Nani & S. S. Rajamouli Movies Together List — 3 Films

The shape of the work

Nani acted in every film; S. S. Rajamouli directed all of them.

Partnership facts

• Rajamouli cast Nani as the lead in 'Naan Ee' after seeing his performance in 'Ashta Chamma'. But here's the twist: Nani actually dubbed for the Telugu version of 'Eega' too, making him the only actor to voice his own character in both Tamil and Telugu for the same film.
• Rajamouli pushed Nani to play the romantic hero with zero ego — the entire first half of 'Naan Ee' is Nani's character being a lovesick goofball. Nani later said Rajamouli made him 'unlearn' his usual serious acting style and just react like a real guy in love.
• Because of 'Eega' and 'Naan Ee', Nani became the first actor to have a simultaneous Tamil-Telugu release that was a blockbuster in both languages. This directly led to Tamil producers casting him in 'Bhale Bhale Magadivoy' (dubbed as 'Maya Machhindra') and later 'Jersey' — both hits.
• During the shoot of 'Naan Ee', Rajamouli and Nani would have dinner together every single night at the same hotel in Hyderabad, discussing not just the film but also Nani's future career. Nani has said those dinners taught him more about filmmaking than any acting workshop.
• Nani once said: 'Rajamouli sir doesn't just direct actors — he rewires them. After Eega, I stopped thinking like a hero and started thinking like a storyteller.' He said this in a 2018 interview with Baradwaj Rangan.