Versatile actor Jagapathi Babu, previously seen predominantly in Telugu films as a hero, expanded his horizons by venturing into the other south Indian film industries and has carved a niche for himself. He has played pivotal roles, mainly as a villain, in Tamil biggies like Lingaa, Bhairava and Viswasam which starred Rajinikanth, Vijay and Ajith respectively as heroes.
Jagapathi Babu made his debut in the Malayalam film industry with the Mohanlal starrer Pulimurugan, which won him accolades. Pulimurugan hit the marquee in 2016 and earned the distinction of being the first-ever Malayalam film to enter the Rs 100-crore club. Directed by Vysakh, the film had Kamalinee Mukherjee as the female lead with Jagapathi Babu and Lal in important roles. The film was produced by Tomichan Mulakupadam under the banner Mulakupadam Films.
The star debuted in Sandalwood with Bachchan in 2013, in which he shared screen space with Kiccha Sudeep. The psychological action thriller directed by Shashank starred Sudeep, Jagapathi Babu, Bhavana Parul Yadav and Tulip Joshi in lead roles. The technical crew of this film comprised V Harikrishna for music and Shekar Chandru for cinematography.
After his role as a CBI officer in another Kannada movie, Jaguar, in 2014, Jagapathi Babu is back in Sandalwood with two films – Sri Murali’s Madagaja and Darshan’s Roberrt. On working in these two films, Jagapathi Babu told TOI in an interview, “I have started enjoying working in Kannada more, and I’m learning the language now. I’m going to start dubbing with Roberrt.”
Talking about Madagaja, he revealed, “There are other projects which were offered, but I couldn’t take them up because of date issues. But with Umapathy, what I've found is, he is good with his work. As a producer, he spends where he has to spend, and at the same time, he is hands-on with the project.”
Mahesh, who debuted as director with Ayogya, is wielding the megaphone for Madagaja while director Prashanth Neel of KGF fame is supervising the script. Reports say that the director is making Madagaja as a massy entertainer to satisfy the star’s fans.
Roberrt, on the other hand, is directed by Tharun Sudhir and has three heroines – Aishwarya Prasad, Asha Bhat and Sonal Monterio. Jagapathi Babu plays the main antagonist. The technical crew includes Arjun Janya for music, V Harikrishna for background score and Sudhakar S Raj for camerawork. Chandramouli M, one of the dialogue writers for KGF: Chapter 1, is working with writer Rajshekar KL to pen the dialogues for this film.
Jagapathi Babu’s current project in Telugu is Tuck Jagadish. Director Shiva Nirvana is currently busy giving the final touches to this film, which has Nani and Ritu Varma in the lead roles. Jagapathi Babu plays a pivotal role in this flick. Tuck Jagadish will have music by S Thaman and cinematography by Prasad Murella.
(Content provided by Digital Native)