Penmetsa Ram Gopal Varma, often referred to by his initials RGV, is an Indian film director, screenwriter and producer, known for his works in Telugu cinema in addition to Hindi, Kannada language films, and television. Varma has directed films across multiple genres, including parallel cinema and docudrama noted for their gritty realism, technical finesse, and craft. Regarded as one of the pioneers of new age Indian cinema, he was featured in the BBC World series Bollywood Bosses in 2004. In 2006, Grady Hendrix of Film Comment, published by the Film Society of Lincoln Center cited Varma as "Bombay's Most Successful Maverick" for his works on experimental films.
Bhoot (transl. Ghost) is a 2003 Indian supernatural horror film directed by Ram Gopal Varma and stars an ensemble cast of Ajay Devgn, Urmila Matondkar, Nana Patekar, Rekha, Fardeen Khan and Tanuja. It was the second horror film made by Ram Gopal Verma after Raat. It was perceived to be different from a typical Hindi film as it did not contain songs. It was later dubbed in Telugu as 12 Va Anthasthu and remade in Tamil version as Shock.
Navdeep Pallapolu is an Indian actor and television personality who predominantly appears in the Telugu film industry alongside Tamil and Hindi works. He made his film debut in 2004 with the patriotic sports drama Jai. His notable works include Arinthum Ariyamalum (2005), Gowtam SSC (2005), Chandamama (2007), Arya 2 (2009), Baadshah (2013), Ice Cream (2014), Mukunda Dhruva (2016), Nene Raju Nene Mantri (2016), Ragini MMS: Returns 2 (2019), Ala Vaikunthapurramloo (2020), Seeru (2020), Masti's (2020), Run (2020), Sarileru Neekevaru Newsense, (2023) and Eagle (2024).
Naan Aval Adhu is an unreleased Indian Tamil-language horror film directed by Kona Venkat. Madhavan, Shamita Shetty and Sadha featured in the leading roles, while the film had songs and score composed by four music directors including G. V. Prakash Kumar and Dharan. A remake of the Hindi film, Darling (2007), the film was initially launched in 2006 as Ram Gopal Varma's production, but was eventually sold to Storm Pictures after Varma, Venkat and Madhavan had gone through creative differences. During post-production, the unit experienced further difficulties after the producer had failed to pay technicians, and subsequently the film did not have a theatrical release.
Bejawada or Bezawada is a 2011 Indian Telugu-language action crime film based on the Vijayawada Gang Warfare, directed by Vivek Krishna and produced by Ram Gopal Varma and Renny Johnson. The film stars Naga Chaitanya and Amala Paul. The movie was received negatively at the box office but positively at the television and OTT as it accurately depicted the historical gang war in Vijayawada. Later it was dubbed in Hindi as Hero: The Action Man (2013) and also in Tamil as Vikram Dhadha. It marked Amala’s Telugu debut.
The Attacks of 26/11 is a 2013 Indian Hindi-language action thriller film directed by Ram Gopal Varma, based on the book Kasab: The Face of 26/11 by Rommel Rodrigues about Ajmal Kasab, perpetrator of the 2008 Mumbai attacks. The film stars Sanjeev Jaiswal in his film debut, playing the role of terrorist Ajmal Kasab, with art direction by Uday Singh. It also features Nana Patekar in a pivotal role. A seven-minute promo of the film was released over the Internet on 23 November 2012.
Satya 2 is a 2013 Indian crime film directed by Ram Gopal Varma. Shot simultaneously in Hindi and Telugu languages, the film stars Puneet Singh Ratn (Hindi), Sharwanand (Telugu), Anaika Soti and Mahesh Thakur. The film tells the story of Satya, an immigrant who comes to Mumbai aiming to refashion the mumbai underworld. The film is the fourth installment of the Gangster series, unrelated to the original trilogy.
Rowdy is a 2014 Indian Telugu-language action drama film written and directed by Ram Gopal Varma. It stars Vishnu Manchu and his father Mohan Babu with Jayasudha and Shanvi Srivastav in important roles. Sai Karthik composed the music for this film, while Satish Mutyala handled the cinematography. The principal photography commenced on 26 December 2013 and ended on 21 February 2014 in 30 working days. It was dubbed into Hindi as Rowdy.
