Tanikella Bharani

Tanikella Bharani (born 14 July 1954) is an Indian actor, screenwriter, poet, playwright and director who works predominantly in Telugu cinema. He has worked as an actor in more than 750 films, including some in Tamil and Hindi; while he was also screenwriter for 52 films. He has won three Andhra Pradesh State Nandi Awards.

Early life

Tanikella Bharani's ancestry includes poets and literary figures of Telugu literature. Diwakarla Venkatavadhani and Viswanatha Satyanarayana were his grand uncles. Divakarla Tirupati Sastry one of the Telugu poet duo Tirupati Venkata Kavulu was his great-grand-uncle.

He is born into a Telugu Brahmin family. He is fluent in Telugu, English, Hindi, Tamil.

He is a religious Hindu who is known for singing devotional songs in praise of Sri Shiva and Devi Parvati, and propagates to his fellow Hindus to not just read the '' Bhagavad Gita'' but to follow what it teaches. He is also a supporter of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and has endorsed current Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's previous bid for office.

Career

Bharani did stage plays in the mid 70s and during this time he made the acquaintance of Rallapalli, a Tollywood actor. With his help Bharani started writing small dialogues and stage scenes. Later, he took a diploma in Theatre arts. Following Rallapalli's advice he moved to Chennai.

He started his career as a dialogue writer for ''Kanchu Kavachum'' in 1984 and has written dialogues for various movies like ''Ladies Tailor'' (1986), ''Sri Kanaka Mahalakshmi Recording Dance Troupe'' (1987), ''Varasudochhadu'' (1988), ''Chettu Kinda Pleader'' (1989), ''Swara Kalpana'' (1989), '' Shiva (1989)'' and ''Seenu Vasanthi Lakshmi'' (2004). He also penned and sung the lyrics of ''Gundammagaari Manavadu'' (Bhale Bhaleti Mandu).

He has acted in more than 750 movies starting with ''Ladies Tailor'' (1985) & ''Sri Kanaka Mahalakshmi Recording Dance Troupe'' (1987) in which he was seen as ''Dora Babu''. In 1989 he appeared in the hit film ''Shiva'', by Ram Gopal Varma, which starred Nagarjuna. With the release of the film ''Shiva'', he received much recognition and his character ''Nanaji'' impressed the whole Telugu audience.

He also played a supporting role in the comedy film ''Bombay Priyudu'' in 1996. His powerful antagonism in ''Samudram'' won him the Nandi award as the Best Villain. After 2000, he started playing more mature roles in movies like ''Manmadhudu'' (2002), ''Okariki Okaru'' (2003), ''Samba'' (2004), '' Malliswari'', ''Godavari'' (2006), and ''Happy'' (2006).

He directed Telugu Drama film '' Mithunam'' is a 2012 featuring S. P. Balasubrahmanyam and Lakshmi. He received CineMAA Award Special Jury Award for Best Direction for this film.

He wrote seven Telugu devotional songs song for the album "''Nee Lona Shivudu Galudu, Na Lona Shivudu Galadu''," literally translating as "The Lord Shiva in you and the Lord Shiva in me can rule the world." He also sang the title song for Nalona sivudu galadu and Shahabash Raa Shankara which were written by him.

Personal life

He is married to Durga Bhavani in 1988. He resides in Yousufguda, Hyderabad. The couple has two children, Teja and Soundarya Lahari. Teja made his debut as an actor in the film ''Mr Lavangam'' (2012).

Awards

; Nandi Awards
* Best Villain – ''Samudhram''
* Best Character Actor  – '' Nuvvu Nenu''
* Nandi Award for Best Dialogue Writer – '' Mithunam''

;Literary Awards
*Sri Pada Subhramanya Sastry Literary Award – '' Polamuru''
*Bhanumathi Award – ''Hyderabad''
*Sri Vanamamalai Varadacharyulu Literary Award – '' Adilabad''
*Fellowship Jawahar Bharathi – ''Kavali''
*Allu Ramalingayyiah National Award – ''Hyderabad''
*Akkineni Swarna Kankanam – ''Hyderabad''
*Nagabhairava Koteswara Rao literary Award – ''Nellore''

; CineMAA Awards
* Special Jury Award for Best Director – '' Mithunam'' (2013)

;Sangam Academy Awards
*Sangam Academy award for completing Twenty five years in Telugu Cinema

;Awards for Short Films (as a Director)
*Tenth Mumbai International Film Festival Award
*Idaho Panhandle – Hyderabad International Film Festival Award for ''Sira-The Ink''

;Lok Nayak Foundation Sahitya Puraskar
*Lok Nayak Foundation Sahitya Puraskar presented to Tanikella Bharani in Visakhapatnam.

Literary works

;Books
#''Parikini''
#''Nakshatra Darsanam''
#''Maathralu''
#''Endaro Mahanubavulu''

;Plays (Drama)
#''Jambu Dweepam''
#''Kokkorokko''
#''Chal Chal Gurram''
#''Gaardhabhaandam''
#''Gograhanam''
# ''Naalugo Kothi''

;Playlets (Telugu):
*''Gaardhabhanda''
*''Gograhanam''
*''Kokkoroko''
*''Chalchal Gurram''
*''Jambudweepam''
*''Grahanam Pattina Ratri''
*''Sani Grahalu''
*''Goyyi''
*''Panjaram Lo Elaka''
*''Hulakki''

;Song compositions
#"Naalona Sividu Kaladu" is a composition of 7 songs written by Bharani.
#"Sabhash raa sankara!" Is composition by Bharani about the concept of Shiva.
#"Naamanasu Kothi raa Raama!"

;Spiritual Books
#''Aata Gadaraa Siva''
#''Sabhashuraa Sankara''

Filmography

Telugu films

;Actor

;Writer

;Dubbing artist

Tamil films

Hindi films

References

External links

* http://www.tanikellabharani.com
*
* http://twitter.com/TanikellaBharni

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bharani, Tanikella
20th-century Indian male actors
Living people
1956 births
Telugu male actors
Telugu comedians
Telugu writers
Telugu-language writers
Andhra University alumni
20th-century Indian dramatists and playwrights
Indian male dramatists and playwrights
Telugu-language dramatists and playwrights
Male actors in Telugu cinema
Male actors in Tamil cinema
Male actors in Hindi cinema
Indian male film actors
Film directors from Hyderabad, India
Screenwriters from Hyderabad, India
Indian editors
Nandi Award winners
21st-century Indian male actors
Indian male comedians
People from Secunderabad
Male actors in Telugu theatre
Telugu film directors
21st-century Indian film directors
20th-century Indian male writers
21st-century Indian male writers