The 15 year old actor who gave a brilliant performance as Abhimanyu in his lengendry actor/politician father N.T.Rama Rao's blockbuster movie 'Dana Veera Sura Karna' released in 1977 celebrates his 48th birthday today.

Nandamuri Balakrishna also called as Balayya Babu is considered as one of the most influential among the Telugu actors and is also called as Yuvarathna by his fans.

Born in Chennai to Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao and Smt Basavatarakam, Balakrishna debuted as a hero in the film 'Kathanayakudu' which went on to become a blockbuster.

The same year he acted in a significant role in the film 'Brahmam Gari Charitra' in which his father played the lead role.

The young actor was appreciated for his good performance and he was subsequently signed by several directors.

In the first year itself out of the seven films that he did the lead role, three films became super hits announcing the coming of Balakrishna.

He is one of the few leading men of Tollywood who has tried his hand in every kind of films and never tried to follow the usual trends.

The actor who has acted in diverse genres of films like devotional, mythological and fantasy is loved by the people of rural areas for his portrayals of the village youth, angry young man and as a leader of gangs.

From the year 1986 to 1999 he delivered many super hit movies that made him one of the top film stars in the state.

This superstardom resulted in him in being featured in the cover page of The Week magazine. In 1989 the film 'Mudula Mavayya' became one of the biggest hits of Balakrihsna's career.

'Lorry Driver', 'Rowdy Inspector' and 'Sci-Fi Aditya 369 were some of the other big hit films of this actor.The film 'Samarsimha Reddy' was released at a time when the Tollywood was going through a crisis.

This film went on to create a record by becoming a blockbuster and became one of the biggest revenue grosser of that time. Balakrishna won the Cine Goers Association's award for the best actor for 2001.

The prestigious Nandi award was presented to him in the year 2002 for his acting in the film 'Narasimha Naidu'. The screen icon's latest film 'Pandurangadu' is also a major hit.

Indiaglitz wishes this longstanding film star a very happy birthday.