's failure at the box office through a note on social media.[20]

Personal life

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Varun Tej met actress Lavanya Tripathi, on the sets of their film Mister (2017) and eventually started dating her.[21] They went onto work together in Antariksham 9000 KMPH in 2018. The couple got engaged on 9 June 2023 in Hyderabad. The couple got married on 1 November 2023 in Tuscany, Italy in a traditional ceremony.[22]

Media image

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Tej stood at the 27th place on Forbes India's most influential stars on Instagram in South cinema for the year 2021.[23] In the Hyderabad Times Most Desirable Men list, Tej was place 7th in 2019 and 17th in 2020.[24][25] In Rediff.com's "Top Telugu Actors" list, Tej was placed 5th in 2012.[26]

Filmography

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Key
† Denotes films that have not yet been released
Year Title Role Notes Ref.
2000 Hands Up Varun Child actor
2014 Mukunda Mukunda
2015 Kanche Dhupati Hari Babu
Loafer Raja Murali
2017 Mister Pichchaiah Naidu / Chai
Fidaa Varun
2018 Tholi Prema Aditya Sekhar
Antariksham 9000 KMPH Dev
2019 F2: Fun and Frustration Varun Yadav
Aladdin Aladdin (voice) Telugu dubbed version [27]
Gaddalakonda Ganesh Gaddalakonda Ganesh "Gani"
2022 Ghani Ghani [15]
F3: Fun and Frustration Varun Yadav [16]
2023 Gandeevadhari Arjuna Arjun Varma [28]
2024 Operation Valentine Arjun Dev alias "Rudra" Also shot in Hindi [29][30]
Matka "Matka" Vasu [31]

Television

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Year Shows Role Network Notes
2018 Nanna Koochi Narrator ZEE5
2019 Bigg Boss 3 Himself Star Maa Guest appearance

