Tarun (Telugu actor)

Tarun Kumar (born 8 January 1983) is an Indian actor known for his works predominantly in Telugu cinema, with appearances in a few Tamil and Malayalam films.
Tarun began his career as a child actor and received the National Film Award for Best Child Artist for his performance in Anjali (1990), directed by Mani Ratnam. He has also won the Nandi Award for Best Child Actor three times.
He made his debut as a lead actor with Nuvve Kavali (2000) and starred in successful films like Priyamaina Neeku (2001), Nuvvu Leka Nenu Lenu (2002), Punnagai Desam (2002), Nuvve Nuvve (2002), Ninne Ishtapaddanu (2003), and Nava Vasantham (2007).
Tarun was born into a Telugu family to actors Roja Ramani and Chakrapani. His mother, Roja Ramani, hails from Rajahmundry and was raised in Madras. She acted in multiple film industries, including Malayalam, Telugu, and Tamil, and was a prominent dubbing artist in Telugu cinema during the 1980s and 1990s, lending her voice to several leading actresses.
Chakrapani was born into a Telugu family with ancestral roots in Palasa, Srikakulam district. Chakrapani's grandfather lived in Vizag, while his father worked as a mechanical engineer for Indian Railways at Khurda Road Junction railway station in Orissa, where Chakrapani was raised. He acted in both Odia and Telugu films and was once a leading actor in the Odia film industry.
Tarun started his career as a child actor with the Telugu-language film Manasu Mamatha (1990). As a child, Tarun was a fan of Mani Ratnam's films such as Nayagan (1987) and Agni Nakshatram (1988) and accepted the offer to work in the Tamil-language film Anjali (1990) as distraught Shamlee's brother. Tarun won the National Film Award for Best Child Artist for his role in the film. He also received critical acclaim for the Malayalam film Abhayam (1991), which won the National Film Award for Best Children's Film, and earned him the Best Child Artist award at the Furoshiki Film Festival in Japan.
He also worked on the Telugu television serial Wonder Boy for Eenadu TV. He participated on quiz show but left the show after it interfered with his education. He won the Nandi Award for Best Child Actor for Manasu Mamatha (1990), Pillalu Diddina Kapuram (1991) and Teja (1992). Tarun collaborated again with Mani Rathnam in Thalapathi (1991) in a minor role. He also starred in Aditya 369 (1991), the Malayalam films Abhayam (1991), My Dear Muthachan (1992), and Johny (1993) and the Tamil film Meera (1992). Tarun also worked in the unreleased telefilm En Jeevane produced by Radhika.
After a hiatus, Tarun then worked on commercials for Spinz Talc and Fanta with Richa Pallod. His role in the Fanta advertisement helped him bag the lead role in K. Vijaya Bhaskar's Nuvve Kavali in 2000, the Telugu remake of Niram (1999). The film ran for more than a hundred days. For the film, he won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Telugu for that year, and Tarun won the Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut – South for his work in the film. Post Nuvve Kavali, he and Richa Pallod collaborated again for Chirujallu (2001), which released to negative reviews. He had some successful films such as Priyamaina Neeku (2001), Nuvvu Leka Nenu Lenu (2002) and Nuvve Nuvve (2002) while his other films such as Ela Cheppanu flopped. The success of Priyamaina Neeku lead the makers to release the film in Tamil. He made his full-fledged Tamil debut with Punnagai Desam (2002). That same year, he starred in the bilingual Enakku 20 Unakku 18/Nee Manasu Naaku Telusu, which was a failure despite having a notable soundtrack by A. R. Rahman and he stopped taking up Tamil films. Nava Vasantham, the Telugu remake of Punnagai Desam by the same director, and Sasirekha Parinayam (2009) were his last successful films. He collaborated again with K. Vijaya Bhaskar for Bhale Dongalu (2008), a movie inspired by Bonnie and Clyde, but the film flopped.
After a four year gap, he returned with Chukkalanti Ammayi Chakkanaina Abbayi (2013), which released to negative reviews. He was then seen in Yuddham (2014), Veta (2014) and Idi Naa Love Story (2018), all of which had a low-key release.