Akhil Akkineni, Shriya Bhupal's engagement: Nagarjuna holds private ceremony for son

Actor Nagarjuna's younger son Akhil Akkineni got engaged to his girlfriend Shriya Bhupal on Friday night. Their engagement ceremony was a family event.

Akhil Akkineni started dating Shriya Bhupal after meeting her at an event a few years ago. Last year, the couple took their love affair to their parents, who gave them consent to take their relationship to the next level. Ever since, there have been several speculations made about their engagement and marriage.

The invitation card of their engagement ceremony, which hit the internet in the last week of November, put all the rumours to rest. As per the invitation, Akhil Akkineni and Shriya Bhupal planned to hold their engagement ceremony at GVK House in Hyderabad on December 9.

"With the blessings of SMT Annapurna and Sri Akkineni Nageshwara Rao, we take immense pleasure in inviting you to the engagement ceremony of our son Akhil with Shriya, Daughter of Shalini and Somanadri Bhupal on Friday, 9th Demember, 7:00 PM at GVK House - Amala and Nagarjuna Akkineni," the statement on the invitation read.

This evening a photo featuring Akhil Akkineni and Shriya Bhupal with their parents at their engagement ceremony started going viral on the social media. The buzz is that their engagement was a private affair and it was attended by family members and close friends. The couple is reportedly tying the knot in Rome, Italy in February 2017 and their families will host a reception party on a later date.

However, Akhil's fiancé Shriya Bhupal is a fashion designer and she is the granddaughter of business tycoon GVK Reddy. She is the official costume designer for Filmfare South and she has worked with popular actresses Shraddha Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Shriya Saran, Kajal Agarwal and Rakul Preet.

On other hand, Akhil Akkineni entered film industry as a child artiste with 1995 film Sisindri. He played a cameo role in 2014 movie Manam. He made his debut as a hero with Akhil: The Power Of Jua, which bombed at the box office. Following its failure, the actor has taken one year to announce his next project. He is teaming up with director Vikram Kumar for his second film.

Akhil Akkineni tweeted on 7 December: "My genius director Vikram is coming up with some really new age stuff! Very exciting times and I'm so happy the wait has been worth it Pre production going on full swing, will update with all details very soon. Finally everything has surfaced and almost set to go. For the last one year patience has been my best friend. Time can move along very slowly but it picks up eventually and at the right time."