Nithya Menen is an Indian Film Actress and playback singer from Bangalore, Karnataka. She has acted in Kannada, Malayalam, Telugu, and Tamil.

Nithya Menen was born in Bangalore, Karnataka and studied Journalism at the Manipal Institute of Communication. She once said in an interview that she never wished to become an actress but a journalist, as she was “an idealist”, but felt journalism was “not what it used to be”. She then decided to become a filmmaker as she could express her ideas “better through films”, and enrolled for a course in cinematography at the FTII Pune. During the entrance examination, she met Nandini Reddy, who “brainwashed” and convinced her to take up acting. Nandini Reddy would later turn director and sign Nithya for the lead female role in her first project.

Menen appeared first on screen as a child artist when she was ten in the Indian English language film, ‘The Monkey Who Knew Too Much’ (1998), playing the younger sister to Tabu’s character. In 2006, she started her acting career as a lead actor with the Kannada film ‘7 O’ Clock’ directed by Kannada’s top cinematographer Santosh Rai Pataje. The 2008 off-beat film ‘Aakasha Gopuram’, directed by National Film Award-winning director K. P. Kumaran, marked her Malayalam debut, in which she was paired with Mohanlal. She was in the midst of her 12th class exams when she was offered the role, after Mohanlal had spotted her on the front cover of a tourism magazine, Stark World Kerala. Her performance was well received, with critics writing that she shows “sparkle in her debut venture” and “makes her entry in an impressive role”, though the film, based on the Norwegian play ‘The Master Builder’, got mixed reviews and was a financial failure. She next made a come back into Kannada films with the super hit film ‘Josh’. She played a supporting role in the film, which received rave reviews, and became a commercial success as well, with her performance garnering her a nomination in the Best Supporting Actress category at the 57th Filmfare Awards South.

In 2011, her first release was Nandini Reddy’s romantic comedy ‘Ala Modalaindi’, which was Nithya’s maiden Telugu venture as well.The film opened to favourable reviews by critics and turned out to become a sleeper hit, while Nithya received critical praise for her performance. Following Ala Modalaindi, she starred in Santosh Sivan’s historical fiction ‘Urumi’ as part of an ensemble cast. She portrayed a Chirakkal princess named Bala, playing the love interest of Prabhu Deva’s character, which gained positive remarks.She next appeared in ad-filmmaker Jayendra’s bilingual venture 180/Nootrenbadhu, made and released in Tamil and Telugu, in which she played a photo journalist named Vidhya. She described the character as “bubbly, full of life, nosey, wide-eyed and innocent in life” and to be similar to herself. Later the year, she was seen in Sibi Malayil’s Violin in Malayalam and the Gautham Menon-produced ‘Veppam’ in Tamil.

Her first 2012 release was the Telugu romance film ‘Ishq’ with Nitin Reddy.She acted in ‘Karmayogi’, a Malayalam adaptation of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. For the Kannada film ‘Aidondla Aidu’ she had sung and also choreographed one of the songs, titled “Payasa”. She was seen in two Malayalam projects, T. K. Rajeev Kumar’s ‘Thalsamayam Oru Penkutty’, in which she portrayed a village woman whose daily life is filmed and broadcast as a reality show for a month, and ‘Ustad Hotel’ directed by Anwar Rasheed.

In 2013, she starred in three Telugu films, ‘Okkadine’, ‘Jabardasth’ and ‘Gunde Jaari Gallanthayyinde’ and one Kannada movie ‘Mynaa’. She played a character with two shades in ‘Gunde Jaari Gallanthayyinde’ and she dubbed for her as well as for the character of her co-star Isha Talwar. In 2014, she made a cameo in the Malayalam movie ‘Bangalore Days’, which became the highest grosser of that year. She has paired up with Sharwanand for the 2015 Telugu movie ‘Malli Malli Idi Rani Roju’. She did a minor role in the film S/O Satyamurthy, directed by Trivikram’. She appeared opposite Dulquer Salmaan in two films in 2015, ‘100 Days of Love’, a romantic Malayalam film and ‘OK Kanmani’, bilingual film directed by Mani Ratnam’.

Nithya Menen recent movies are ‘Rajadhi Raja’, ‘Okka Ammayi Thappa’, ‘Mudinja Ivana Pudi’, ‘Kotigobba 2’, ‘Janatha Garage’, ‘Iru Mugan’, ‘Appavin Meesai’.

Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao Jr, also known as Jr. NTR/Tarak is an Indian film Actor, Kuchipudi Dancer, and Playback Singer known for his works in Telugu Cinema.

Rama Rao Jr. was born on 20 May 1983 in Hyderabad to Telugu film Actor and Politician Nandamuri Harikrishna and Shalini Bhaskar Rao. He is the grandson of Telugu actor and former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh N. T. Rama Rao. He did his schooling at Vidyaranya High School, Hyderabad, and completed his Intermediate education at St. Mary’s College, Hyderabad. He is a trained Kuchipudi dancer.

he starred as a child artist in ‘Ramayanam’, which won the National Film Award for Best Children’s Film for that year. His debut as an adult was in 2000 with the film ‘Ninnu Choodalani’.

In his film career, Jr. NTR has worked in twenty six films. He has won one state award, one Filmfare Best Telugu Actor Award and four CineMAA Awards. In addition to being a movie actor, he is the brand ambassador for several brands such as Malabar Gold, Himani Navratna Hair Oil and Zandu Balm in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

After the success of the debut film “Bala Ramayanam”, director Gunasekhar recommended Jr.NTR to director S. S. Rajamouli to act in his debut ‘Student No. 1’, during mid-2000 after being impressed with his performance in the auditions and his previous film ‘Bala Ramayanam’ However the film went under production for so long. He was later signed producer Ramoji Rao, and decided to work on the romantic drama ‘Ninnu Choodalani’ to make his debut as a full-time hero. By that time, he was only 17 in his debut film.

