# Ram Pothineni

Ram Pothineni (born 15 May 1988) is an Indian actor who primarily works in Telugu 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 established 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. 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 Ganesh: Just Ganesh.
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, Shivam ended up as one of the biggest failures of his career.
In 2016, He had two releases, both produced by his own production house Sri Sravanthi Movies, Nenu Sailaja which was a commercial success and Santosh Srinivas-directed Hyper which was an average at the box office.

### 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 ₹90 crore, his career's highest grosser. His 2021 film was Red where he played a dual role, is a remake of Tamil 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 huge commercial failure. 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

Key :
| † | Denotes films that have not yet been released |
* All films are in Telugu, unless otherwise noted.
| Year | Film | Role(s) | Notes |
| 2002 | Adayaalam | Naren Srinivasan | Tamil short film |
| 2006 | Devadasu | Devadas | |
| 2007 | Jagadam | Seenu | |
| 2008 | Ready | Chandu (Danayya) | |
| 2009 | Maska | Krishna "Krish" | |
| 2009 | Ganesh | Ganesh | |
| 2010 | Rama Rama Krishna Krishna | Rama Krishna | |
| 2011 | Kandireega | Srinivas "Sreenu" | |
| 2012 | Endukante... Premanta! | Krishna & Ram | Simultaneously shot in Tamil |
| 2013 | Ongole Githa | Dorababu (White) | |
| 2013 | Masala | Ram (Rehman) | |
| 2015 | Rey | Narrator | Voice role |
| 2015 | Pandaga Chesko | Karthik | |
| 2015 | Shivam | Shiva (Ram) | |
| 2016 | Nenu Sailaja | Hari | |
| 2016 | Hyper | Suryanarayana Murthy | |
| 2017 | Vunnadhi Okate Zindagi | Abhiram | |
| 2018 | Hello Guru Prema Kosame | Sanju | Also singer for "Idea Cheppu Friendu" |
| 2019 | iSmart Shankar | Ustaad "iSmart" Shankar / Arun | |
| 2021 | Red | Aditya & Siddharth | Dual role |
| 2021 | Romantic | Ustaad "iSmart" Shankar | Cameo appearance |
| 2022 | The Warriorr | DSP Dr. Satya IPS, MBBS | Telugu/Tamil bilingual |
| 2023 | Skanda | Bhaskar Raju & Skanda | Dual role |
| 2024 | Double iSmart | Ustaad "iSmart" Shankar | |
| TBA | RAPO22 † | Sagar | Filming |

## Accolades

| Year | Award | Category | Work | Result |
| 2002 | Europe Film Festival, Switzerland | Best Actor | Adayaalam | Won |
| 2007 | Filmfare Awards South | Best Male Debut | Devadasu | Won |
| 2008 | Filmfare Awards South | Best Actor – Telugu | Ready | Nominated |
| 2011 | Filmfare Awards South | Best Actor – Telugu | Kandireega | Nominated |
| 2020 | Zee Cine Awards Telugu | Sensational Star of the Year | iSmart Shankar | Won |
| 2020 | Zee Cine Awards Telugu | Best Actor | iSmart Shankar | Nominated |
| 2021 | 10th South Indian International Movie Awards | Best Actor | iSmart Shankar | Nominated |