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.
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 as one of the worst films made.
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.
Nagulapati Srinivasa Chakravarthy, known professionally as J. D. Chakravarthy, is an Indian actor, filmmaker, screenwriter and musician known for his work primarily with Telugu cinema in addition to Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam, and Kannada films. Chakravarthy made his screen debut with the Telugu film, Siva, an action blockbuster directed by Ram Gopal Varma, featured at the 12th IFFI. He subsequently made his Bollywood debut with the remake of the same film titled Shiva (1990). He then starred in the blockbuster Satya, featured in the Indian panorama section at the 29th IFFI, and was listed among CNN-IBN's 100 greatest Indian films of all time. Chakravarthy received the Screen Award Special Jury Award.
Dongala Mutha is a 2011 Indian Telugu-language action thriller film directed by Ram Gopal Varma. The film stars Ravi Teja, Charmy, Prakash Raj, Lakshmi Manchu, Sunil, Bramhanandam, Subbaraju and Supreeth Reddy. This film is the first of its kind in Indian cinema as it was shot with just 7 crew members and in a record of 5 days. Prior to filming, Varma announced that this film has no budget and that the cast and crew will not be taking remunerations until the film hits theaters.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
Officer is a 2018 Indian Telugu-language action film produced and directed by Ram Gopal Varma on his R Company Production banner. The film stars Nagarjuna Akkineni, Myra Sareen in the lead roles and music composed by Ravi Shankar. The Tamil dubbed version, Simtaangaran was released on 1 January 2021.
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.
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 Bollywood, 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 and prolific filmmakers of new age Indian cinema.
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.
The five-song soundtrack album and background score of the Telugu-language crime action film Siva (1989) is composed by Ilaiyaraaja. The film, directed by Ram Gopal Varma and produced by Annapurna Studios and SS Creations, stars Nagarjuna, Amala Akkineni, Raghuvaran and J. D. Chakravarthy. Veturi Sundararama Murthy and Sirivennela Seetharama Sastry wrote lyrics for the songs, while S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, S. Janaki, K. S. Chithra, S. P. Sailaja and Mano were the singers. The soundtrack was successful and was acclaimed as one of Ilaiyaraaja's best works in Telugu cinema.
