5 Telugu-origin heroes who made it big in Tamil cinema

When it comes to entertainment in Indian cinema, language is no barrier. The mammoth box-office collection of SS Rajamouli’s ‘Baahubali’ duology on the home turf includes some astonishing numbers from Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, and Hindi combined. Prabhas turned into a Pan-Indian superstar with incredible popularity among the masses. These couple of instances proved that cinephiles don’t care about the origin of the actor nor the film. Having said so, some of them even rise to earn international stardom.

Coming down south, several heroes who hailed from typical Telugu families have found big success in Kollywood. Though most of them initially tested their fate in Tollywood, they earned their big break in Tamil. Let's take a look at five Telugu-origin heroes who made it big in Tamil cinema.

Born to film producer and granite businessman GK Reddy, Vishal comes from a Telugu-speaking family. Before making his silver screen debut as a lead, he assisted actor-director Arjun Sarja for ‘Vedham’ and joined the theatre group ‘Koothu-P-Pattarai’ to hone his acting chops.

Vishal’s second outing ‘Sandakozhi’ which was dubbed into Telugu as ‘Pandem Kodi’ turned out to be a big hit at the ticket counters and labelled him as a ‘pure action hero’. He is one among the few Tamil actors to dub his lines in Telugu and own a solid market.

Aadhi Pinisetty is the son of popular director Ravi Raja Pinisetty. Hailing from a typical Telugu family, the 35-year-old actor made his on-screen debut in 2006 with Teja’s ‘Oka ‘V’ Chitram’ which bombed at the box-office. He immediately moved to Kollywood and tried his luck in the place where he was born and brought up. After making a blockbuster debut in Tamil with the neo-noir film ‘Mirugam’ (Mrugam), Aadhi attempted the gothic horror ‘Eeram’ (Vaishali) in 2009.

The bilingual film was highly successful in both the languages and in the following years, Aadhi went on to become an established actor in Kollywood. He returned to the Telugu celluloid in 2016 and played the antagonist’s role in Allu Arjun’s ‘Sarrainodu’. With his impressive performance, he bagged pivotal roles in a couple of big-ticket flicks like ‘Ninnu Kori’ and ‘Rangasthalam’

Popularly known as Srikanth in Kollywood, Sriram was born into a Telugu family in Tamil Nadu. Before making his debut in Tollywood with ‘Okariki Okaru’, he acquired four back-to-back hits in Tamil and won the State Film Special Award for ‘Parthiban Kanavu’. Though his first Telugu flick was successful, Sriram focussed on his career in Tamil cinema.

After four years since his Telugu debut, he played a pivotal role in Venkatesh’s family drama ‘Adavari Matalaku Ardhalu Verule’ followed by solid performances in ‘Dhada’, ‘Nippu’ and ‘Lie’.

Better known by his stage name ‘Jayam’ Ravi, Ravi Mohan is the son of veteran film editor Mohan. After a couple of appearances as a child artist in ‘Bava Bavamaridi’ and ‘Palnati Pourusham’, Ravi made his debut as a protagonist with the remake of the Telugu blockbuster ‘Jayam’ in Tamil. Released with the same name, the love story repeated its massive success in Tamil Nadu as well.

Most of Ravi’s super-hits are remakes of popular Telugu films like ‘Amma Nanna O Tamila Ammayi’, ‘Varsham’, and ‘Nuvvostanante Nenoddantana’. The 37-year-old even assisted popular director Suresh Krishna for Kamal Haasan’s ‘Abhay’ in 2001.

Vaibhav is the son of popular Telugu filmmaker A Kodandarami Reddy and was born into a Telugu-speaking family. Originally named Sumanth Reddy, the 38-year-old made his lead debut in 2007 with ‘Godava’ under his father’s direction. After failing to make an impact in Tollywood, he became famous in Tamil with supporting roles in films like ‘Saroja’, ‘Goa’ and ‘Mankatha’.