The film ‘Student No. 1’ directed by SS Rajamouli, became a success at the box office. The story was about a college student who was facing murder charges. There were remakes in Tamil and Hindi.

He then signed up for another debutant director VV Vinayak’s ‘Aadi’. For the first time, he played a youth cum action hero, who is trying to take revenge on a landlord for the death of his parents. The film was one of the highest grossers of 2002, He then signed up for veteran director B. Gopal’s ‘Allari Ramudu’. The film was an average grosser, but managed to run for more than 100 days. He then signed up for A. M. Rathnam’s political thriller ‘Naaga’. Though, the film received mixed to positive reviews, his dances became a hit among the audience in the film and his performance was critically acclaimed. He then collaborated with the same director SS Rajamouli for the action masala film ‘Simhadri’. He gave a new look, in order to get rid of the youth one, and grew a light beard. giving him the title of Young Tiger. He later quit youth films and started experimenting with faction dramas.

Jr. NTR later signed up Puri Jagannadh’s ‘Andhrawala’, which was an action drama. The director, had successful releases in the past year, and this film created a lot of hype. He played a leader of the village. The film was an expensive film made with a budget of ₹100 million. He then signed up another faction film, ‘Samba’ with his old director V. V. Vinayak. For the first time in his career, he experimented by acting in a family drama film ‘Naa Alludu’. He played a dual role of Karthik, a responsible man who has an aim to work in a good business company and Murugan, a Tamil- speaking villager who works in the business of coconut water.

He then collaborated with director B. Gopal for a film ‘Narasimhudu’ who was riding high on the success of ‘Indra’. later signed up for Surender Reddy’s ‘Ashok’. The film saw him pairing with Sameera Reddy for the second time. However, the film gained mixed to negative reviews, and became a financial failure for the producers.

Jr. NTR later signed up for Krishna Vamsi’s experimental ‘Rakhi’. The film was a social drama cum brother-sister sentiment. For this film, he had to speak a lot of dialogues. Veteran actress Suhasini Maniratnam acted as a police officer from Tamil Nadu in this film. The film is considered to be one of Jr. NTR’s finest performances in his career.

Jr. NTR collaborated with director SS Rajamouli for the third and final time for a socio – fantasy film ‘Yamadonga’. For this film, he had to sport a new look by shedding more than 20 kg. as he used to be 94 kg. Veteran actors and actresses Mohan Babu and Kushboo signed up to act in this film. The film received extremely positive reviews, and later brought him back to the top league in Tollywood, and this film made him receive a Filmfare award for best actor in Telugu. Late actor Sobhan Babu praised Jr. NTR’s performance too.

Jr. NTR later signed up for the action film ‘Kantri’ which was directed by debutant Meher Ramesh a protege of Puri Jagannadh. The film though receiving mixed reviews, earned some attention, as Jr. NTR’s dances helped it. Jr. NTR’s dance steps in the song “I Go Crazy” and “123 Nenoka Kantri” were highly appreciated by many critics. In 2009, Jr. NTR took a year hiatus to campaign for Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in the 2009 general elections.

Jr. NTR signed up for the action-comedy ‘Adhurs’, in which he played dual roles for the third time after ‘Andhrawala’, and ‘Naa Alludu’. after a 1-year-hiatus. the romantic comedy ‘Brindavanam’ was directed by Vamsi Paidipally and produced by ace producer Dil Raju who is known for romantic films. He was paired opposite beauties Kajal Aggarwal and Samantha Ruth Prabhu. The film received positive reviews, became a commercial success.

Jr. NTR collaborated with Kantri director Meher Ramesh for a historical fantasy action film ‘Shakti’. The film was very expensive and was produced on a budget of ₹420 million. He then collaborated with ‘Ashok’ director Surender Reddy for the romantic action film ‘Oosaravelli’ in which he was paired opposite Tamannaah.

Jr. NTR signed Boyapati Srinu’s fourth venture ‘Dammu’ opposite Trisha Krishnan and Karthika Nair. ‘Baadshah in which he sported a new look by straightening his curly hair, and growing a beard, in order to suit the don image. The film won positive reviews and became a commercial success plus comeback for Jr. NTR, after 3 colossal failures.

‘Ramayya Vasthavayya’, directed by Harish Shankar which created lots of expectations.

In 2015 he starred in ‘Temper’ with Kajal Aggarwal as the female lead directed by the ace director Puri Jagannadh. Following the success of Temper, Jr. NTR started working on his next venture ‘Nannaku Prematho’ directed by Sukumar.

Later in the same year, Jr. NTR starred in the September release ‘Janatha Garage’, directed by Koratala Siva, where he was cast alongside the Malayalam superstar Mohanlal. The film also starred Samantha Ruth Prabhu and Nithya Menen in female lead roles. It was released on September 1, 2016 along with a Malayalam and received generally favorable reviews. The film registered the highest opening for a Telugu film in 2016, and was the second highest Telugu opening of all time, behind ‘Baahubali: The Beginning’.

In the following year of 2017, Jr. NTR signed his next movie under the direction of K. S. Ravindra on N.T.R. Arts banner with his half-brother Nandamuri Kalyan Ram as the producer.