Ram Pothineni (born 15 May 1988) is an Indian actor who primarily works in Telugu language films. Known for his energetic screen presence, he earned one Filmfare Award and one SIIMA Award for his work.
Pothineni made his acting debut with the box office success Devadasu (2006), for which he won the Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut – South. He achieved his breakthrough in 2008 with the action comedy Ready (2008). Pothineni continued to establish himself as a leading man with critical and commercial successes such as Maska (2009), Kandireega (2011), Pandaga Chesko (2015), Nenu Sailaja (2016), Hello Guru Prema Kosame (2018), iSmart Shankar (2019), and Red (2021).
Beyond his film career, Pothineni endorses many products and is a brand ambassador for Garnier.
Early life
Ram Pothineni was born on 15 May 1988, in
Hyderabad, to Murali Pothineni. He is the nephew of Telugu film producer, Sravanthi Ravi Kishore.
Actor
Sharwanand is his cousin.
His family hails from
Vijayawada,
Andhra Pradesh.
Career
Debut and early career (2006–2010)
Pothineni first appeared in
Tamil language short film Adayaalam (2002) where he played an 18-year old drug addict.
He then made his theatrical debut in 2006 with
Devadasu.
[ Telugu cinema trade report for the first half of year 2006 – idlebrain.com ][ CineGoer.com – Box-Office Records And Collections – All Time Long Run List ] His second film,
Jagadam opposite Isha Sahani was directed by Sukumar. He then appeared in
Ready alongside Genelia D'Souza directed by
Srinu Vaitla which was a commercial success.
In 2009, he had two releases,
Maska and
.
In 2010, Pothineni had only one release, Rama Rama Krishna Krishna, produced by Dil Raju and directed by Srivaas.
Career ups and downs (2011–2016)
Pothineni's next film was
Kandireega (2011).
Later he starred in
Endukante... Premanta! (2012) alongside
Tamannaah, directed by Karunakaran and produced by Sravanthi Ravi Kishore. In 2013, Pothineni appeared in
Ongole Githa with
Kriti Kharbanda directed by Bhaskar and produced by B.V.S.N. Prasad. In the same year, he co-starred alongside Venkatesh in the action comedy
Masala, the remake of the Hindi film
Bol Bachchan, directed by K. Vijaya Bhaskar and jointly produced by Sravanthi Ravi Kishore and D. Suresh Babu.
In 2015, Pothineni starred in two films, Pandaga Chesko and Shivam . While Pandaga Chesko directed by Gopichand Malineni, was a commercial success,
In 2016, He had two releases, both produced by his own production house Sri Sravanthi Movies, Nenu Sailaja which was a commercial success
Success and recent work (2017–present)
His 2017 coming-of-age film
Vunnadhi Okate Zindagi received mixed reviews. In 2018, he starred in the
romantic comedy Hello Guru Prema Kosame directed by Trinadha Rao Nakkina. In 2019, he collaborated with director
Puri Jagannadh for the
action thriller iSmart Shankar. The film became a commercial success for Pothineni after a series of failures.
It grossed over , his career's highest grosser.
His 2021 film was
Red where he played a dual role, is a remake of
Tamil language film
Thadam (2018).
In 2022, he starred in the
Lingusamy-directed
The Warriorr where he played a police officer.
The film received negative reviews from critics and was
box-office bomb.
Pothineni then starred in
Boyapati Srinu's
Skanda (2023)
opposite
Sreeleela to mixed reviews from the critics. He next starred in
Double iSmart, which released in 2024.
Media image
Pothineni has featured on Hyderabad Times Most Desirable Men list various times. He ranked 11th in 2017,
11th in 2018,
3rd in 2019
and 2nd in 2020.
Pothineni did his first ever brand endorsement for
Garnier alongside
John Abraham.
Filmography
As actor
-
All films are in Telugu, unless otherwise noted.
|
|
| 2002 | Adayaalam | Naren Srinivasan | Tamil language short film | |
| Devadasu | | |
| Jagadam | | |
| Ready | | |
| Maska | | |
| Ganesh | | |
| Rama Rama Krishna Krishna | | |
| Kandireega | | |
| Endukante... Premanta! | Krishna & Ram | Simultaneously shot in Tamil | |
| Ongole Githa | | |
| Masala | Ram (Rehman) | | |
| 2015 | Rey | Narrator | Voice role | |
| Pandaga Chesko | | |
| Shivam | | |
| Nenu Sailaja | | |
| Hyper | | |
| Vunnadhi Okate Zindagi | | |
| Hello Guru Prema Kosame | Also singer for "Idea Cheppu Friendu" | |
| iSmart Shankar | | |
| Red | Dual role | |
| Romantic | Himself | Cameo appearance in the song ''Peene Ke Baad'' | |
| 2022 | The Warriorr | Satya | Telugu/Tamil bilingual film | |
| 2023 | Skanda | Bhaskar Raju & Skanda | Dual role | |
| 2024 | Double iSmart | Ustaad "iSmart" Shankar | | |
| 2025 | | Sagar | Filming | |
Accolades
|
| 2002 | Europe Film Festival, Switzerland | Best Actor | Adayaalam | | |
| 2007 | Filmfare Awards South | Best Male Debut | Devadasu | | |
| 2008 | Filmfare Awards South | Best Actor – Telugu | Ready | | |
| 2011 | Filmfare Awards South | Kandireega | | |
| 2020 | Zee Cine Awards Telugu | Sensational Star of the Year | iSmart Shankar | | |
| Best Actor | | |
| 2021 | 10th South Indian International Movie Awards | | |
Notes
See also
-
List of Indian male film actors
-
List of dancers
External links