Awards and nominations

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Year Award Category Film Result Ref.
2015 South Indian International Movie Awards Best Actor – Telugu Kanche Nominated [32]
2017 Zee Telugu Golden Awards Entertainer Of The Year (Male) Fidaa Nominated [33]
2018 Zee Cine Awards Telugu Best Film Actor Tholi Prema Nominated [34]
2019 South Indian International Movie Awards Best Actor – Telugu Gaddalakonda Ganesh Nominated [35]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Tollywood's rising stars under 30". The Times of India. 29 October 2018. Archived from the original on 11 October 2020. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
  2. ^ "Allu Arjun with family, Ram Charan and pregnant Upasana arrive at Varun Tej, Lavanya Tripathi's engagement". India Today. 9 June 2023.
  3. ^ "Chiranjeevi, Ram Charan, Allu Arjun attend Varun Tej and Lavanya Tripathi's engagement ceremony". Indian Express. 9 June 2023.
  4. ^ "Varun Tej Konidela and Lavanya Tripathi's engagement: Star-studded guest-list, venue, designer details". Times of India. 9 June 2023.
  5. ^ "Four injured after Telugu actor Varun Tej's car rams into another". The News Minute. 13 June 2019. Archived from the original on 4 July 2019. Retrieved 4 July 2019.
  6. ^ "9 Lesser Known facts about Nandi Award winner TV Host Niharika Konidela". The Times of India. 7 May 2018. Archived from the original on 17 July 2020. Retrieved 24 June 2020.
  7. ^ "'Kanche' movie review roundup: Critics call it a brave attempt by Krish, Varun Tej". International Business Times India. 25 October 2015. Archived from the original on 10 May 2017. Retrieved 6 March 2021.
  8. ^ "Kanche Movie Review, Trailer, & Show timings at Times of India". The Times of India. 24 October 2015. Archived from the original on 24 October 2015. Retrieved 26 August 2017.
  9. ^ Hooli, Shekhar H. (17 December 2017). "Tollywood in 2017: 15 highest grossing Telugu movies of the year – Baahubali 2, Khaidi No 150, JLK, DJ and others". IB Times. Archived from the original on 30 June 2020. Retrieved 6 March 2021.
  10. ^ Hooli, Shekhar H. (10 September 2018). "Tollywood box office report of 2018: highest grossing Telugu movies of year; List of hits and flops". IB Times. Archived from the original on 20 September 2020. Retrieved 6 March 2021.
  11. ^ "'Tholi Prema': Five reasons to watch Venky Atluri's directorial debut starring Tej and Raashi Khanna". The Times of India. Retrieved 6 March 2021.
  12. ^ "Varun Tej's space-thriller Antariksham 9000 KMPH wraps up its shoot". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 8 November 2018. Retrieved 17 October 2018.
  13. ^ "Mahesh Babu playing extended cameo in 'F3'?". The News Minute. 21 February 2020. Archived from the original on 5 April 2021. Retrieved 6 March 2021.
  14. ^ Vyas (16 October 2019). "Gaddalakonda Ganesh worldwide collections". Hans India. Archived from the original on 28 October 2020. Retrieved 6 March 2021.
  15. ^ a b Nyayapati, Neeshita (4 January 2020). "Varun Tej prepping up for #VT10 based on boxing". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 5 January 2020. Retrieved 20 March 2020.
  16. ^ a b "Shooting of F3 underway in Hyderabad: Venkatesh joins the proceedingsa". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 23 December 2020. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
  17. ^ "Make way for Sukhjeevan Singh Dhillon, the boxer turned actor". www.mid-day.com. Archived from the original on 29 April 2022. Retrieved 29 April 2022.
  18. ^ NS (28 April 2022). "Sukhjeevan Singh Dhillon makes his presence felt on screen with his debut Telugu film Ghani | APN News". Retrieved 29 April 2022.
  19. ^ News, Nagpur (27 April 2022). "Sukhjeevan Singh Dhillon's debut Tollywood film Ghani enters the OTT realm". Nagpur Today : Nagpur News. Archived from the original on 27 April 2022. Retrieved 29 April 2022. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  20. ^ "Varun Tej pens an emotional note about Ghani". 123Telugu.com. 12 April 2022. Archived from the original on 12 April 2022. Retrieved 12 April 2022.
  21. ^ "Lavanya Tripathi and Varun Tej are engaged". India Today. 10 June 2023. Retrieved 12 September 2023.
  22. ^ "Varun Tej, Lavanya Tripathi look regal in red and golden in first pics from grand wedding in Italy". Hindustan Times. 2 November 2023. Retrieved 10 November 2023.
  23. ^ "Meet the 30 most influential social media stars of South cinema". Forbes India. Archived from the original on 10 March 2023. Retrieved 17 December 2022.
  24. ^ "Hyderabad Times Most Desirable Men 2019: Vijay Deverakonda". Times of India. Retrieved 25 September 2020.
  25. ^ "Hyderabad Times 30 Most Desirable Men 2020: Hyderabad's Diggin' These Dishy Dudes". Times of India. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  26. ^ Radhika Rajamani (13 January 2016). "The 5 BEST Telugu Actors". Rediff.com. Retrieved 27 February 2019.
  27. ^ "Venkatesh and Varun Tej dub for 'Aladdin' Telugu version". The Times of India. 26 April 2019. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
  28. ^ "Gandeevadhari Arjuna Movie: Showtimes, Review, Songs, Trailer, Posters, News & Videos". The Times of India. Retrieved 27 July 2023.
  29. ^ "VT13: Varun Tej to play an IAF officer in his next, a Hindi-Telugu bilingual". The Hindu. 19 September 2022. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 27 July 2023.
  30. ^ "Varun Tej and Manushi Chhillar to do 'Operation Valentine'!". Telugu Cinema. Retrieved 14 August 2023.
  31. ^ "VT14: Varun Tej to romance THIS Bollywood bombshell in his next film with director Karuna Kumar". PINKVILLA. 26 July 2023. Retrieved 27 July 2023.
  32. ^ "SIIMA 2016 nominations out – here is the list". The News Minute. 27 May 2016.
  33. ^ "Zee Telugu Golden Awards 2017 nomination list: Baahubali 2 gets highest nods, will Prabhas get an award?". IB Times. 19 December 2017.
  34. ^ "Zee Cine Awards Telugu 2018". Zee Cine Awards Telugu. 27 January 2019. ZEE5.
  35. ^ "SIIMA Nominations: Here Is The Complete List Of Nominations For 2019 And 2020". The Hans India. 30 August 2021.
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