Mrudhula Basker, also known as Naveena, is an Indian actress. She is best known for her role in the 2014 film Vallinam, directed by Arivazhagan Venkatachalam, and Ice Cream 2, directed by Ram Gopal Varma. She also performed in the Tamil films Marumunai and Thilagar. She debuted in Kannada cinema with the film Bablusha, directed by Venkat Bhardwaj.
Pandaga Chesko (transl. Celebrate) is a 2015 Indian Telugu-language masala film directed by Gopichand Malineni and produced by Paruchuri Kireeti on the United Movies banner. The film stars Ram, Rakul Preet Singh and Sonal Chauhan and Sampath Raj, Abhimanyu Singh, Sai Kumar, Adithya, Brahmanandam, Rao Ramesh, Pavitra Lokesh, Tejaswi Madivada, Vennela Kishore and Raghu Babu in other important roles. The story was penned by Veligonda Srinivas and the screenplay was provided by Kona Venkat and Anil Ravipudi, with the former writing the dialogues. S. Thaman composed the music, while Sameer Reddy and Gautham Raju handled the cinematography and editing of the film, respectively.
Tejaswi Madivada is an Indian actress and model, who works predominantly in the Telugu film industry. A dance tutor turned actress, she made her acting debut in 2013 with Seethamma Vaakitlo Sirimalle Chettu and became noted after starring in Ice Cream. She was a contestant in reality TV show Bigg Boss Telugu 2 in 2018.
Anukshanam is a 2014 Indian Telugu-language mystery thriller, and slasher film written and directed by Ram Gopal Varma, starring Vishnu Manchu and Revathi in lead roles. Ram Gopal Varma has started a new distribution system with this film by auctioning this movie through a website. Released on 13 September 2014 without an intermission, the film opened to a mixed reception, with praise for Vishnu’s performance, the script and screenplay, but criticism of the gore, bloodshed and lack of characterisation. The film had a lukewarm reception at the box-office.
Ice Cream 2 is a 2014 Telugu slasher film, directed by Ram Gopal Varma which released on 21 November 2014 to negative reviews from critics. The film is a sequel to Ice Cream (2014), also directed by Varma, starring J. D. Chakravarthy and Naveena.
Sridevi is an unreleased Indian Telugu film, about a teenaged boy's crush on a woman older than himself, starring Anukriti Govind Sharma in the title role. The original title of the film was Savitri. It is directed by J. D. Chakravarthy and presented by Ram Gopal Varma.
Anji is an Indian cinematographer, and director who is working in the Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Tamil film industries.
Naina Ganguly is an Indian actress who appears in predominately Telugu films. She is known for her role in Meri Beti Sunny Leone Banna Chaahti Hai (2017) and Charitraheen.
Lakshmi's NTR is a 2019 Indian Telugu-language biographical drama film based on the life of former film actor and chief minister of undivided Andhra Pradesh, N. T. Rama Rao from the perspective of his second wife, Lakshmi Parvati as well as Rao during his last days. It is co-directed by Ram Gopal Varma, and Agasthya Manju.
Anketa Maharana, credited as Apsara Rani, is an Indian actress who predominantly appears in Telugu films.
Konda is a 2022 Indian Telugu-language political crime thriller film written and directed by Ram Gopal Varma, and produced by Sushmitha Patel. The film explores the political-criminal-nexus between Indian politician couple Konda Surekha, Konda Murali, Errabelli Dayakar Rao, and Maoist Ramakrishna, alias R.K. Konda was released on 23 June 2022 to mixed reviews.
Beautiful: An Ode to Rangeela is a 2020 Indian Hindi-language romantic drama film directed by Agastya Manju, and produced by Naresh Kumar T. The film stars Naina Ganguly, K. K. Binojee, and Parth Suri in pivotal roles. It was released on 1 January 2020, and simultaneously dubbed into Telugu language.
