Rajeev Kanakala made a name for himself though he is the son of senior actor Devdas Kanakala who trained top stars like Chiranjeevi, Rajinikanth, and others in acting. Rajeev after impressing in small roles at the start of his career later went on to make his mark in negative roles also.
Meanwhile, he made stunning revelation saying 'I and NTR wouldn't have been alive'. Recollecting the incident he said 'During Naaga shooting climax, I and Tarak should fight on the moving train. The train moved when we were on the top. We were about to fall losing our balance. During that time to save our lives, we caught whatever we found for support. Had we not done so, we wouldn't have been alive"
Rajeev Kanakala starred with NTR in films like Aadi, Naga, Ashok, Yama Donga, Badshah, Naannaku Premato and Janatha Garage. They became close and he was present when NTR campaigned for TDP in the 2009 elections. He also traveled along with NTR in the same car which met with the accident.
Later differences came between them and after Ashok, they did not share screen presence for quite some time. Rajeev, however, rubbished the rumors questioning “There was no truth in differences with NTR. We never had any gap and had been there, why would I do Janatha Garage and Naannaku Premato."