Tottempudi Gopichand (born 12 June 1979) is an Indian actor who works primarily in Telugu cinema. Known for his roles in action films, he made his debut with Tholi Valapu (2001) in a lead role. After playing an antagonist in films such as Jayam (2002), Nijam (2003) and Varsham (2004), he got his breakthrough as a protagonist with Yagnam in 2004.

Gopichand
Gopichand in 2019
Born
Tottempudi Gopichand

(1979-06-12) 12 June 1979 (age 45)[1][2]
Other namesAction Star[3]
Macho Star[4][5][6]
OccupationActor
Years active2001–present
Spouse
Reshma
(m. 2013)
Children2
FatherT. Krishna
WebsiteOfficial website

His notable works include Yagnam (2004), Andhrudu (2005), Ranam (2006), Lakshyam (2007), Souryam (2008), Golimaar (2010), Sahasam (2013), Loukyam (2014), Jil (2015), Seetimaarr (2021), and Pakka Commercial (2022). He is fondly referred to as Action Star and Macho Star.[3][4]

Early life

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Gopichand was born in a village near Tangutur in Prakasam district, Andhra Pradesh.[7] He is the younger son of the filmmaker T. Krishna and was 8 years old when his father died.[7] He was schooled at Nil Desperandum, Ongole (established by his father) and Ramakrishna Mission school, Chennai.[7] He studied mechanical engineering in Russia.[8]

His elder brother Premchand was an associate director under Muthyala Subbaiah and started working as a director; however, he died in a car accident. Gopichand was in Russia at that time and could not attend his funeral due to visa issues. He also has a younger sister, who is a dentist.[8]

After completing his engineering, he decided to pursue a career in films to continue his father's legacy and did a dialogue modulation course for a year.[8] He is close friends with actor Prabhas, V. Vamsi Krishna Reddy, and Pramod Uppalapati; the latter two own UV Creations, a prominent production house in Telugu cinema.[7]

Career

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Gopichand made his debut as a lead with the film Tholi Valapu. He played negative roles in his next films Jayam, Nijam and Varsham. Following the positive reception towards his performance in Jayam, he reprised his role in the film's Tamil-language remake of the same title. He made his re-entry as hero with the films Yagnam in 2004 and Andhrudu in 2005. In 2006, he starred in the commercially successful Ranam and the commercially unsuccessful Raraju.[9] His 2007 releases Okkadunnadu and Lakshyam, and the 2008 releases were Ontari and Souryam. He collaborated once again with Souryam director Siva for their 2009 release Sankham.[10][11][12][13]

His 2010 release Golimar saw him playing an encounter specialist inspired by the real-life cop Daya Nayak. In 2011, he acted in Mogudu and Wanted but both were commercial failures. In 2013, he reunited with director Chandra Sekhar Yeleti (after Okkadunnadu) for the action-adventure film Sahasam which became his biggest commercially successful film at that time.[14] In 2014, he starred in Loukyam commercially became his most successful film.[15] In 2015, he starred in Jil and Soukhyam. In 2017, he starred in Goutham Nanda and Oxygen which were both commercially unsuccessful.[16][17][18] His next film Aaradugula Bullet was slated to release the same year but did not materialize until 2021.[19] It turned out to be a routine drama, suffering another setback.[20] In 2018, he played a vigilante in Pantham, which was his 25th film. In 2019, he played a spy in Chanakya.

As of September 2021, his sports action film Seetimaarr, directed by Sampath Nandi received positive reviews and was a success in the box office. The film star co-stars Tamannaah Bhatia, Digangana Suryavanshi, Bhumika Chawla.[21] He has also worked on another film, Pakka Commercial which was directed by Maruthi and produced by UV Creations, and GA2 Pictures starring Raashi Khanna as the lead heroine.[22] His next movie, Ramabanam, directed by Sriwass was released in May 2023 and released to negative reviews. It was a box-office bomb. This film marked the return of the combination of Sriwass and Gopichand, and also was Gopichand's 30th film. His next film, Bhimaa, was filmed by A. Harsha and released on March 8, 2024, which is a fantasy action drama film.[23]

Personal life

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He was born and raised in Tangutur, Andhra Pradesh. He married Reshma, niece of Telugu actor Srikanth in 2013.[24] The couple has two sons.[25]

Filmography

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Films

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Key
Denotes films that have not yet been released
  • All films are in Telugu unless otherwise noted.
Year Title Role(s) Notes Ref.
2001 Tholi Valapu Prem
2002 Jayam Raghu
2003 Nijam Devadaya “Devudu” Sharma
Jayam Raghu Tamil film
2004 Varsham Bhadranna
Yagnam Seenu
2005 Andhrudu Surendra
2006 Ranam Chinna
Raraju Kaali
2007 Okkadunnadu Kiran
Lakshyam Chandu
2008 Ontari Vamsi
Souryam Vijay IPS
2009 Sankham Chandu
2010 Golimaar Inspector Gangaram
2011 Wanted Ram Babu
Mogudu Ram Prasad "Bujji"
2013 Sahasam Goutham
2014 Loukyam Venkateswarlu "Venky"
2015 Jil Jai
Soukhyam Srinivas "Seenu" Rao
2017 Goutham Nanda Goutham Ghattamaneni / Nanda Kishore[a]
Oxygen Major Sanjeev / Krishna Prasad[b]
2018 Pantham Vikranth
2019 Chanakya Arjun / Ramakrishna[b]
2021 Seetimaarr Karthi
Aaradugula Bullet Shiva
2022 Pakka Commercial Adv. Ramchand [22]
2023 Ramabanam Vicky / Ramabanam[b] [26][27]
2024 Bhimaa Bhimaa and Ramaa[a] [28]
Viswam Viswam [29]

