Manchu Vishnu

Manchu Vishnu
Vishnu Manchu
Born	Manchu Vishnu Vardhan Naidu (1981-11-23) 23 November 1981 Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Residence	Hyderabad, Telangana, India
Occupation	Actor, director, producer, educationalist and philanthropist
Years active	2003 – present
Spouse(s)	Viranica Reddy
Children	Ariaana and Viviana
Parent(s)	Mohan Babu, Vidya Devi
Relatives	Lakshmi Manchu (sister), Manchu Manoj (younger brother)
Website	Vishnu Manchu

Manchu Vishnu Vardhan Babu (Telugu: విష్ణు మంచు; born on 23 November 1981^[1]) is an Indian film actor, director, producer and filmmaker from the Cinema of South India, predominantly known for his work in the Telugu Cinema. He is the elder son of popular actor and producer, Mohan Babu.^[2] He began his career in Tollywood as a child artist in the movie Ragile Gundelu (1985) and started his second innings in the industry as a lead actor with the self-titled movie, Vishnu (2003). The movie was a hit at the box-office and won him the Filmfare Best Male Debut.

While his debut movie Vishnu (2003) got him much critical acclaim, his second film Suryam (2004)^[3] got him good appreciation and he proved his mettle as a daring action hero. He is known for doing daring stunts. But it was his movie Dhee (2007) that received great positive appreciation. Dhee was a trend setter and it attained cult status among Telugu audience. But the next couple of films didn’t do well at the box office till he was seen in Dhenikaina Ready (2012). This movie proved to be a game-changer of sorts for Vishnu Manchu's Tollywood career as a lead actor. The actor maintained his string of hits with Doosukeltha (2013), Pandavulu Pandavulu Tummeda (2014), Rowdy (2014) and Anukshanam (2014). The year 2015 saw him in the action packed, Dynamite (2015), that re-established him as an action hero.

Vishnu Manchu is also the CEO of Mohan Babu Corp (MBC) and the Sree Vidyanikethan Educational Trust. He started his production house 24 Frames Factory in 2007 and also heads ThinkSmart, which provides pre-production, production and post-production services of highest standards to various production houses in the country. He recently started a chain of pre-schools and full-fledged schools under the name SpringBoard in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Orissa and Maharashtra.^[4] The actor also sponsors the Celebrity Cricket League (CCL) team, Telugu Warriors ^[5][6] and was also a stakeholder in the Indian Cricket League (ICL).

Vishnu Manchu is widely acclaimed for his humanitarian work and his social endeavors.

Early life

Manchu Vishnu Vardhan Babu was born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu to the legendary actor, producer and educationalist Manchu Mohan Babu. Vishnu Manchu belongs to a family of strong values and beliefs. He grew up with his elder sister, Lakshmi Manchu and younger brother, Manoj Manchu. Both his siblings are well established personalities in and out of the Tollywood Film Industry.

Vishnu Manchu completed his schooling from Padma Seshadri Balabhavan School, Chennai. He then undertook his engineering course with majors in Computer Science and Information Technology (IT) at Sree Vidyanikethan Engineering College, Tirupati. He was quite interested in sports during his course of study. He was an active sportsman who represented JNTU Cricket Team as an opening batsman and strike bowler for four years. He also represented Chittoor District as opening batsman for two seasons. He captained the University Basketball Team and represented his State, Andhra Pradesh, as the Vice-Captain of under-21 State Basketball Team. He also played for the Under-21 Indian Basket Ball team.^[7]

Career

Actor

Vishnu Manchu started his career with the movie Vishnu (2003) that got him positive reviews as well as critical acclaim. However, this was not his first stint in front of the camera. The actor had done a movie, Ragile Gundelu (1985) as a child artist. When he was in the USA, he worked on the sets of the Wachowski brothers' blockbuster Matrix Reloaded. He claims that his association with the Hollywood movie increased his passion for movies and helped him understand the process of acting and filmmaking better.^[8]

Vishnu (2003) gave him a great start. Directed by Shaji Kailas, this movie won him the prestigious Filmfare Award for Best Actor Debut. He then essayed lead roles in the movies Suryam (2004), Asthram (2006) and Game (2006). Vishnu Manchu was not a high grosser in the first three years of his acting career as his films didn’t do very well at the box office. He got his critical breakthrough with the movie Dhee (2007) in which he starred alongside Genelia D'Souza. The movie was his big commercial success and was also one of the most successful films of the Telugu Film Industry of 2007. The movie was also remade in Tamil as Mirattal (2012), Bengali as Khokababu (2012) and Oriya as Tu mo girlfriend (2011).

