Gunasekhar

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Gunasekhar
Born 2 June 1964
Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India
Residence Hyderabad, Telangana, India
Occupation Director, Screen Writer

Gunasekhar (Telugu: గుణశేఖర్, born 2 June, 1964 in Narsipatnam, Visakhapatnam) is an Indian film director and screenwriter known for his works in Telugu cinema. He has directed blockbuster films like Ramayanam (1997 film) which won the National Film Award for Best Children's Film for that year, Sogasu Chooda Tharamaa, Choodalani Vundi and Okkadu, which was remade into various Indian languages.[1][2] The 2004 film Arjun was screened at the International Film Festival of India in the mainstream section.[3] His latest venture is the historical film, Rudhramadevi which was released in October 2015.

Biography

Beginnings

An avid reader and movie buff right from when he was in school, he had keen interest in Telugu literature and also wrote a few short stories and novels. He is also a theatre enthusiast and took part in several plays, and worked alongside noteworthy Telugu playwrights.

Career

With the artistic love and great inclination towards the Indian film industry, he then moved to Chennai to pursue the same. He started out as an Assistant Writer under film writer Kasi Viswanadh and then worked as an Assistant Director under veteran writer D.V.Narsaraju, under Director Kranthi Kumar. He later went on to be the Associate Director for Ram Gopal Varma. He then made his debut with Lathi (1992) as a director and story-screenplay writer ,he went on to win the prestigious AP State Nandi Award for the Best Directorial Debut for it. Lathi also won Nandi Awars in the categories of Cinematography and editing. He then made Sogasu Chooda Tharama (1995) starring Naresh and Indraja, the film not just garnered great critical acclaim but also impeccable response from the audience , and then went on to win the AP State Nandi Awards in several categories like Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Screenplay, Best Film,etc. It is a film that is a part of the viewing curriculum in many famous dramatic and media institutions. Gunasekhar then made the Epic Ramayanam (1997 film), a fresh new take on the widely famous mythology, he made this one with a cast composing of all children in between the ages of 4-12years. It is with this film that Jr.NTR made his debut and played the role of Rama. This film too went on to win several State awards and also won the prestigious

National Award ( Best Children’s Film). Ramayanam was screened at the International Children’s Film Festival of India (ICFFI) 1998.

Gunasekhar then got the chance to direct Megastar Chiranjeevi in Choodalani Vundi (1998) which turned out to be a massive blockbuster and stood out as the highest grosser in South India of that year. Gunasekhar is the first ever to introduce the DTS sound with this film in Andhra Pradesh. The film was later remade in Hindi as Calcutta Mail (2003) .

Gunasekhar also worked with Chiranjeevi for the film Mrugaraju (2001). His next venture Manoharam (2000) starring actors Jagapati Babu and Laya made a mark in the hearts of the audience and won the AP State Nandi Award for Best Story, Best Screenplay, Best Actor, Best Actress, etc.

He then set out to make a film with Mahesh Babu, set in the backdrop of the old city of Hyderabad, the entire streets and the famous Charminar was replicated on a massive scale for this film. It went on to be the biggest blockbuster of the time for Mahesh Babu and Gunasekhar. It is lauded as one among the biggest hits in Telugu Film Industry Hits and is regarded by many as a trendsetter. Gunasekhar was awarded the Filmfare (Best Director) and the film won several in many categories setting a record at the state level for being the only film ever to win 8 Nandi Awards. Okkadu was remade in several other languages, as Ghilli (2004) in Tamil starring Vijay and as Ajay(2006) in Kannada starring

Puneet Rajkumar and both became phenomenal hits. It was also remade in Hindi as Boney Kapoor’s Tevar starring Arjun Kapoor and Sonakshi Sinha.

Okkadu is among the films actively studied by film students in several film institutes. Mahesh-Gunasekhar duo went on to make consecutive films together in Telugu,

Arjun(2004) and Sainikudu(2007). Madhura Meenakshi temple of the temple city of Madurai Tamil Nadu was replicated for the film Arjun spanning across 5 Acres

in Hyderabad, the movie went on to be a hit, and received MAA TV's CineMAA awards for Best Director, Best Actor, and a Filmfare (Best Supporting Actress). The film also won the Nandi award in the categories of Art direction and best supporting actress. He then made Varudu (2010) starring Allu Arjun which won 3 Nandi Awards for Best VFX, Best Art Direction and Costumes, and Nippu (2012) starring Ravi Teja.

.

With the exception of one or two, all of his films won prestigious awards in diverse categories and remain noted among the critics. Gunasekhar’s latest work is lauded as ‘India’s First Historical Stereoscopic 3D Film’, it is the historical biopic of the 13th century Kakatiya Queen Rudhramadevi, whom he cites as an inspiration to him from his childhood. Gunasekhar mentioned in several interviews of his that the history of Rani Rudhramadevi was a part of his Eighth grade syllabus at school and that it etched a great mark of inspiration in his heart from that tender age ,with that he turned a producer to bring his dream to reality, under the banner Gunaa Teamworks.

Anushka Shetty plays the titular role and Allu Arjun plays the pivotal role of Gona Ganna Reddy in it. Rudhramadevi is the only historical film to have been made after about 3 decades in Telugu. The budget spans over 80 crores, marking it as the only Female-centric film to be ever made on such a scale in the history of Indian cinema. Rudhramadevi opened to a massive craze worldwide in four languages: Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Hindi. The awards and laurels for this memorable film of his started with the ‘Delhi Telugu Academy’ and the ‘K.V.Reddy’ Memorial awards. Apart from garnering critical appreciation the film stands as the highest grosser for a Female oriented film ever in South India and collected over 100 crores worldwide and crossed the $1 million mark overseas. Gunasekhar remains the only director in the recent era of Telugu cinema to have directed diverse genres like Mythology and Historical apart from social films.

Awards

National Film Awards
Nandi Awards

Filmography

As director

As writer

References

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External links

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/showbiz/tollywood/ravi-teams-guna-372
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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