Awards and nominations

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Year Film Award Category Result Ref
2003 Jayam CineMAA Awards Best Villain Won [30]
Filmfare Awards South Best Villain – Telugu Nominated [31]
Nandi Awards Best Villain Won [32]
2004 Nijam CineMAA Awards Best Villain Won [33]
2005 Varsham CineMAA Awards Best Villain Won [34]

Notes

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  1. ^ a b Gopichand played dual characters in a single film
  2. ^ a b c Gopichand played a single character with two names

References

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  1. ^ "Gopichand, the birthday boy!". IndiaGlitz. 12 June 2010. Retrieved 23 September 2017.
  2. ^ "Gopichand, birthday surprise!". The News Minute. 11 June 2010.
  3. ^ a b Anu James (6 March 2015). "Holi Treat: First Look and Teaser of Gopichand's 'Jil' Released; Action Star in Never-Seen-Before Stylish Avatar [PHOTO+VIDEO]". International Business Times. Retrieved 23 September 2017.
  4. ^ a b "Macho Star's Mystery to Unveil for Diwali". 7 October 2016. Archived from the original on 24 September 2017. Retrieved 23 September 2017.
  5. ^ "Gopichand intro song at burj khalifa". Tollywood News. 8 March 2017. Archived from the original on 24 September 2017. Retrieved 23 September 2017.
  6. ^ Palem Bindu (11 November 2016). "Gopichand's Oxygen Shooting Wrapped Up". Telugu Film Nagar. Archived from the original on 24 September 2017. Retrieved 23 September 2017.
  7. ^ a b c d Errakota, Narsim. "మా కోసం నాన్న స్కూలే పెట్టారు". Eenadu. Archived from the original on 26 November 2018.
  8. ^ a b c Interview with T Gopichand by Jeevi Retrieved 23 September 2017.
  9. ^ "A few hits and many flops". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 17 September 2018.
  10. ^ "Gopichand returns with Shankam". Rediff.com.
  11. ^ "Gopichand savouring the success of Okkadunnadu". Hindustan Times. 15 March 2007.
  12. ^ "I heard that the Telugu audience did not like the heroine getting killed in front of the hero". Rediff.com.
  13. ^ "Interview with Gopichand". Idlebrain.com.
  14. ^ "Sahasam - Biggest hit in Gopichand's career". Idlebrain.com.
  15. ^ "Loukyam 2 Weeks Total WW Collections". Andhra Box Office.
  16. ^ "Goutham Nanda Final Total WW Collections". Andhra Box Office.
  17. ^ "'Goutham Nanda' Box Office collection - Gopichand starrer fails to make it big in India and US". The Times of India.
  18. ^ "November Box-office: Utter Flop". GreatAndhra.com. 2 December 2017.
  19. ^ "Another setback for 'Aaradugula Bullet' actor Gopichand". Deccan Chronicle. 10 June 2017.
  20. ^ "Aaradugula Bullet Movie Review: The Richter scale is no more". PINKVILLA. 8 October 2021. Archived from the original on 2 December 2021. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
  21. ^ Parashar, Shivam (28 January 2021). "Gopichand and Tamannaah starrer Seetimaarr to release on April 2". India Today. Retrieved 4 February 2021.
  22. ^ a b "'Pakka Commercial' goes on floors in Hyderabad: Sathyaraj joins Gopichand in maiden schedule - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 4 April 2021.
  23. ^ India, The Hans (30 January 2024). "Gopichand's 'Bhimaa' set for theatrical release on Maha Shivaratri". www.thehansindia.com. Retrieved 30 January 2024.
  24. ^ Girija Narayan (26 April 2013). "Gopichand marries Reshma". Oneindia. Archived from the original on 7 April 2014. Retrieved 23 September 2017.
  25. ^ "Gopichand with Son Virat Krishna". Tollywood News. 13 October 2016. Archived from the original on 24 September 2017. Retrieved 23 September 2017.
  26. ^ "Gopichand's next titled Rama Banam". Cinema Express. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  27. ^ "Shooting of Gopichand's next begins today". 123 Telugu. Retrieved 3 March 2022.
  28. ^ "Bhimaa first look: Gopichand returns as a fierce cop in the upcoming action-entertainer; see pic". The Times of India. Retrieved 12 September 2023.
  29. ^ "Viswam: Gopichand plays an assassin in his next with Sreenu Vaitla. Watch". Hindustan Times. 11 April 2024. Retrieved 12 April 2024.
  30. ^ "Telugu CineMaa Awards 2002". Idlebrain.com. 5 October 2003.
  31. ^ "The Winner: 50th Manikchand Filmfare Awards 2002 - Filmfare - Indiatimes". Archived from the original on 28 August 2004. Retrieved 28 August 2004.
  32. ^ "Nandi Film Awards G.O and Results 2002". APSFTVTDC. Retrieved 19 June 2021.
  33. ^ "Cine Maa Awards results by Rhythm Mediaworks and MAA TV". Idlebrain.com. 5 November 2004.
  34. ^ "CineMAA Awards 2004". Idlebrain.com. 23 January 2006.
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