Varun Tej debuted as a child artist in his father Nagendra Babu's film Hands Up! when he was just ten years old. He made his adult debut with Mukunda, starring opposite fellow newcomer Pooja Hegde. The film earned mixed reviews. His second venture was the 2015 war film Kanche, starring opposite fellow Pragya Jaiswal and received positive reviews from critics. Varun Tej's performance as Dhupati Haribabu was praised with The Times of India praising his 'capability to shift gears from intense to sobriety'. His second release that year Loafer, was a box office failure, along with his 2017 outing Mister.The later half of 2017 saw the release of Fidaa, where he played an NRI falling in love with a village belle. The film earned critical acclaim for its simplicity, performances by the principal cast and his portrayal as an NRI guy earned him praise as well, with 123telugu.com calling his 'ease with emotions in the film quite heartwarming'.His chemistry with costar Sai Pallavi was widely appreciated and it was one of the highest grossing Telugu movies of 2017. His recent release Tholi Pre.