Nandamuri Kalyan Ram (born 5 July 1978) is an Indian actor and film producer who works in Telugu cinema. He is the son of actor-politician Nandamuri Harikrishna. Ram is best known for his roles in action films such as Athanokkade, Hare Ram and 118. Ram is the chairperson of the production company N. T. R. Arts, named after his paternal grandfather NTR.He also owns "Advitha Creative Studios", a video effects company, which provided special effects for movies such as Legend, Nannaku Prematho and Krishnashtami.

Early life

Kalyan Ram was born in Hyderabad, Telangana, to Nandamuri Harikrishna and his first wife, Lakshmi Kumari. He is the grandson of N. T. Rama Rao. His half-brother, N. T. Rama Rao Jr., is also an actor. Ram was schooled at St. Pauls, Hyderabad and KCP Siddardha Adarsh Residential School, Vijayawada. He obtained his engineering degree in Coimbatore and completed masters in Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago. Though he desired to join the film industry immediately after engineering, he pursued masters on the insistence of Harikrishna who wanted him to be first person in their family to earn a post-graduate degree.

Career

In 1989 Ram acted with his uncle Nandamuri Balakrishna in the film Bala Gopaludu as a child artist. Later, he started his acting career in 2003 with ''Toli Choopulone'' followed by ''Abhimanyu'', which were both commercial failures. In 2005, he established his own banner N.T.R. Arts under the name of his grandfather N. T. Rama Rao known as 'NTR'. He then produced ''Athanokkade'', which introduced Surender Reddy as a director, and it was a critical and commercial success. His next films ''Asadhyudu'', ''Lakshmi Kalyanam'' and ''Vijayadasami'' bombed at the box office. However, his 2008 release ''Hare Ram'' became a critical and commercial success. His 2009 release ''Jayeebhava'' and 2010 release ''Kalyanram Kathi'' emerged as commercial failures. In 2013, Ram produced and starred in ''Om 3D'' which was touted as India's first 3D action film and was released in late summer 2013. Despite the hype, the film ended up as a commercial failure.In 2015, Ram starred in ''Pataas'' which turned out to be a blockbuster with positive reviews. For the first time, he produced a film without himself as the lead, titled ''Kick 2'' under N.T.R. Arts. It stars Ravi Teja as a lead, and is directed by Surender Reddy, which turned out to be a flop at the box office. Ram's later release for 2015 featuring him as the lead was ''Sher'' opposite actress Sonal Chauhan. It was directed by Mallikarjun and was produced by Vijayalakshmi Pictures.In 2016, Ram produced and starred in Puri Jagannadh's ''Ism'' as an undercover journalist. In 2018, he acted the lead role in the film ''MLA'' and ''Naa Nuvve''. In 2019, he played the role of his father Nandamuri Harikrishna in the films ''N.T.R: Kathanayakudu'' and ''N.T.R: Mahanayakudu''. He then proceeded to star in K. V. Guhan's ''118'' along with Shalini Pandey and Nivetha Thomas. The film became a critical and commercial success.Ram's next release was the 2020 film ''Entha Manchivaadavuraa'' directed by Satish Vegesna of ''Sathamanam Bhavati'' fame. It is an official remake of the Gujarati-language film ''Oxygen''.Ram stars in the film ''Devil: The British Secret Agent'' due to release on 29 December 2023.