From Child Actor To Politician, A Look At Telugu Comedian Ali's Journey

Telugu cinema’s popular comedian Ali needs no introduction. The actor is known for his super funny and memorable dialogues and impeccable comic timing. Ali, who has made us laugh with his comic acts and has been featured in nearly 1,000 films, turned 56 on Tuesday. He is a recipient of two Nandi Awards and two Filmfare Awards South.

Ali entered the industry with the help of actor Jit Mohan Mitra and later politics. Let’s take a look at his journey from films to politics. He made his debut in the industry with the 1979 film Nindu Noorellu, which was directed by K Raghavendra Rao. As a child, he got many roles but struggled to get films when he became older. Then he opted to become a comedian in Tollywood.

Director SV Krishna Reddy cast Ali in many of his films in comic roles. The actor slowly developed his style. He is known as Chaata in the industry and he acted in the 2010 Kannada film Super which was critically acclaimed. He also became the host of a talkie show called Ali Talkies on MAA TV.

Over the years, Ali also got surrounded by many controversies. One of them was when he made a terrible goof-up during the audio launch of the 2015 film Size Zero held in Hyderabad. He also made some inappropriate comments about the actress Anushka Shetty, which instigated both the actress and her fans. Ali reportedly compared Anushka to a “garam jalebi that everyone likes to eat” during his speech at the audio launch. “Ever since I saw her in Billa (where Anushka appeared in a bikini), I became her fan,” Ali said. These statements did not go well with many and people slammed him for being “cheap and sexist”. Even Anushka Shetty reacted to these statements, saying that she was shocked.

Ali joined the YSR Congress Party on March 11, 2019, and was appointed as Electronic Media Adviser to the Government of Andhra Pradesh on October 27, 2022. In the upcoming elections, he will be contesting against actor and Jana Sena Party chief Pawan Kalyan. Due to his venture into politics and election campaigns, Ali has been doing fewer films lately. He was last seen in Samantha Ruth Prabhu’s Kushi. He has the film Geetanjali 2 in his pipeline.