Actor · Telugu cinema
Surya
Surya movies: 120 Telugu films on file, 1986–2025. Earliest on file: Vikram (1986). Latest release: Constable (10 October 2025).
- Films on file
- 120 (120 as actor)
- Years on file
- 1986–2025
- Born
- 27 July 1957 · July birthdays (Wikidata)
- Selected films on file
- Magadheera, 1: Nenokkadine, Yevadu
- Record
- Q19663326 on Wikidata
This page is about Surya (Surya Kumar Bhagawan Das, born 27 July 1957), the Telugu actor who began his film career in Vikram (1986). Looking for the Tamil star Suriya (Saravanan Sivakumar), whose films are also released in Telugu? See Suriya.
Surya is a Telugu character actor known for comedy and supporting roles, with occasional villain and lead parts. Wikipedia credits him with more than 600 films and television episodes, and four Nandi Awards across film and television.
Career
His first screen appearance was as one of Nagarjuna‘s friends in Nagarjuna’s debut film Vikram (1986), but, as he told idlebrain, the right break took almost ten more years. Roles in Tammudu and Sindhooram followed, and S. V. Krishna Reddy’s Premaku Velayara made him a popular comedy actor. He played the male lead opposite Manjula in Show, which brought him a Nandi Special Jury Award in 2001. Outside Telugu he has acted in Tamil films such as Mudhalvan (1999), Bhaagamathie (2018), as a CBI officer, and Custody (2023), in the Hindi film Nayak (2001) and the Kannada film Olave Mandara (2011).
Awards
- Nandi Award for Best Supporting Actor: Sindhooram (1997)
- Nandi Special Jury Award: Show (2001)
- Two Nandi Awards for television: best villain (Preminchu, Premalo Jeevinchu) and best supporting actor (Janani Janmabhoomi)
Early life
His father, Lieutenant Colonel R. D. Bhagawan Das, served in the Indian Army; the family moved to Hyderabad, where his parents started Trinity Public School, and Surya taught there for 28 years, for several of them alongside acting. He studied English literature and joined Madhu Film Acting School, where he won a gold medal as the most outstanding student of his batch. Wikipedia and Wikidata give his date of birth as 27 July 1957; in his idlebrain interview he gave the year as 1959.
Sources: the Wikipedia article; Wikidata; the actor’s interview with idlebrain.
Career on file
Surya appears in 120 Telugu films on file at Tollywood Desk, dated from 1986 to 2025. The earliest of them is Vikram (1986), and the most recent release is Constable (2025). The most widely covered of these, counted by Wikipedia language editions, are Magadheera (2009), 1: Nenokkadine (2014) and Yevadu (2014). Other recent releases on file are Show Time (2025), Coffee with a Killer (2025) and Zebra (2024).
Brahmanandam is the most frequent co-star, sharing 39 films with Surya, followed by Kota Srinivasa Rao (22) and Chandra Mohan (13). Among directors, S. V. Krishna Reddy cast Surya most often, in five films; next are Chandra Siddhartha (3) and Koratala Siva (3). Music on 13 of them is by Mani Sharma, with Devi Sri Prasad (9) and Chakri (8) next. Sri Venkateswara Creations produced six of them, more than any other banner on file. Across these films the credits on file name 94 different directors, 67 music directors and 246 other credited actors.
Runtime is on file for 91 of them; they average 148 minutes, and the longest is Tiger Nageswara Rao at 182 minutes. 36 of them have a streaming (OTT) release noted on the site. By decade the list splits into 1980s (4), 1990s (6), 2000s (54), 2010s (40) and 2020s (16). 2000 is the busiest single year, with 13 films.
Figures come from the films on file at Tollywood Desk and change as records are added.