Ram Gopal Varma also known as RGV is an Indian film director, screenwriter and producer. His work is predominantly in Bollywood and Telugu cinema. Varma has directed, written and produced films across multiple genres — psychological thrillers, underworld gang warfare, road movies, horrors, fictional films, politician-criminal nexus, experimental films, musicals, parallel cinema, and docudrama.Two of his films Siva (1989), and Satya (1998) were show cased among CNN-IBN's list of hundred best Indian films of all time. In 2005, Indiatimes Movies included Satya in its list of 25 Must See Bollywood Movies.[7] The film marked the introduction of a new genre of film making, a variation of film noir that has been called Mumbai noir, of which Varma is the acknowledged master.
He directed path breaking film's like Siva (1989) and Kshana Kshanam (1991) for which he has garnered Andhra Pradesh state Nandi Awards for Best Direction. In 1999, He has garnered the National Film Award for scripting and producing Shool. In the same year He directed Prema Katha for which he received his third Nandi Award for Best Director. He garnered three Filmfare Awards and five Bollywood Movie Awards. In 2010, He received critical acclaim at the International film festival of Fribourg, Switzerland, where in, a retrospective of Mumbai noir, was staged by film critic, Edward Waintrop.
He gained recognition in Bollywood with the 1990 Hindi film, Shiva premiered at International Film Festival of India, and the 1991 supernatural thriller, Raat. In 1995 he directed another blockbuster Rangeela. He then directed Satya (1998), which won six Filmfare Awards, including the Critics Award for Best Film, and was show cased among the Indian panorama section, at the 1998 International Film Festival of India. Varma received the Bimal Roy memorial award for best direction for this film.
Satya, together with his 2002 film Company (which he directed, won three IIFA Awards, seven Filmfare Awards, and a Bollywood Movie Award for best direction, and was premiered at the 2004 Austin Film Festival) and the 2005 film D (which he produced), form an "Indian gangster trilogy". In 2006, he re-made a new version of Shiva, which was screened at the New York Asian Film Festival, where a retrospective featuring several of his previous movies was staged. Alongside Shiva, the festival screened his earlier successful films Company, Ek Hasina Thi, Ab Tak Chhappan and Sarkar.
In 2008, he directed another blockbuster, Sarkar Raj, which was archived at the Academy of Motion Pictures library. In 2013, he directed a docudrama, The Attacks of 26/11 showcased to critical acclaim at the Berlin International Film Festival, in the Panorama as well as the Competition section. Other acclaimed films at the box office, that Varma directed include Gaayam (1993), Anaganaga Oka Roju (1997), Kaun (1999), Jungle (2000), Bhoot (2003), Sarkar (2005), Phoonk (2008), Rakta Charitra (2010), and Katha Screenplay Darshakatvam Appalaraju (2011).
Varma completed BE in civil engineering from V.R. Siddhartha Engineering College, Vijayawada. Even during this period, Varma remained a film buff, through his uncle. Varma would skip classes often and watch films instead. He would watch the same film repeatedly "just to watch certain scenes which interested him." According to him, that is how he learned film direction.
After a brief stint as a site engineer for Krishna Oberoi hotel in Hyderabad, he put his dreams on the back burner and decided to go to Nigeria to make some money. It was at this moment that he visited a video rental library in Hyderabad. He loved the idea and decided to start one of his own at Ameerpet in Hyderabad, through which he slowly developed connections with the film world. Without being successful as a fourth assistant director in B. Gopal's film Collector Gari Abbai, Varma directly ventured into film direction, with the 1989 Telugu film, Siva.
Before Varma started his career in the Telugu film industry, he lingered on the sets of films such as Collector Gari Abbai and Rao Gaari Illu. His father Krishnam Raju Varma, was a sound recordist at Annapurna Studios, which was then owned by thespian Akkineni Nageswara Rao. Varma managed to meet Nagarjuna Akkineni and narrated a scene to the actor which impressed him. The result of their collaboration was a film on the criminalisation of student politics — Siva. It was a blockbuster with Varma demonstrating his technical expertise and storytelling skills. The success of the film in Telugu led to a Hindi remake with similar success.
Varma's next film was Kshana Kshanam with Venkatesh and Sridevi which got him noticed by Bollywood critics. It was dubbed into Hindi as Hairaan. Then he made films such as Raatri and Antham. While Gaayam with Jagapathi Babu and Anaganaga Oka Roju with J.D. Chakravarthy were successful, Govinda Govinda with Nagarjuna and Sridevi proved to be a moderate success at the box office. During this period, Varma produced films such as Money and Money Money and was the screenwriter for Mani Ratnam's Tamil movie Thiruda Thiruda.
