Nani, Adivi Sesh, Samantha: Meet the silent killers of 2016

This year has been a rather unusual one for Tollywood. Two most highly anticipated movies ‘Sardaar Gabbar Singh’ and ‘Brahmotsavam’ failed miserably. The only two big hits were Allu Arjun’s ‘Sarrainodu’ and Nagarjuna’s ‘Oopiri’. However, there are many actors who have enjoying phenomenal success this year even though their films didn’t have much hype. Check out who are these celebs who are silently moving towards establishing themselves in Telugu cinema.

Nani

Nani is a well established, but he is definitely no superstar. However, he has had a stellar 2016 with two hits already in his kitty. First was ‘Krishnagaadi Veera Prema Gaadha’ in February, which was a rib tickling comedy which did really well at the box office, despite of very little hype. Then came the real showstopper, ‘Gentleman’ in June. This romantic thriller became a huge hit for the Natural Star. What’s more, he has another film coming next month titled ‘Majnu’ and if it ends up as a hit too, then 2016 will become Nani’s year in Tollywood.

Adivi Sesh

Adivi Sesh is a combo of acting, writing and directing. Unfortunately, he had an unlucky run till ‘Kshanam’ came out in 2016.This one thriller movie was enough to knock all his failures out of the park. After ‘Kshanam’, Tollywood suddenly started taking a keen interest in Adivi. ‘Kshanam’ was a testimony for Adivi’s acting as well as excellent writing talent. He too has begun shooting for his next film titled as ‘Gudachari’ and if he delivers another ‘Kshanam’, expect a sudden rise to stardom.

Ram Pothineni

Ram has always been one of the most underrated heroes who can deliver a gem once in a while. We saw an example in 2008 with the comedy film ‘Ready’, which became the biggest hit of his career. Right behind Ready, another big success was ‘Nenu Sailaja’ which came in the beginning of 2016. A traditional love story, it gained massive popularity after its release thanks to his fantastic performance and the fan following for actress Keerthy Suresh. Ram has another one titled ‘Hyper’ coming up later in the year and he is definitely a budding star to watch out for.

Samantha Ruth Prabhu

Samantha is mostly used as eye candy in films. But she decided to break that stereotype once and for all with ‘A Aa’. Although this romantic drama had a hero Nithin, Samantha easily overshadowed him and made it her film. Sam has proven that she can look pretty and act splendidly as well. Her popularity, which was already great thanks to her beauty, has skyrocketed now. The actress is also planning to star in the remake of Kannada film ‘U Turn’ and do more woman centric roles from now on.

Mohanlal

The Telugu film industry was excited about veteran actor Mohanlal’s entry in Telugu cinema, but it was only for ‘Janatha Garage’. Another Telugu film which released before the Jr NTR film was ‘Manamantha’ which almost flew under the radar. This Chandra Shekhar Yeleti film was simply sublime and Mohanlal was just a cog in the operations. He perfectly catered to his role and has made a great debut in Tollywood. The bottom line is that Mohanlal is here to stay in Telugu film industry and if ‘Janatha Garage’ ends up as a big hit, expect him to give some serious competition to other Telugu stars.

Vijay Deverakonda

We are sure that most people didn’t even know this guy existed in Tollywood before the film ‘Yevade Subramanyam’, in which he played a cameo. But success found him suddenly and unexpectedly with ‘Pellichoopulu’. Vijay and his co-star Ritu Verma were simply perfect as they never failed to make us smile in this amazing romantic comedy. With the spectacular critical acclaim and great box office collections it is still raking in, this actor has suddenly become a popular name in Tollywood.