Sumanth
Sumanth in 2019
Born	Yarlagadda Sumanth Kumar (1975-02-09)9 February 1975 (age 51) Hyderabad,Andhra Pradesh (now inTelangana), India
Alma mater	Columbia College Chicago
Occupations	Actor producer
Years active	1999–present
Spouse	Keerthi Reddy ​ ​ (m. 2004; div. 2006)​
Relatives	SeeDaggubati-Akkineni Family

Yarlagadda Sumanth Kumar (born 9 February 1975), knownmononymously asSumanth, is an Indian actor who works predominantly inTelugu cinema. He is the eldest grandson of Telugu actorAkkineni Nageswara Rao. He is also a partner inAnnapurna Studios.^[1]

After debuting inPrema Katha (1999), he has since starred in notable films likeSatyam (2003),Gowri (2004),Godavari (2006),Madhumasam (2007),Golconda High School (2011),Malli Raava (2017), andAnaganaga (2025).^[2]

Sumanth was born in Hyderabad, India, on 9 February 1975.^[3][4] He is the only son of Surendra Yarlagadda and Satyavathi Akkineni. He is the eldest grandchild of the Telugu film actorAkkineni Nageswara Rao. A few months after his birth, Sumanth's parents returned to the US where they were residing. Sumanth, however, remained in India on the request of his grandfather Akkineni Nageswara Rao, who was then on a hiatus from films after a major heart surgery. The latter had often said that his busy acting career prevented him from fully experiencing fatherhood with his own children, so he wished to raise his first grandchild himself.

Sumanth's father, Surendra Yarlagadda, is a former film producer, noted for several hit films such asMuchataga Mugguru (1985),Collector Gari Abbayi (1987),Rao Gari Illu (1988),Siva (1989), andGaayam (1993). He has one younger sister: Supriya Yarlagadda, who is the executive director ofAnnapurna Studios. ActorNagarjuna Akkineni is his maternal uncle.^[5] ActorsNaga Chaitanya,Akhil Akkineni, andSushanth are his cousins.^[6]

In August 2004, Sumanth married former actressKeerthi Reddy. They were divorced amicably in 2006.^[7]

Sumanth studied at theHyderabad Public School, graduating in 1991. For his undergraduate studies, he enrolled in an engineering course inMichigan. Realising after two years that it wasn't in his best interest, he transferred toColumbia College Chicago, from where he graduated with a B. A. in Film Studies in 1997.^[8]

Sumanth made his debut as a lead actor inRam Gopal Varma'sPrema Katha in 1999.^[9] Although not commercially successful, the film was critically acclaimed and received fiveNandi awards, including theNandi Award for Best Feature Film.^[10] Even though it was just an average earner when released, his second filmYuvakudu (2000) directed byKarunakaran would go on to be widely considered an underrated film later on.^[11][12] Sumanth’s lean box office run continued with his next filmsPelli Sambandham,Ramma Chilakamma, andSnehamante Idera, despite popular actors from his familyAkkineni Nageswara Rao andNagarjuna sharing screen in two of them.^[13]

Sumanth’s box office breakthrough came in late 2003 withSatyam^[14] where he played the role of a struggling lyricist. In addition to commercial success, Sumanth received critical acclaim, withIdlebrain.com commenting, "there is not even a single moment where you can find any shortcomings in his histrionics".^[15] This was followed by another hitGowri in 2004. This action drama was a remake of the Tamil filmThirumalai.Idlebrain.com Jeevi wrote, “Sumanth was good as usual and performed really well in fights”.^[16] After consecutive hits, he continued in the action genre withDhana 51 (2005), which was a flop, and the average runningMahanandi (2006).^[17][18]

Sumanth altered his path in 2006, starring inSekhar Kammula'sGodavari, which remains one of the most acclaimed films in his career. On top of immense critical and commercial success, this film also garnered fiveNandi awards and aFilmfare award.^[19]Rediff.com said that Godavari is “a film that reminds us that cinema can be so much more ”.^[20] Sumanth next acted inChinnodu, which released in October 2006 and was an average grosser.^[21] In 2007, he starred in the romantic dramaMadhumasam, produced byD. Ramanaidu and directed byChandra Siddhartha. This film was a hit, having a 100 days theatrical run.^[22] Sumanth next did the lead inClassmates, which generated a curiosity as it was the first time that its directorK. Vijaya Bhaskar was without his usual collaboratorTrivikram Srinivas as dialogue writer.^[23] Additionally, it was a remake of the trend-setting Malayalam filmClassmates.^[24] Despite positive reviews, the film however failed at the box office. Sumanth’s next two films werePourudu (2008), which was a moderate success, andBoni (2009) which was a failure.^[25]

Sumanth's following filmGolconda High School in 2011 was a sports drama directed byMohana Krishna Indraganti. Based on an English Novel "The Men Within" written byHarimohan Paruvu, an exRanji Trophy cricketer,^[26] this film was positively reviewed and was well received by audiences.Idlebrain.com said that Sumanth's role as a cricket coach was his "career best performance".^[27] This was followed by failures likeRaaj (2011),Daggaraga Dooranga (2011),Emo Gurram Egaravachu (2014) andNaruda Donoruda (2016).^[28][29] Among these,Naruda Donoruda was anticipated as it was a remake of the Hindi filmVicky Donor. The film however received disappointing reviews, and its theatrical run was further negatively affected by the coinciding2016 Indian banknote demonetisation.^[30]

Sumanth made a comeback in late 2017 with the romantic dramaMalli Raava, under the direction of debutantGowtam Tinnanuri. This film was a box office hit and was well reviewed,^[31] withFirstpost calling it “a pleasant surprise” and "Sumanth's best film in a long time".^[32] It won four awards including best film from the Telugu Chamber of Film and Commerce.^[33] Sumanth next played the lead role inSubrahmanyapuram (2018). This mystery thriller was commercially an average runner after receiving mixed reviews.^[34] It was followed by the flopIdam Jagath (2018).^[35][36] Sumanth then played the lead role inKapatadhaari, which was a remake of the Kannadaneo-noirthriller filmKavaludaari. This film released in February 2021 with 50% theatre occupancyCOVID-19 pandemic restrictions and turned out to be commercially unsuccessful despite positive reviews.^[37][38] His next filmMalli Modalaindi (2021) released directly on OTT to negative reviews.^[39]

In 2019, he played his grandfather inNTR: Kathanayakudu. Jeevi ofIdlebrain.com wrote, "Sumanth is exceptionally good as ANR. His pristine Telugu diction and his acting is impeccable. He matched NBK in every stature. He looks like ANR in some angles (especially in older getup)".^[40] In 2022 and 2023, Sumanth did supporting roles in the hit filmsSita Ramam (2025) andVaathi.^[41][42]

In 2024 and 2025, Sumanth played the lead in the one-character thriller filmAham Reboot andAnagananga, both of which had a direct OTT release. The former was not well received.^[43] Regarding the latter film,The Hindu saidAnganaga "celebrates the joy of storytelling, as Sumanth chips in with one of his finest performances". It went on to become a major streaming hit .^[44][45][46]

• 83 (2021) for Ranveer Singh (Telugu dubbed version)^[50]

• Sumanth atIMDb
• Sumanth onFacebook

• Akkineni–Daggubati family
• Living people
• Indian male film actors
• 1975 births
• Columbia College Chicago alumni
• 20th-century Indian male actors
• Male actors from Hyderabad, India
• Male actors in Telugu cinema
• Telugu male actors
• 21st-century Indian male actors

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