After the success of Dhee (2007), Vishnu did a few movies such as Krishnarjuna (2008), Saleem (2009) and Vastadu Naa Raju (2010),^[9] which was produced under his banner - 24 Frames Factory. These movies did fairly well at the box office but did not compare to the success of Dhee. It was Dhenikaina Ready (2012) that got him back into the ‘hit’ swing. The movie, which was a slapstick comedy and has Hansika Motwani as the female lead, ran for a record 175 days and collected a whopping 250 million rupees at the box office. It was also dubbed in Malayalam as Endhinum Ready (2012) and released on the same day as the original Telugu movie.

Vishnu Manchu's next Doosukeltha (2013), another venture of 24 Frames Factory, was again a big hit in his career. This romantic entertainer saw him star along with Lavanya Tripathi. Grossing about 126.3 millions in the first week, Doosukeltha was declared a super hit at the box office.^[10] The movie was dubbed in Malayalam as Sarva Kala Vallavan (2013). His next, Pandavulu Pandavulu Tummeda (2014), got the Manchu family together and remains to be a memorable film from the ensemble star cast.^[11] Vishnu Manchu was cast along with father, Mohan Babu and brother, Manoj Manchu in this movie which was produced by his 24 Frames Factory along with Mohan Babu's Sree Lakshmi Prasanna Pictures. Partly inspired by the Bollywood movie Golmaal 3, the movie saw a comeback of Mohan Babu after a long break sharing the screen with both his sons for the first time.

After the success of Pandavulu Pandavulu Tummeda, came Rowdy (2014), which marked the beginning of the Vishnu Manchu - Ram Gopal Verma combo. The director praised his performance and directed his next, Anukshanam (2014). Both movies received critical acclaim and are touted as best performances of Vishnu Manchu. These movies got him into the league of big Tollywood stars and have helped him establish his place in the Tollywood Industry.^[12]

Vishnu Manchu was next seen in Erra Bus (2014). Directed by veteran director Dasari Narayan Rao, the movie lead role was played by the director himself. The movie was a remake of superhit Tamil film Manjapai (2014). The movie received mixed reviews and didn't do very well at the box office.^[13]

Vishnu's next venture was Dynamite (2015), produced by his banner, 24 Frames Factory. Vishnu went for a makeover of sorts to portray his character of young, self-motivated man who performs some dare devil stunts to protect his girl, played by Pranitha Subhash.^[14]

2016 gave him a good start with Eedo Rakam Aado Rakam (2016). Released in March, this movie was a hit combination of Vishnu Manchu and Raj Tarun. Directed by G. Nageswara Reddy, the movie fared well at the box office.^[15] Reports indicate that the actor will soon be seen a movie titled Garuda, which would be directed by Hanuman. There were speculations of a movie with this title to be directed by Rajamouli but the title was registered for 24 Frames Factory. ^[16]

Producer

Vishnu Manchu heads the production house, 24 Frames Factory. The production house was established in 2003. Almost all the movies he produced under his banner had him as the lead star. These included the movies, Rowdy(2014) and Anukshanam (2014), both which had Vishnu play the lead role under the direction of Ram Gopal Verma. As a producer, he produced Current Theega (2014), in which his brother, Manoj Manchu played the lead role. His next venture, Singham 123 (2015), was the first small-budget movie that he is produced which does not have the Manchu family in the star cast.^[17]

Vishnu also produced his next lead movie, Dynamite (2015) that well established him as a producer. Mama Manchu Alludu Kanchu (2015), produced under his production house, had his father, Mohan Babu in the title role along with Allari Naresh.

