Pawan Kalyan, actor and politician, turns 54 on Friday and adoring fans have decided to make his birthday extra special. His 2008 superhit film Jalsa was re-released on Thursday and all the 500-odd shows were reportedly sold out. A 52-foot cut-out of the star has been set up outside Chennai’s Rohini Theatre by his fans.

The action drama Jalsa, starring Ileana D’Cruz and directed by Trivikram Srinivas, is one of Pawan Kalyan’s biggest hits. It was the highest grossing Telugu movie of 2008 and had the highest first-day collection ever in Tollywood at the time. The music of the film is composed by Devi Sri Prasad, and is very popular even 14 years later.

Apart from the Jalsa rerun, fans are looking forward to his upcoming film Hari Hara Veera Mallu, a historical for which shooting is on. The film’s makers releases a poster on Thursday.

Who is Pawan Kalyan?

Pawan Kalyan, called Power Star, was born on September 2, 1968. His parents, Konidela Venkata Rao and Anjana Devi named him Konidela Kalyan Babu. His older brother is the legendary actor Chiranjeevi and he is the uncle of film stars like Allu Arjun, Ram Charan and Varun Tej. 

Pawan Kalyan is also a politician. He joined his brother Chiranjeevi’s Praja Rajyam Party in 2008 as president of the youth wing, but dropped out of active politics disillusioned by Chiranjeevi’s 2011 decision to merge his party with the Congress. In 2014, he launched his own party, the Jana Sena Party, surging to the top of Google searches as the most searched celebrity politician.

Kalyan’s debut film was Akkada Ammayi Ikkada Abbayi, released in 1996. He won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Telugu for Tholi Prema. Some of his other famous films are Gokulamlo Sita, Thammudu, Kushi and Bangaram.

The popular actor runs an organization named Common Man Protection Force which is a charitable trust. 

The actor has been married thrice. He got married in 1997 to Nandini, who accused him of bigamy because he was living with another woman called Renu Desai. Kalyan and Nandini officially divorced in 2007 and he married Renu Desai. They were divorced in 2012.

Pawan Kalyan got married for the third time in 2013, to Anna Lezhneva, who is Russian. He has children from his last two marriages. 

The star has a black belt in Karate.