Sekhar Kammula (born 4 February 1972) is an Indian film director, screenwriter and producer who works in

Telugu cinema Telugu cinema, also known as Tollywood, is the segment of Indian cinema dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Telugu language, widely spoken in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Telugu cinema is based in Film Nagar, Hy ...

. He has garnered two

Filmfare Awards South Filmfare Awards South is the South Indian segment of the annual Filmfare Awards, presented by the Filmfare magazine of The Times Group to honour both artistic and technical excellence of professionals in the Indian film industry encompassing ...

, and six state

Nandi Awards The Nandi Awards are the awards that recognise the excellence in Telugu cinema, Telugu theatre and Telugu television, and Lifetime achievements in Indian cinema. Presented annually by the Government of Andhra Pradesh, the award is named after ...

for his directional works. Sekhar Kammula was among the director's delegation to represent South

Indian Cinema The Cinema of India consists of motion pictures produced in India, which had a large effect on world cinema since the late 20th century. Major centers of film production across the country include Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, ...

at the

2011 Cannes Film Festival The 64th Cannes Film Festival was held from 11 to 22 May 2011. American actor Robert De Niro served as the president of the jury for the main competition and French filmmaker Michel Gondry headed the jury for the short film competition. South Ko ...

. A

Master of Science A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast to ...

and Master of Fine Arts holder from

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...

and

Howard University Howard University (Howard) is a private, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity" and accredited by the Middle States Commissi ...

respectively, Sekhar Kammula made his directorial debut with the

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

film ''

Dollar Dreams ''Dollar Dreams'' is a 2000 Indian drama film written, directed and produced by Sekhar Kammula. Primarily shot in Telugu and English, the film starred Santosh Kumar, Anish Kuruvilla, Ravi Raju, Anil Prashant, Dashveer Singh, Priyanka Veer, an ...

'' (2000), which won him the National Film Award for Best First film of a director. The film was also screened at the

International Film Festival of India The International Film Festival of India (IFFI), founded in 1952, is one of the most significant film festivals in Asia. Held annually, currently in the state of Goa, on the western coast of the country, the festival aims at providing a common pla ...

. Kammula went onto direct critically and commercially successful Telugu films like '' Anand'' (2004), ''

Godavari The Godavari (IAST: ''Godāvarī'' �od̪aːʋəɾiː is India's second longest river after the Ganga river and drains into the third largest basin in India, covering about 10% of India's total geographical area. Its source is in Trimbakeshwa ...

'' (2006), ''

Happy Days ''Happy Days'' is an American television sitcom that aired first-run on the ABC network from January 15, 1974, to July 19, 1984, with a total of 255 half-hour episodes spanning 11 seasons. Created by Garry Marshall, it was one of the most su ...

'' (2007), ''Leader'' (2010), ''

Fidaa ''Fidaa'' () is a 2017 Indian Telugu-language romantic comedy film written and directed by Sekhar Kammula, and produced by Dil Raju under Sri Venkateswara Creations banner. The film stars Sai Pallavi (in her Telugu debut) with Varun Tej in the ...

'' (2017), and '' Love Story'' (2021).

Early life and education

Sekhar Kammula was born in

Eluru Eluru is a city and the district headquarters of Eluru district in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is one of the 14 municipal corporations in the state and the mandal headquarters of Eluru mandal in the Eluru revenue division. The city ...

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...

and brought up in

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part ...

Telangana Telangana (; , ) is a States and union territories of India, state in India situated on the south-central stretch of the Indian subcontinent, Indian peninsula on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the List of states and union territories of India b ...

. He graduated in Mechanical Engineering from Chaitanya Bharathi Institute of Technology, and completed his Masters M.S from

Computer Science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to Applied science, practical discipli ...

in the U.S. He worked in the IT industry for about 3 years and then joined a film school and got his M.F.A (Film) degree at

, Washington D.C. During this time he worked on a number of films (short and feature length) in the U.S.

Film career

Kammula made his film directorial debut with the independent film ''

'' (2000), shot in both Telugu and English which was a critical success, and won him the National Film Award for Best First film of a director. The film was screened at the

. His second film, '' Anand'' (2004) was a commercial success and was among highest grossing Telugu films of that year. His next film, ''

'', was praised by critics and was a commercial success. In 2007, his directed ''

'' which depicted the regular college life of engineering students. The film was very successful, especially among the urban youth of then

. The film was later remade in

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

and

Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

languages. He then directed

political film Political cinema, in the narrow sense of that portray current or historical events or social conditions through a partisan perspective in order to inform or to agitate the spectator. Political cinema exists in different forms, such as documenta ...

''Leader'' which released in 2010 to positive reviews.