National Film Awards
National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi (producer) – Shool – 1999
Filmfare Awards
Filmfare Critics Award for Best Movie – Satya (1998)
Filmfare Best Story Award – Rangeela (1995)
Nandi Awards
Nandi Award for Best Director – Siva (1989)
Nandi Award for Best Director – Kshana Kshanam (1991)
Nandi Award for Best Director – Prema Katha (1999)
Bollywood Movie Awards
Bollywood Movie Award – Best Director
Satya (1998)
Jungle (2000)
Company (2002)
Bhoot (2003)
He directed path breaking film's like Siva (1989) and Kshana Kshanam (1991) for which he has garnered Andhra Pradesh state Nandi Awards for Best Direction. In 1999, He has garnered the National Film Award for scripting and producing Shool. In the same year He directed Prema Katha for which he received his third Nandi Award for Best Director. He garnered three Filmfare Awards and five Bollywood Movie Awards. In 2010, He received critical acclaim at the International film festival of Fribourg, Switzerland, where in, a retrospective of Mumbai noir, was staged by film critic, Edward Waintrop.
He gained recognition in Bollywood with the 1990 Hindi film, Shiva premiered at International Film Festival of India, and the 1991 supernatural thriller, Raat. In 1995 he directed another blockbuster Rangeela. He then directed Satya (1998), which won six Filmfare Awards, including the Critics Award for Best Film, and was show cased among the Indian panorama section, at the 1998 International Film Festival of India. Varma received the Bimal Roy memorial award for best direction for this film.
Satya, together with his 2002 film Company (which he directed, won three IIFA Awards, seven Filmfare Awards, and a Bollywood Movie Award for best direction, and was premiered at the 2004 Austin Film Festival) and the 2005 film D (which he produced), form an "Indian gangster trilogy". In 2006, he re-made a new version of Shiva, which was screened at the New York Asian Film Festival, where a retrospective featuring several of his previous movies was staged. Alongside Shiva, the festival screened his earlier successful films Company, Ek Hasina Thi, Ab Tak Chhappan and Sarkar.
In 2008, he directed another blockbuster, Sarkar Raj, which was archived at the Academy of Motion Pictures library. In 2013, he directed a docudrama, The Attacks of 26/11 showcased to critical acclaim at the Berlin International Film Festival, in the Panorama as well as the Competition section. Other acclaimed films at the box office, that Varma directed include Gaayam (1993), Anaganaga Oka Roju (1997), Kaun (1999), Jungle (2000), Bhoot (2003), Sarkar (2005), Phoonk (2008), Rakta Charitra (2010), and Katha Screenplay Darshakatvam Appalaraju (2011).
Varma completed BE in civil engineering from V.R. Siddhartha Engineering College, Vijayawada. Even during this period, Varma remained a film buff, through his uncle. Varma would skip classes often and watch films instead. He would watch the same film repeatedly "just to watch certain scenes which interested him." According to him, that is how he learned film direction.
After a brief stint as a site engineer for Krishna Oberoi hotel in Hyderabad, he put his dreams on the back burner and decided to go to Nigeria to make some money. It was at this moment that he visited a video rental library in Hyderabad. He loved the idea and decided to start one of his own at Ameerpet in Hyderabad, through which he slowly developed connections with the film world. Without being successful as a fourth assistant director in B. Gopal's film Collector Gari Abbai, Varma directly ventured into film direction, with the 1989 Telugu film, Siva.
Before Varma started his career in the Telugu film industry, he lingered on the sets of films such as Collector Gari Abbai and Rao Gaari Illu. His father Krishnam Raju Varma, was a sound recordist at Annapurna Studios, which was then owned by thespian Akkineni Nageswara Rao. Varma managed to meet Nagarjuna Akkineni and narrated a scene to the actor which impressed him. The result of their collaboration was a film on the criminalisation of student politics — Siva. It was a blockbuster with Varma demonstrating his technical expertise and storytelling skills. The success of the film in Telugu led to a Hindi remake with similar success.
Varma's next film was Kshana Kshanam with Venkatesh and Sridevi which got him noticed by Bollywood critics. It was dubbed into Hindi as Hairaan. Then he made films such as Raatri and Antham. While Gaayam with Jagapathi Babu and Anaganaga Oka Roju with J.D. Chakravarthy were successful, Govinda Govinda with Nagarjuna and Sridevi proved to be a moderate success at the box office. During this period, Varma produced films such as Money and Money Money and was the screenwriter for Mani Ratnam's Tamil movie Thiruda Thiruda.
National Film Awards
National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi (producer) – Shool – 1999
Filmfare Awards
Filmfare Critics Award for Best Movie – Satya (1998)
Filmfare Best Story Award – Rangeela (1995)
Nandi Awards
Nandi Award for Best Director – Siva (1989)
Nandi Award for Best Director – Kshana Kshanam (1991)
Nandi Award for Best Director – Prema Katha (1999)
Bollywood Movie Awards
Bollywood Movie Award – Best Director
Satya (1998)
Jungle (2000)
Company (2002)
Bhoot (2003)
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