Actor-producer Mohan Babu celebrates his birthday on March 19. Manchu Bhaktavatsalam Naidu was born in 1952 at at Modhugulapalem village in Chittoor district. In the year that has gone by, Mohan Babu has produced a failure (Saleem), but has succeeded in hogging the limelight after a controversy broke over his head when he lunged for a stand on a political issue.

In the last year, he has received brickbats from his colleagues for making provocative statements as if he was representing the film industry, with a lusty abandon. Of course, Mr. Babu replied back to them with a holier-than-thou attitude.

In the year that has gone by, Mohan Babu has won the hearts of many, too. As an actor and a producer, it was a bad year for him. Ogirala Jogaiah of Saleem was a nightmare. Nobody spoke about how much he would have lost on the film. Making the matters worse, YVS Chowdhary slammed a complaint against him.

The one good news for him was that his daughter, the talented Lakshmi Prasanna, turned a producer for a K Raghavendra Rao film. More, very recently, he struck a deal with the veteran to direct a film!

Thus, this year, Mr. Babu can hope for success in the form of at least two films.

His fans would wish to not see him embroiled in controversies.