Rediff.com Rediff.com (stylized as ''rediff.com'') is an Indian news, information, entertainment and shopping web portal. It was founded in 1996. It is headquartered in Mumbai, with offices in Bangalore, New Delhi and New York City. , it had more than 300 e ...

noted that "If anything, the film is a wish-list of what one would like to see in the arena of politics, which Sekhar should be lauded for even trying." In 2012, Kammula written, produced and directed ''Life Is Beautiful'', his first production venture. The film had a positive reception from critics and audience.

Firstpost ''Firstpost'' is an Indian online news and media website. The site is a part of the Network 18 media conglomerate owned by Reliance Industries, which also runs CNN-News18 and CNBC-TV18. The ''Network 18'' group was originally owned by Ragh ...

called the film a revamped version of ''Happy Days'' (2007) and noted similarities between the characters written by Kammula in both the films. Later in 2014, he directed Anaamika, a Telugu remake of 2012

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

film ''

Kahaani ''Kahaani'' (; ) is a 2012 Indian Hindi-language thriller film co-written, co-produced and directed by Sujoy Ghosh. It stars Vidya Balan as Vidya Bagchi, a pregnant woman looking for her missing husband in Kolkata during the festival of Durga ...

'' in which

Nayantara Diana Mariam Kurian, known professionally as Nayanthara, is an Indian actress and film producer who is known for her work in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam films. She was in the ''Forbes India'' "Celebrity 100" 2018 list, with her total annual ...

played

Vidya Balan Vidya Balan (pronounced ; born 1 January 1979) is an Indian actress. Known for pioneering a change in the portrayal of women in Hindi cinema with her roles in female-led films, she is the recipient of several awards, including a National Fi ...

's character. In 2017, his romantic comedy film ''

'', starring

Varun Tej Konidela Varun Tej (born 19 January 1990) is an Indian actor who works in Telugu films. He made his debut as a lead in the film '' Mukunda'' (2014). He later starred in the critically acclaimed war film ''Kanche'' (2015), directed by Krish. He ...

and

Sai Pallavi Sai Pallavi Senthamarai Kannan (born 9 May 1992), known by her stage name Sai Pallavi, is an Indian actress and dancer who works in Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam cinema. She has won several awards including four Filmfare Awards South, and was ...

, grossed over 90 crore worldwide at the

box office A box office or ticket office is a place where ticket (admission), tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through a hole in a wall or window, or at a Wicket gate, wicke ...

. In 2021, His Telugu film, ''Love Story'', starring

Naga Chaitanya Akkineni Naga Chaitanya (born 23 November 1986) is an Indian actor who primarily works in Telugu cinema. He made his acting debut with '' Josh'' (2009) and his breakthrough came with Gautham Vasudev Menon-directed ''Ye Maaya Chesave'' (2010). ...

and Sai Pallavi was released to mostly positive reviews.

Film directorial style

Kammula's films often focuses on the relationship between men and women in their routine life circumstances filled with both happiness and hardships. Sankeertana Varma of ''

Film Companion Anupama Chopra () is an Indian author, journalist, film critic and director of the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival. She is also the founder and editor of the digital platform Film Companion, which offers a curated look at cinema. She has written sev ...

'' calls film portrayal of his female characters as somewhat "special." She writes that they aren't particular "strong women" but they are real. Varma adds that though his female characters display their egos and throw tantrums, they are unbreakable and refuse to fit in the typical societal norms expected from a normal woman.

Filmography

; Cameo appearances * ''

'' (1999) * ''Anand'' (2004) as Auto driver * ''

'' (2006) as Kotigadu, a stray dog (voice role) * ''

Avakai Biryani ''Avakai Biryani'' () is a 2008 Telugu-language film written and directed by Anish Kuruvilla. Filmed in Telugu, it revolves around Akbar Kalam, a Muslim auto rickshaw-driver and Lakshmi Jandhyala, a traditional Hindu woman with a romantic backd ...

'' (2008) as Hotel Customer * ''

Mukunda ''Mukunda'' is a 2014 Indian Telugu-language drama film written and directed by Srikanth Addala. The film was produced by Tagore Madhu and Nallamalapu Srinivas (Bujji) under the banner Leo Productions. It stars debutuant Varun Tej and Pooja Hegd ...

'' (2014) as Bus traveller

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* *http://www.amigoscreations.com/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Kammula, Shekhar 21st-century Indian film directors Telugu film directors Living people 1974 births Howard University alumni Rutgers University alumni Screenwriters from Hyderabad, India Filmfare Awards South winners Nandi Award winners Film directors from Hyderabad, India Telugu screenwriters Telugu film producers Film producers from Hyderabad, India Director whose film won the Best Debut Feature Film National Film Award Producers who won the Best Debut Feature Film of a Director National Film Award Zee Cine Awards Telugu winners CineMAA Awards winners People from Eluru