J. D. Chakravarthy

J. D. Chakravarthy
Chakravarthy
Born
Nagulapati Srinivasa Chakravarthy

16 April 1970
Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, (present-day Telangana) India
Other names J.D.
Alma mater Chaitanya Bharathi Institute of Technology
Occupations
  • Actor
  • filmmaker
  • screenwriter
  • musician
Years active 1989–present
Spouse
Anukriti Govind Sharma
(m. 2016)

Nagulapati Srinivasa Chakravarthy, known professionally as J. D. Chakravarthy, is an Indian actor, screenwriter, director, producer, composer, and singer known for his work primarily with Telugu cinema in addition to Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam, and Kannada films. Chakravarthy made his screen debut with the Telugu film, Siva, an action blockbuster directed by Ram Gopal Varma, featured at the 12th IFFI. He subsequently made his Bollywood debut with the remake of the same film titled Shiva (1990). He then starred in the blockbuster Satya, featured in the Indian panorama section at the 29th IFFI, and was listed among CNN-IBN's 100 greatest Indian films of all time. Chakravarthy received the Screen Award Special Jury Award.

Chakravarthy has starred in more than seventy feature films in a variety of roles predominantly in Telugu, Hindi and a few Tamil, and Malayalam films. He is best known for his performances in box office hits like Neti Siddhartha (1990), Money (1993), Money Money (1995), One by Two (1993), Gulabi (1996), for which he received the state Nandi Special Jury Award, Mrugam (1996), Bombay Priyudu (1996), Anaganaga Oka Roju (1997), Egire Paavurama (1997), Nenu Premisthunnanu (1997), Wife of V. Varaprasad (1998), Premaku Velayara (1999), Pape Naa Pranam (2000), Premaku Swagatam (2002), Madhyanam Hathya (2004), Dubai Seenu (2007), Homam (2008), Arima Nambi (2014), Bhaskar the Rascal (2015), Mikhael (2019), Ek Villain Returns (2022), Anek (2022), Dahini - The Witch (2022), and Dayaa (2023).

Early life

Chakravarthy was born into a Telugu speaking family of carnatic singer Prof. Dr. Kovela Shantha, and father Nagulapati Suryanarayana Rao. He is born in Hyderabad, India. His elder sister Vijayanthi is settled in the United States. He did his schooling in St. George's Grammar School (Hyderabad), and completed B. E. from Chaitanya Bharathi Institute of Technology.

Hindi cinema

His first Hindi film in a lead role, Satya, was critically acclaimed and became a commercial blockbuster. He also starred in Hindi films like Vaastu Shastra, and Aag alongside Sushmita Sen, and Bhoot Returns alongside Manisha Koirala. He made his film directing debut, with Darwaza Bandh Rakho and anthology film Darna Zaroori Hai got archived at the New York Institute of Technology, New York, America as part of the film course

South cinema

He debuted in 1989 through Ram Gopal Verma's debut Telugu film, Siva as J.D., as one of the student leaders, and in the same year appeared in a supporting role in the Malayalam film Ennodishtam Koodamo before devoting all his time to films under his mentor's Ram Gopal Varma 's production.

He has worked in many Telugu films directed by ace film makers of the time like Mani Ratnam, Krishna Vamsi, S. V. Krishna Reddy, K. Raghavendra Rao, Kodi Ramakrishna, E. V. V. Satyanarayana, Shiva Nageswara Rao, Gunasekhar, and Vamsy. In 2002, he played a role of Sri Lankan Tamil Eelam fighter Dhileepan, in Mani Ratnam's Tamil film, Kannathil Muthamittal. He has returned to Telugu film industry with his Hit Film "Homam" Both as Director And Actor in year 2008.

