Actor · Telugu cinema
Jagapati Babu
Jagapati Babu movies: 146 Telugu films on file, 1989–2026. Earliest on file: Simha Swapnam (1989). Latest release: Newton's 3rd Law (31 July 2026).
- Films on file
- 146 (146 as actor)
- Years on file
- 1989–2026
- Born
- 12 February 1962 · February birthdays (Wikidata)
- Selected films on file
- Pushpa 2: The Rule, Salaar, Radhe Shyam
- Record
- Q6122194 on Wikidata
Jagapathi Babu (born Veeramachaneni Jagapathi Chowdary, 12 February 1962) is an Indian actor who works in Telugu cinema, with films in Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi as well. He has appeared in 170 feature films and won four Filmfare Awards and seven Nandi Awards. A popular family-film hero in the 1990s and 2000s, he reinvented himself from 2014 as a villain and character actor, in films such as Legend, Rangasthalam and Aravinda Sametha Veera Raghava.
Early life
Jagapathi Babu was born in the Benz Circle area of Vijayawada to the producer-director V. B. Rajendra Prasad, and grew up in Chennai. He is married to Lakshmi, and they have two daughters.
Lead roles
His debut as a lead was Simha Swapnam (1989), produced by his father and directed by V. Madhusudhana Rao, followed the same year by Adavilo Abhimanyudu. Peddarikam (1992) was his first commercial success, and his breakthrough came with Ram Gopal Varma‘s Gaayam (1993). The hit Subhalagnam (1994) won him a family audience.
He won the Nandi Award for Best Actor for S. V. Krishna Reddy’s Maavichiguru (1996) and again for the thriller Manoharam (2000), and the Nandi Award for Best Supporting Actor for Anthahpuram (1998). Other hits included Subhakankshalu and Pelli Pandiri (both 1997), the multi-starrer Hanuman Junction (2003), Pedababu and Anukokunda Oka Roju. His role in Lakshyam (2007) brought a second Nandi for supporting actor and a Filmfare Award. He also played the lead in Jai Bolo Telangana, which won five Nandi Awards, and made his Kannada debut as a police officer in Bachchan (2012).
Turning villain
From 2014 he chose to play antagonists and supporting characters. His first villain, Jitendra in Nandamuri Balakrishna‘s Legend (2014), was widely praised, and the same year he played a negative role opposite Rajinikanth in Lingaa. He played Mahesh Babu‘s father in Srimanthudu (2015), a London-based billionaire in Sukumar‘s Nannaku Prematho (2016), and villains in Ism and Jaguar. He also acted opposite Mohanlal in the Malayalam film Pulimurugan and played Naga Chaitanya‘s father in Rarandoi Veduka Chudham (2017).
Recent highlights
In Sukumar’s Rangasthalam (2018) he played the oppressive president of the village; according to the source the film grossed more than ₹2 billion and was the year’s highest-grossing Telugu film. That year he also played a terrorist in the sleeper hit Goodachari, and his villain in Trivikram Srinivas‘s Aravinda Sametha Veera Raghava is considered one of his finest performances. He followed with Maharshi and a key role in Sye Raa Narasimha Reddy (both 2019).
In 2023 he played one of the villains in the Hindi film Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan and Rajamannar in Prashanth Neel’s blockbuster Salaar: Part 1 – Ceasefire.
Collaborators and honours
Over his career he has worked with directors including Kodi Ramakrishna, Krishna Vamsi, E. V. V. Satyanarayana, Gunasekhar, K. Raghavendra Rao, Boyapati Srinu and Koratala Siva. In 2011 he received the Kala Bhushana Award from TSR Lalitha Kala Parishat.
Sources: Wikipedia and Wikidata.
Jagapathi Babu: quick facts
- Real name: Veeramachaneni Jagapathi Chowdary (Wikipedia)
- Born: 12 February 1962 in the Benz Circle area of Vijayawada, to producer-director V. B. Rajendra Prasad (Wikipedia)
- First film as lead: Simha Swapnam (1989), produced by his father (Wikipedia)
- Awards: Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor – Telugu for Lakshyam (2007), Legend (2014), Nannaku Prematho (2016) and Aravinda Sametha Veera Raghava (2018) (Wikipedia list); Nandi Awards for Best Supporting Actor for Lakshyam and Best Villain for Legend (Wikipedia list; Wikipedia list); SIIMA Award for Best Actor in a Negative Role – Telugu for Legend and Nannaku Prematho (Wikipedia list)
- Films on this page: 146 films; more released Telugu titles from TMDB are listed below.
More Jagapathi Babu Telugu films listed on TMDB
These Telugu-language films are credited to Jagapathi Babu on TMDB but are not yet part of the filmography table on this page. The credit column is TMDB’s own listing; check the film’s page for full details.
| Year | Film | Credit listed on TMDB |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 6 | as Vijay |
| 2022 | Hero | as Sripathi |
| 2023 | Ramabanam | as Rajaram |
| 2023 | Rudrangi | as Bheemrao Deshmukh |
Career on file
Jagapati Babu appears in 146 Telugu films on file at Tollywood Desk, dated from 1989 to 2026. The earliest of them is Simha Swapnam (1989), and the most recent release is Newton's 3rd Law (2026). The most widely covered of these, counted by Wikipedia language editions, are Pushpa 2: The Rule (2024), Salaar (2023) and Radhe Shyam (2022). Other recent releases on file are Vadala (2026), Nagabandham: The Secret Treasure (2026) and Peddi (2026).
Brahmanandam is the most frequent co-star, sharing 30 films with Jagapati Babu, followed by Kota Srinivasa Rao (23) and Chandra Mohan (13). Among directors, S. V. Krishna Reddy cast Jagapati Babu most often, in seven films; next are K. Raghavendra Rao (5) and Kodi Ramakrishna (5). Koti and M. M. Keeravani each scored 12 of them, more than any other music director; next are Devi Sri Prasad (9) and S. V. Krishna Reddy (7). Across these films the credits on file name 107 different directors, 70 music directors and 264 other credited actors.
Runtime is on file for 129 of them; they average 145 minutes, and the longest is Pushpa 2: The Rule at 200 minutes. 35 of them have a streaming (OTT) release noted on the site. By decade the list splits into 1980s (2), 1990s (44), 2000s (36), 2010s (39) and 2020s (25).
Figures come from the films on file at Tollywood Desk and change as records are added.