Vishnu Manchu also heads ThinkSmart, which is majorly a post-production company. ThinkSmart won the Cinegoers Award for Best VFX for the Telugu movie Athanokkade (2005).^[18]

Director

After having done his course in film-making, Vishnu Manchu always wanted to go behind the camera. He got his first opportunity with direction of the 100th episode of Zee Telugu's TV Series Happy Days. This TV series was produced under 24 Frames Factory. The episode that he directed achieved the highest TRP ratings from the 700 episodes that the series had in total. This was an exceptional record for a novice director but helped him become more confident behind the camera.

Educationalist

Sree Vidyanikethan Educational Trust

Vishnu Manchu is an ardent follower of his father, Mohan Babu when it comes to being an educationalist. He is the CEO of Sree Vidyanikethan Educational Trust, that was established in 1992 by Mohan Babu. The Trust has dedicated and committed educational institutions that offer high quality learning in varied fields. The Sree Vivekananda Educational Trust was established in the backward region of Rayalaseema, Andhra Pradesh over an area of about 500 acres.^[19]

Mohan Babu serves as Chairman of the Sree Vidyanikethan Educational Trust. Vishnu Manchu serves as CEO. The various educational institutions under the Trust are open to all with a 25% reservation for underprivileged students, irrespective of their caste, creed, gender or religion.

SpringBoard International Preschool

Vishnu Manchu established the SpringBoard International Preschool Pvt. Ltd, which manages a chain of preschools in Hyderabad.^[20] The company was formed in 2012 and started operating the preschools in Hyderabad, Telangana from the academic year 2012-2013. As of now, the company has 7 schools in the twin cities of Hyderabad-Secunderabad, Telangana. The schools have received huge positive response from the locals and the management plans to soon launch its branches in the other cities of Telangana and Andhra.^[21]

With a vision to bring quality pre-primary education to the young minds of India, the chain of schools today has over 60 branches in the twin states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. The actor plans to soon take his pre-school network pan India. The school offers pre-primary education as well as day care services, making it a complete solution for parents looking for high quality formal education as well as safety for their little ones when they aren’t around.

Labeled as one of the best managed preschool chains of Hyderabad, Spring Board offers a fun, safe and nurturing environment for little learners in the age group of 15 months through 5 and-a-half years. The most unique and the best aspect about this chain of preschools is the curriculum that they have adopted. The learning system based on iTeach is designed around facilitating the young minds to explore their environment, develop inquisitively and use language effectively to express and communicate with others.

Army Green

Vishnu Manchu launched the Army Green initiative with several students from the Sree Vidyanikethan Educational institutions to bring about environmental awareness, progress and development in the various villages of Andhra Pradesh.^[22]

Dr. Mohan Babu Rural Health Scheme

Vishnu Manchu launched the Dr. Mohan Babu Rural Health Scheme which has been a great success story. Under the scheme, which is presently launched in Tirupati region of Andhra Pradesh, health for all is the focus. With the aforesaid health scheme, villagers from the adopted villages will be provided medical benefits like various medical tests and medicines worth 4 to 5 lakh per individual for free. A key feature about the scheme is that the medical diagnosis and treatment history of all the beneficiaries under the scheme will be recorded so that it will help the doctors provide better care in future as well. The data of thousands of villagers will be stored and can be easily retrieved whenever needed. The data will also be helpful in comparison of health statistics.^[23][24]

The Manchus have played a role helping victims of the catastrophic floods of 2009 in the Mahbubnagar district,^[25] Andhra Pradesh.

The Vishnu Manchu Art Foundation

Established in 2009, the Vishnu Manchu Art Foundation (VMAF) is an organization that aims to bridge the gap between artists and art lovers. An avid art collector himself, Vishnu Manchu's passion for art led to the creation of this organization. VMAF is associated with over 60 established as well as amateur artists and exhibits their works at the Annual Symposium, held every year in conjunction with the birthday celebrations of the actor's father, Mohan Babu.^[26]

Filmography

References