He then went on to direct Homam and Sidham. He had a role in director Vishnuvardhan's Tamil film Sarvam, starring Arya and Trisha. In 2016, he has appeared in the Super Hit Malayalam "Bhaskar The Rascal" pairing with Nayan Tara also starring Mamooty. Then he played a young army officer in another Malayalam film Shikhamani, and made his Kannada film debut with Raavani alongside Pooja Gandhi. He is also directing 3 Kannada films for entertainment factory productions.

Filmography

Telugu films

Year Film Role Notes
1989 Shiva J. Durga Rao / JD Debut film
1990 Neti Siddhartha
1991 Shrivaari Chindhulu
Atiradhudu
1992 Lathi Ramana
Akka Chellillu
1993 Rakshana
Adarsham
Inspector Ashwani
Money Chakri
One By Two Balaji
1994 Money Money Chakri Also playback singer
1995 Gulabi Chandu Nandi Special Jury Award
1996 Mrugam
Deyyam Narsing
Bombay Priyudu Chitti Babu / J. D.
1997 Egire Paavurama Siva
Nenu Premisthunnanu
Anaganaga Oka Roju Chakri
Wife of V. Varaprasad Thyagaraju
1998 Pape Naa Pranam Chakri
1999 Harischandraa Harishchandra "Hari"
Premaku Velayara Manohar
2000 Akka Bava Ekkada Suryam
Kodanda Ramudu Kodanda Ramudu (Ramu)
2001 Navvuthu Bathakalira Ganesh
Maa Pelliki Randi Kumar
Soori Soori
2002 Premaku Swagatham Balaji
Golmaal Ameer Khan
2004 Kaasi Kaasi
Madhyanam Hatya Ravi Kumar
2007 Dubai Seenu Chakri
2008 Homam Chandrashekhar aka Chandu
2009 Josh Durga Rao
2011 Money Money, More Money Chakri
2012 All the Best Chandu
2014 Ice Cream 2 Burglar
2015 Dynamite Rishi Dev
2017 Nakshatram Ramachandra Naidu
2019 Hippi Hippi's boss

Other language films

Year Film Role Language Notes
1990 Shiva Jagadish Dave / JD Hindi Debut Hindi film
1991 Prem Qaidi Prabhavati's son Hindi
1992 Ennodishtam Koodamo Renjith Lal Malayalam
1993 Prathap Vimal Raj Tamil
1998 Satya Satya Hindi Won-Screen Award Special Jury Award
2002 Kannathil Muthamittal Dileepan Tamil
Durga Durga Hindi
2004 Vaastu Shastra Virag Rao Hindi
2007 Aag Subbu Hindi
2009 Sarvam Eashwar Tamil
2010 Kacheri Arambam Sivamani Tamil
2012 Bhoot Returns Tarun Awasthi Hindi
2013 Samar John Frederick Tamil
2014 Arima Nambi Rishi Dev Tamil
2015 Bhaskar the Rascal Sanjay Sharma Malayalam
2016 Zero Solomon Tamil
Shikhamani Anti-terrorist squadron leader Malayalam
2018 Marainthirunthu Paarkum Marmam Enna Dilip Chakravarthy Tamil
2019 Mikhael Muhammad Easa Malayalam
2022 Oppanda Chakri Kannada
Anek Anjaiah Bellamkonda IPS Hindi
Ek Villain Returns ACP V.K. Ganesan Hindi
Kaari SKR Tamil
Dahini - The Witch Pratap Hindi

Other credits

Year Film Language Director Writer Producer
1998 Pape Naa Pranam Telugu Yes
2002 Durga Hindi Yes Yes
Darna Zaroori Hai (Segment: A Bride's Revenge) Hindi Yes
Darwaaza Bandh Rakho Hindi Yes
2008 Homam Telugu Yes Yes
2009 Sidham Telugu Yes Yes
2011 Money Money, More Money Telugu Yes Yes
2012 All the Best Telugu Yes Yes

Web series

Year Name Role Language Service
2023 Taaza Khabar Shetty Hindi Disney+Hotstar
Dayaa Dayaa Telugu Disney+Hotstar