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 at Lincoln Center cited Varma as "Bombay's Most Successful Maverick" for his works on experimental films.
Thiruda Thiruda is a 1993 Indian Tamil-language black comedy caper film directed by Mani Ratnam written along with Ram Gopal Varma. The film stars Prashanth, Anand, Anu Aggarwal and Heera Rajagopal while S. P. Balasubrahmanyam and Salim Ghouse play supporting roles. The film's soundtrack and background score were composed by A. R. Rahman while the cinematography was handled by P. C. Sriram. In 1994, the film premièred at the Toronto International Film Festival. It also won the National Film Award for Best Special Effects.This is the only film that Anu Aggarwal has acted in Tamil.
Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag, or simply, Aag (transl. Fire) is a 2007 Indian Hindi-language action drama film produced and directed by Ram Gopal Varma. The film features Mohanlal, Amitabh Bacchan, Ajay Devgn, Prashant Raj Sachdev, Sushmita Sen, J. D. Chakravarthy, and Suchitra Krishnamoorthi in principal roles. The film is an adaptation of the 1975 Hindi film Sholay, upon release, it was negatively received by the critics. It is considered one of the worst films made.
Satya (transl. Truth) is a 1998 Indian Hindi-language crime film, produced and directed by Ram Gopal Varma; written by Saurabh Shukla and Anurag Kashyap. It stars J. D. Chakravarthy, Urmila Matondkar and Manoj Bajpayee, alongside Saurabh Shukla, Aditya Shrivastava and Paresh Rawal. It is the first of Varma's Gangster trilogy about organised crime in India. The film follows Satya (Chakravarthy), an immigrant who comes to Mumbai looking for a job, befriends Bhiku Mhatre (Bajpayee) and is drawn into the Mumbai underworld.
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.
Siva is a 1989 Indian Telugu-language crime action film directed by Ram Gopal Varma and produced by Akkineni Venkat and Yarlagadda Surendra under Annapurna Studios and SS Creations. The film, which marks the directorial debut of Ram Gopal Varma, explores the concepts of student exploitation by anti-social elements and the impact of crowd psychology.
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.
Ice Cream is a 2014 Telugu-language horror film written and directed by Ram Gopal Varma. It stars Navdeep and Tejaswi Madivada. It is the first Indian movie to be filmed with Flowcam System Technology and was released on 12 July 2014. The film deals with a character that is obsessed with eating ice cream and suffers from a nightmare disorder. Upon release, the film became a blockbuster at the box office.
Tejaswi Madivada is an Indian actress and model, who works predominantly in Telugu films and television shows. A dance tutor turned actress, she has debuted with a recurring role in Seethamma Vaakitlo Sirimalle Chettu (2013) and had her breakthrough with Ice Cream (2014). She was a contestant in the reality show Bigg Boss 2 (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.
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.
Killing Veerappan is a 2016 Indian Kannada-language biographical crime film directed by Ram Gopal Varma, who co-wrote the film with K. Balaji. The film is based on the events leading to Operation Cocoon to capture or kill Indian bandit Veerappan. Featuring Shiva Rajkumar in the central role touted to be based on N. K. Senthamarai Kannan, the then Superintendent of police, with the Indian Special Task Force, and the spy who masterminded Operation Cocoon.
Veerappan is a 2016 Indian Hindi-language biographical action crime film written and directed by Ram Gopal Varma. The film is based on the real-life Indian bandit Veerappan and the events leading to Operation Cocoon, a mission to capture and kill him. The film is a remake of the Kannada film Killing Veerappan (2016) starring Shiva Rajkumar. The film stars Sandeep Bharadwaj, Sachiin J Joshi, Lisa Ray and Usha Jadhav.
12 'O' Clock is a 2021 Indian Hindi-language horror film directed by Ram Gopal Varma and starring Mithun Chakraborty, Flora Saini, Manav Kaul, Krishna Gautam and Makarand Deshpande. The film was first announced with the name Geher, but the following trailer revealed it had been renamed 12 'O' Clock on 3 July 2020. It was released in India on 8 January 2021.
God, Sex and Truth is a 2018 Indian short monologue documentary directed by Ram Gopal Varma and starring American pornographic actress Mia Malkova. The film is a short documentary about the strength of female sexuality and beauty. It is scored by M. M. Keeravani, and produced by Strike Force LLC, USA. It was released on 27 January 2018, on Vimeo OnDemand.
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.
P. Jaya Kumar is an Indian filmmaker, screenwriter and author working predominantly in Hindi and Telugu films. He debuted as the screenplay writer for Amitabh Bachchan's Bollywood film Sarkar 3 and Akkineni Nagarjuna's Telugu film Officer. He published multiple books of fiction which were later adapted by Ram Gopal Varma namely Meri Beti Sunny Leone Banna Chaahti Hain and God, Sex and Truth.
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.
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 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 and prolific filmmakers of new age Indian cinema.
