Varun Tej

Varun Tej (born 19 January 1990) is an Indian film actor known for his works in Telugu cinema. He made his debut as a lead in the film Mukunda, directed by Srikanth Addala opposite Pooja Hegde. His second film Kanche, also being the first Indian film on WWII, became a super hit and Varun Tej's portrayal of Dhupati Haribabu was critically acclaimed. He then went on to appear in commercially successful films such as Fidaa (2017), Tholi Prema (2018), Antariksham 9000 KMPH (2018), F2: Fun and Frustration (2019) and Gaddalakonda Ganesh (2019).

Early life
Tej is the son of Telugu actor and producer Nagendra Babu. He is also the nephew of actors Chiranjeevi and Pawan Kalyan. Actor and producer Niharika Konidela is his younger sister while Ram charan and Allu Arjun are Tej's cousins. He was educated at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad, and at St. Mary's College, Hyderabad.

Career
Varun Tej debuted as a child artist in his father Nagendra Babu's film Hands Up! when he was just ten years old. He made his adult debut with Mukunda, starring opposite fellow newcomer Pooja Hegde. The film earned mixed reviews. His second venture was the 2015 war film Kanche, starring opposite Pragya Jaiswal and received positive reviews from critics. Varun Tej's performance as Dhupati Haribabu was praised with The Times of India praising his "capability to shift gears from intense to sobriety". His second release that year Loafer, was a box office failure, along with his 2017 outing Mister.

The later half of 2017 saw the release of Fidaa, where he played an NRI falling in love with a village belle. The film earned critical acclaim for its simplicity, performances by the principal cast and his portrayal as an NRI guy earned him praise as well, with 123telugu.com calling his "ease with emotions in the film quite heartwarming". His chemistry with costar Sai Pallavi was widely appreciated and it was one of the highest-grossing Telugu movies of 2017. His 2018 release Tholi Prema was also a box office success and Varun Tej's performance as an impulsive young man was widely appreciated.

His next film is a space thriller titled Antariksham 9000 KMPH, directed by Sankalp Reddy of The Ghazi Attack fame and with Aditi Rao Hydari and Lavanya Tripathi cast as female leads. The film was released on 21 December 2018. His next F2: Fun and Frustration which is a multistarrer with Venkatesh Daggubati. Tamannaah and Mehreen Pirzada are also a part of this movie which is huge blockbuster. After F2: Fun and Frustration, he dubbed in Telugu for Aladdin's role in the film Aladdin along with Venkatesh Daggubati and starred in Gaddalakonda Ganesh which is a remake of Tamil hit Jigarthanda, directed by Harish Shankar.