Sudha Kongara Prasad is an Indian film director and screenwriter who predominantly works in Tamil cinema. She made her directorial debut with the

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

film ''Andhra Andagadu'' in 2008, and later directed the Tamil film '' ''Drohi''''. In 2016, she directed the bilingual ''

Irudhi Suttru ''Irudhi Suttru'' () is a 2016 Indian sports drama film written and directed by Sudha Kongara. Filmed simultaneously in Tamil and Hindi, with the latter being titled as ''Saala Khadoos'' (), the film stars R. Madhavan as boxing coach who is igno ...

'' (''Saala Khadoos'' in

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 ...

) for which she won the

Filmfare Award for Best Director – Tamil The Filmfare Best Director Award is given by the ''Filmfare'' magazine as part of its annual Filmfare Awards South for Tamil (Kollywood) films. The awards were extended to "Best Director" in 1972. Film world, p 43 Superlatives * K. Balachander ...

. She subsequently directed the film's Telugu remake, ''

Guru Guru ( sa, गुरु, IAST: ''guru;'' Pali'': garu'') is a Sanskrit term for a "mentor, guide, expert, or master" of certain knowledge or field. In pan-Indian traditions, a guru is more than a teacher: traditionally, the guru is a reverentia ...

'' (2017). In 2020, she scripted, and directed ''

Soorarai Pottru ''Soorarai Pottru'' () is a 2020 Indian Tamil-language drama film that was written and directed by Sudha Kongara, and produced by Suriya, Jyothika and Guneet Monga. Kongara and Shalini Usha Nair wrote the screenplay; Aalif Surti and Ganeshaa p ...

'' which was nominated for the Best Foreign Film at the

78th Golden Globe Awards The 78th Golden Globe Awards honored the best in American television of 2020, as well as film in 2020 and early 2021, as chosen by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA). The ceremony took place on February 28, 2021, nearly two months ...

. ''Soorarai Pottru'' was featured in the Panorama Section of the

Shanghai International Film Festival The Shanghai International Film Festival (, French: ''Festival international du film de Shanghai''), abbreviated SIFF, is one of the largest film festivals in East Asia. "China's biggest film festival" according to the Hollywood Reporter. Nex ...

. At the

68th National Film Awards The 68th National Film Awards ceremony was an event during which the Directorate of Film Festivals presented its annual National Film Awards to honour the best films of 2020 in Indian cinema. The awards ceremony was originally slated to be held ...

, it won five awards including

Best Feature Film Best or The Best may refer to: People * Best (surname), people with the surname Best * Best (footballer, born 1968), retired Portuguese footballer Companies and organizations * Best & Co., an 1879–1971 clothing chain * Best Lock Corporatio ...

, and

Best Screenplay Best or The Best may refer to: People * Best (surname), people with the surname Best * Best (footballer, born 1968), retired Portuguese footballer Companies and organizations * Best & Co., an 1879–1971 clothing chain * Best Lock Corporatio ...

for Sudha Kongara.

Early life

Sudha Kongara was born in

Vijayawada Vijayawada, formerly known as Bezawada, is the second largest city in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh and is a part of the state's Capital Region. It is the administrative headquarters of the NTR district. Its metropolitan region comprises NT ...

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 ...

into Telugu speaking family. Sudha grew up in

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

. She obtained a degree in History and Mass Communication from the

Women's Christian College, Chennai Women's Christian College is an interdenominational women's college on College Road, Nungambakkam, in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. History The Women's Christian College was founded in 1915 with 41 students and 7 faculty members, as a result of ...

Career

Kongara worked as a screenwriter for the English film ''

Mitr, My Friend ''Mitr, My Friend'' is a 2002 Indian English-language drama film directed by Revathi in her directorial debut, and written by V. Priya and Sudha Kongara Prasad. Set partly in India and the US, the film was also noted for having an all-woman crew ...

'' (2002). She worked as associate director for seven years with

Mani Ratnam Gopala Ratnam Subramaniam (born 2 June 1956), known professionally as Mani Ratnam, is an Indian film director, screenwriter, and producer who predominantly works in Tamil cinema and few Hindi, Telugu and Kannada films. Ratnam has won six Nat ...

. She made her directorial debut in 2008 with the

film ''Andhra Andagadu'' starring

Krishna Bhagavaan Krishna Bhagavan (), (born 2 July 1965) is an actor in Tollywood, who has appeared in more than 350 films, mostly as a comedian. He is also well known as a writer. Early life Krishna Bhagavan was born Veeraraju Paparao Chowdary in Kaikavolu ...

, however, the film was not successful. During the production of her first Tamil directorial venture '' Drohi'' (2010), Kongara began writing a sports drama film on boxing which was titled ''

''. In mid-2013, she approached

Madhavan Madhavan may refer to: People * James Madhavan (died 1973), Fijian politician * Kavya Madhavan (born 1985), Indian actress * Mahesh Madhavan (born 1963/64), Indian businessman, CEO of Bacardi * N. S. Madhavan (born 1948), Indian writer * O. Madha ...

, who was on a sabbatical from Tamil films, to portray the lead role in the film and his presence in the project, helped take the financial viability of the venture to a higher level. The pair had previously collaborated in Madhavan's films under the direction of

, where Sudha had been an associate director. She then remade ''Irudhi Suttru'' in Telugu as '' Guru.'' Her next film was ''

'' which is based on life of

Air Deccan Air Deccan is an Indian regional airline currently operating from Ahmedabad, Gujarat. It flies to a total of four destinations using Beech 1900D aircraft, as of November 2019. As of October 2021, the airline has temporarily suspended operatio ...

founder Captain GR Gopinath feature and it is produced by Suriya's 2D Entertainment and co-produced by Guneet Monga of Sikhya Entertainment.

Filmography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Prasad, Sudha Kongara Living people Telugu people Telugu screenwriters Telugu film producers Tamil film directors Telugu film directors Indian women film directors Hindi-language film directors Indian women screenwriters Tamil screenwriters Film directors from Andhra Pradesh 21st-century Indian film directors 21st-century Indian women artists Filmfare Awards South winners Women writers from Andhra Pradesh 21st-century Indian screenwriters 1971 births Directors who won the Best Feature Film National Film Award 21st-century Indian women writers 21st-century Indian writers Screenwriters from Vijayawada Date of birth missing (living people) South Indian International Movie Awards winners