Actor Mahesh Babu has the image of a charmer onscreen. His smile lights up the screen and even as the actor turns 43, the number of his female followers is only swelling. He has worked on 24 films and on the occasion of his birthday, his 25th film Maharshi was announced, which will be directed by Vamshi Paidapally. Maharishi comes after last year’s Bharat Ane Nenu, which was a summer blockbuster.
Despite the star status, the actor is among the most grounded and self aware actor in the industry with no airs about him. Having debuted in 1999, one might wonder why the star hasn’t been a part more films with his competitors having almost double the number of films to their name. Mahesh babu, however, had decided early on in his career that he will not do more than two films per year. Since 1999 till 2007, Mahesh Babu worked on 14 films after which he took a break.
Mahesh Babu went against the grain by taking a three year break at the peak of his career. Speaking about this break in an interview with Film Companion, the actor had said, “The pressure got to me. I’d delivered one of the biggest hits at that time, called Pokiri. It was a phenomenal blockbuster at that time. Salman (Khan) remade it as Wanted. The movie took me to another level. Then, I lost my grandmother, who was very close to me. (My wife) Namrata’s parents passed away that same year. So everything was happening at the time and I didn’t know what films to do, what kind of a performance to come up with, how to satisfy my fans. My son was eight or nine months old at the time. So I said, ‘I’ll take a six month break’ and spend time with them. That six months became three years. I learnt a lot, matured, then knew what to do exactly.”
{{/usCountry}}Mahesh Babu went against the grain by taking a three year break at the peak of his career. Speaking about this break in an interview with Film Companion, the actor had said, “The pressure got to me. I’d delivered one of the biggest hits at that time, called Pokiri. It was a phenomenal blockbuster at that time. Salman (Khan) remade it as Wanted. The movie took me to another level. Then, I lost my grandmother, who was very close to me. (My wife) Namrata’s parents passed away that same year. So everything was happening at the time and I didn’t know what films to do, what kind of a performance to come up with, how to satisfy my fans. My son was eight or nine months old at the time. So I said, ‘I’ll take a six month break’ and spend time with them. That six months became three years. I learnt a lot, matured, then knew what to do exactly.”
{{/usCountry}}His relationship with his family - wife Namrata Shirodkar and kids Gautam, Sitara - is another reason why fans adore him. He doesn’t let an opportunity go by where he hasn’t thanked his wife for being his support system and he has also expressed how much he loves his kids in words and pictures on his social media handles. After the success of Bharat Ane Nenu, Mahesh took to Instagram to share a beautiful picture where he was seen sharing a kiss with his wife. He had captioned it, “Thank you my love.” This was after his film Bharat Ane Nenu was announced as a blockbuster hit.
The fact that Sitara is daddy’s little girl is all over Instagram. Throwing light on Mahesh Babu as a father, Namrata said in an earlier interview, “Whenever Mahesh is not working he is at home with me and the children. He loves to dance with our daughter Sitara. There is the one dance step that the two of them have been trying to master for weeks now. Neither father, nor daughter is able to do it. As for me, the less said about my dancing abilities the better. Our son Gautam is very shy just like his father. So Mahesh has to pull him into the father-daughter dance binges.”
Mahesh Babu also has a bond with his fans that he takes very seriously. While the actor doesn’t take box office disasters to his heart, he does feel he has let his fans down. In the same interview, Namrata had shared, “It is the biggest success of his career. I can’t tell you what a joy it is, specially, since Mahesh’s last two films were disasters. Mahesh hates to let down his fans. He feels a sense of responsibility towards them. When his last two films didn’t do well he was constantly questioning himself and his choices. Bharat Ane Nenu has answered the question on what his audience wants. I feel as though I’ve just won a marathon race.”
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