Background
Raju and his brothers started film distribution in the early 1990s and partnered with Venkata Lakshmi Films. In 1996, they opened a new office with the name Sri Harshita Films. Most of the films that they distributed were unsuccessful at the box-office and they incurred heavy losses leading them to shut the company. After few more years studying the market, they established Sri Venkateswara Film Distributors in 1999. [3] They chose to distribute films in the Nizam area which refers to the esrstwhile Hyderabad State and present-day Telangana. The first three films distributed were Oke Okkadu (1999), Nuvvu Vastavani (2000), and Sakhi (2000). They went on to distribute more films like Nuvvu Naaku Nachav (2001), Murari (2001), Kushi (2001), Aadi (2002), Athadu (2005), Chatrapati (2005), and Pokiri (2006). [3]
Founding of Production company and success
After distributing films for four years, Raju, along with Giri, Sirish, and Lakshman, established Sri Venkateswara Creations production house in 2003. The first film that was made under the banner was Dil (2003), directed by V. V. Vinayak. [4] After Dil, Giri has separated himself from the banner, while the rest continued. In 2004, they made Arya (2004) under the direction debut of Sukumar. In 2005, they made another successful film Bhadra , under the direction of Boyapati Srinu. [3] In 2006, they produced Bommarillu under the direction of Bhaskar. [3]
By the end of the year 2018, 40 films associated with the banner were released: out of which 30 films were produced by them, 6 were dubbed films, and 4 were collaborations. In an interview with Anil Ravipudi for GreatAndhra website, Dil Raju claimed that 22 of his 30 films (2003-2018) were either hits, super-hits, or classics; 4 were average grossers; and 4 films were flops. [5]
In 2019, Sri Venkateswara Creations produced F2: Fun and Frustration , which was released on the occasion of Sankranthi. It became the highest grossing film for the company and is one of the highest grossers of all-time in Telugu cinema. [6] [7] [8] In 2022, they forayed into Tamil cinema with Varisu (2023), that released on Pongal 2023, starring Vijay and Rashmika Mandanna in the lead roles. It was directed by Vamshi Paidipally with music by Thaman S. Though it opened to mixed reviews, it became a huge money spinner at the box-office and became the highest grossing film for the company.
They continued their association with Anil Ravipudi by producing Sankranthiki Vasthunam , starring Venkatesh, Aishwarya Rajesh, and Meenakshi Chaudhary in the lead roles. Upon release during Sankranthi 2025, it because a huge commercial success and ended up becoming the highest grossing film for the company in Telugu and the highest grossing solo film for Venkatesh.
US$51 million (2022)