Allu Ramalingaiah
It all started with Allu Ramalingaiah, the grandfather of Telugu star Allu Arjun. Allu Ramalingaiah was one of the most well-known actors, comedians, and producers in Telugu cinema. He appeared in over 1000 films in a variety of roles. He started his film career with ‘Puttillu’ in 1950. He then went on to act in films like, ‘Todi Kodallu (1957)’, ‘Aada Pettanam (1958)’, ‘Poola Rangadu (1967)’, ‘Talli Tandrulu (1970)’, ‘Hero (1984)’, among others. He and his wife, Kanaka Ratnam, had four children – Allu Aravind, Surekha Konidala, Nava Bharathi, Vasantha Lakshmi.
Allu Aravind (Allu Ramalingaiah’s son)
Allu Aravind is an Indian film producer, distributor, and businessman. He is the founder of Geetha Arts, a major film production house in the Telugu film industry. Some of his notable works as a producer include Bantrothu Bharya (1974), Subhalekha (1982), Pasivadi Pranam (1987), Attaku Yamudu Ammayiki Mogudu (1989), Mappillai (1989), among others. He is married to Nirmala, and has three children Allu Venkatesh, Allu Arjun, and Allu Sirish. The latter two are well-known actors in Telugu cinema. Arjun is one of the highest-paid actors of Telugu cinema.
Venkatesh (Allu Aravind’s son)
Venkatesh is known as Allu Bobby. He has been working as an IT professional for almost 15 years. He recently made his debut as a producer with the Varun Tej starrer ‘Ghani’.
Allu Arjun (Allu Aravind’s son)
Allu Arjun is an Indian actor known for his works mainly in Telugu cinema. One of the highest-paid actors in India, he is also known for his dancing skills. (remember the hook step of Srivalli from Pushpa: The Rise?) He is a recipient of several awards including a National Film Award, and three Nandi Awards. After playing a child artist in ‘Vijetha’ (1985) and a dancer in Daddy (2001), he made his debut in ‘Gangotri’. Allu Arjun is married to Sneha Reddy and the couple has two children—a son, Ayaan and a daughter, Arha.
Allu Sirish (Allu Aravind’s son)
Allu Sirish is an Indian actor who works predominantly in Telugu films. He is the brother of leading Telugu cinema actor Allu Arjun. He debuted as a lead actor with Gouravam (2013), and later went on to appear in films such as ‘Kotha Janta’, ‘Srirastu Subhamastu’ and ‘Okka Kshanam’.
Bharathi (Allu Ramalingaiah’s daughter)
Bharathi was Allu Rama Lingaiah’s elder daughter and star producer Allu Aravind’s elder sister. Since Bharathi was unmarried, she used to stay with Allu Aravind’s before her death in 2016, due to age related complications. She was 74.
Surekha (Allu Ramalingaiah’s daughter)
Allu Ramalingaiah’s daughter Surekha is married to megastar Chiranjeevi. The couple has three children: two daughters, Sushmita and Sreeja, and a son, Ram Charan. Ram Charan is one of the highest paid actors of Telugu cinema.
Chiranjeevi (Allu Ramalingaiah’s son-in-law)
Chiranjeevi was born as Konidela Sivasankara Varaprasad Rao. He was interested in acting from a young age. He moved to Chennai and joined the Madras Film Institute in 1976, to pursue a career in acting. He began his acting career in 1978 with ‘Punadhirallu’. In his career spanning over four decades, he starred in over 150 feature films predominantly in Telugu, as well as some films in Hindi, Tamil and Kannada. On 20 February 1980, Chiranjeevi married Surekha, the daughter of Telugu comic actor Allu Ramalingaiah. They have two daughters, Sushmitha and Sreeja, and a son, Ram Charan.
Chiranjeevi has two brothers, Nagendra Babu, a film producer and actor, and Pawan Kalyan, an actor-politician. Allu Aravind, his brother-in-law, is a film producer. Chiranjeevi has two sisters, Vijaya Durga and Madhavi Rao. Durga has two sons, Sai Dharam Tej and Panja Vaisshnav Tej, both of whom are actors. He is uncle to actors Allu Arjun, Allu Sirish, Varun Tej, Niharika, Sai Dharam Tej, and Panja Vaisshnav Tej.
Ram Charan (Chiranjeevi’s son)
Ram has carved out a niche on his own as a fantastic actor, despite being the son of megastar Chiranjeevi. With Puri Jagannadh’s Chirutha, Ram Charan debuted as an actor in Telugu films in 2007. He took acting training at Mumbai’s renowned Kishore Namit Kapoor acting school to hone his abilities. He also made his Hindi film debut in ‘Zanjeer’, a remake of the 1973 Bollywood blockbuster of the same name, co-starring Priyanka Chopra. He is married to Upasana Kamineni, and the couple welcomed their first child, a daughter named Klin Kaara Konidela last year.
Nagendra Babu (Chiranjeevi’s brother)
Nagendra Babu, who is an actor and producer, acts mainly in supporting and antagonist roles, though he has also played the lead in some films. He has acted in ‘143’, ‘Anji’, ‘Shock’, ‘Sri Ramadasu’, ‘Chandamama ‘and ‘Orange’. He has produced several films with his brothers, Chiranjeevi. He has two children, actors Varun Tej and Niharika.
Varun Tej (Nagendra Babu’ son)
Tej is the son of actor Nagendra Babu. Tej made his acting debut in 2014 with Mukunda. He received praise for featuring in Krish’s critically acclaimed war film Kanche. Varun got married to actress Lavanya Tripathi last year.
Niharika Konidela (Nagendra Babu’s daughter)
Niharika Konidela is an Indian actress and producer who predominantly works in Telugu films. She made her debut with the film Oka Manasu. She produces films and web series under her banner.
Pawan Kalyan (Chiranjeevi’s brother)
Konidela Pawan Kalyan is an Indian actor, politician, filmmaker, martial artist, and philanthropist who primarily works in Telugu cinema. Kalyan made his acting debut in the 1996 film Akkada Ammayi Ikkada Abbayi but rose to prominence with the dramas ‘Gokulamlo Seeta’ (1997) and ‘Suswagatham’ (1998).
He is a father of four children namely Akira Nandan, Aadhya Konidela, Mark Shankar Pawanovich and Polena Anjana Pawanova. He got married thrice, and his high-profile divorce from his first wife Nandini caused him much anguish.
(With inputs by Nitesh Poojari)