Naveen Chandra

Naveen Chandra was born into a Tamil-speaking family in Secunderabad, Telangana.^[2][3] Both his parents are Tamilians, with his father being a head mechanic at KSRTC and hails from Bengaluru, Karnataka, while his mother hails from Secunderabad, Telangana. Their family later moved to Ballari, Karnataka, where he was raised. Chandra obtained a diploma in Mechanical Engineering and worked as a multimedia animator before he forayed into films.^[3]

Chandra made his debut in Telugu cinema with Sambhavami Yuge Yuge under the stage name Anji in the year 2006, and later acted in the film Kalyanam under the stage name Chandu. Chandra made his debut as a hero in Tamil with Pazhaniappa Kalloori under the stage name Pradeep.^[4] His next Tamil film Agarathi never saw a theatrical release.^[5] In 2012, he starred in the Telugu film Andala Rakshasi which gained him positive responses from viewers and critics for his performance in his role as Surya.^[6] He shot for the Tamil film Therodum Veedhiyile with Payal Ghosh in 2012, which was never released.^[7]

In the bilingual film Dalam, Chandra played an ex-naxalite who struggles to return to a normal life. For his role in Sathyashiva's Sivappu, he lived incognito as a labourer in his friend's construction company for two weeks in order to get into his character. The film also released in 2014.^[8] He was also signed as the second lead in the Tamil film Brahman.^[9][10] He was signed on for the lead role in producer C. V. Kumar's Sarabham. He next appeared in Miss India starring Keerthy Suresh under the direction of Narendra Nath.

His films Month of Madhu and Jigarthanda DoubleX^[11] were released in 2023.^[12]

Naveen Chandra is married to Orma, a Malayali, with whom he has a son.^[2][13]