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. He is known for introducing new talents, who eventually become successful in the Indian film industry.1
Akkineni Nagarjuna Rao, known mononymously as Nagarjuna, is an Indian actor and film producer who works predominantly in Telugu, Hindi and Tamil films. One of the highest paid South Indian actor, Nagarjuna has appeared in over 90 films. He is a recipient of two National Film Awards for Ninne Pelladata (1996) and Annamayya (1997), ten state Nandi Awards and three Filmfare Awards South.
Shock is a 2006 Indian Telugu-language action film directed by Harish Shankar in his directoral debut and produced by Ram Gopal Varma. The film stars Ravi Teja and Jyothika, while Tabu, Subbaraju, and Ravi Kale play supporting roles. The music was composed by Ajay–Atul with editing by Bhanodaya. It released on 9 February 2006. In 2013, the film was dubbed in Hindi as Mera Insaaf. The film was remade in Kannada as Prince (2011) starring Darshan.
Chandralekha is a 1998 Indian Telugu-language comedy drama film co-written and directed by Krishna Vamsi. It stars Nagarjuna Akkineni, Ramya Krishna and debutant Isha Koppikar, with music composed by Sandeep Chowta. The film was produced by Nagarjuna and V. Ram Prasad under Great India Enterprises banner.
Mirapakay is a 2011 Indian Telugu-language action comedy film directed by Harish Shankar and produced by Ramesh Puppala under Yellow Flowers. The film stars Ravi Teja in the lead role, alongside Richa Gangopadhyay, Deeksha Seth, Prakash Raj, Kota Srinivasa Rao and Nagababu in supporting roles. The music was composed by S. Thaman, while cinematography and editing were handled by C. Ram Prasad and Gautham Raju.
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.
Katha Screenplay Darsakatvam Appalaraju is a 2011 Indian Telugu-language comedy film written and directed by Ram Gopal Varma. It stars Sunil and Swati Reddy in the lead roles, alongside Brahmanandam and Kota Srinivasa Rao. Sudhakar Reddy has handled the camera and Koti has composed the music.
Prema Katha is a 1999 Indian Telugu-language romance drama film written by Vara Prasad Varma and directed by Ram Gopal Varma. It is the debut film of both Sumanth and Antara Mali as leads in the Telugu film industry. The film opened to positive reviews by critics but was commercially unsuccessful. It had a highly praised soundtrack by Sandeep Chowta including the hit song "Devudu Karunisthaadani". The film bagged six state Nandi Awards and was dubbed into Tamil as Kadhal Vanile.
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.
Collector Gari Abbayi is a 1987 Indian Telugu-language action drama film, produced by Yarlagadda Surendra under S. S. Creations and directed by B. Gopal. It stars Akkineni Nageswara Rao, Nagarjuna, Sarada and Rajani, with music composed by Chakravarthy. The film was recorded as a Super Hit at the box office and remade as Hindi film Kanoon Apna Apna (1989).
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 by the same name.
Seetharama Raju is a 1999 Indian Telugu-language drama film written and directed by Y. V. S. Chowdary. Produced by Nagarjuna, and D. Sivaprasad Reddy, it stars Nandamuri Harikrishna, Nagarjuna Akkineni, Sakshi Shivanand, and Sanghavi with music composed by M. M. Keeravani. The film won two state Nandi Awards.
Attack is a 2016 Telugu-language political thriller film written, and directed by Ram Gopal Varma and produced by C. Kalyan. It features Manchu Manoj and Surbhi, while Jagapati Babu, Prakash Raj, and Vadde Naveen play supporting roles. The music was composed by Ravi Shankar. The film was released worldwide on 1 April 2016.
Nirmala Convent is a 2016 Indian Telugu-language romantic drama film directed by G. Naga Koteswara Rao, and produced by Akkineni Nagarjuna and Nimmagadda Prasad on Annapurna Studios and Matrix Team Works. The film features Roshan Meka and Shriya Sharma in their debut in lead roles while Nagarjuna appears as himself in a crucial role. It has music composed by Roshan Saluri.
Vangaveeti is a 2016 Indian Telugu-language biographical action film written and directed by Ram Gopal Varma. The film is based on the life of politician Vangaveeti Mohana Ranga, and his elder brother Vangaveeti Radha Krishna and their altercation with communist dominated Vijayawada of the 1970s-80s in Andhra Pradesh.
Raju Gari Gadhi 2 is a 2017 Indian Telugu-language comedy horror film directed by Ohmkar and produced by Prasad V. Potluri under PVP Cinema, Matinee Entertainment, and OAK Entertainments banner. The film is a sequel to Raju Gari Gadhi (2015), the second installment in Raju Gari Gadhi franchise, and a remake of the Malayalam film Pretham (2016). It stars Nagarjuna Akkineni, Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Seerat Kapoor, and Ashwin Babu, while Abhinaya, Vennela Kishore, Praveen, and Rao Ramesh playing supporting roles. The music is composed by S. Thaman with cinematography by R. Diwakaran and editing by Madhu. The film released on 13 October 2017.
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.
