Sudheer Varma was an Indian film director and writer who worked predominantly 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 made his directorial debut with the film '' Swamy Ra Ra'' (2013). He later directed films such as ''Dochay'' (2015), ''Keshava'' (2017), and ''

Ranarangam ''Ranarangam'' () is a 2019 Indian Telugu-language action crime film written and directed by Sudheer Varma. Produced by Suryadevara Naga Vamsi under his banner Sithara Entertainments, it features Sharwanand, Kajal Aggarwal and Kalyani Priyada ...

'' (2019).

Early life

Sudheer Varma hailed from

Bhimavaram Bhimavaram is a city and headquarters of West Godavari district of the Andhra Pradesh state of India. It is the administrative headquarters of Bhimavaram mandal in Bhimavaram revenue division. It is a part of Bhimavaram Urban Development Aut ...

. Varma was schooled in

Visakhapatnam , image_alt = , image_caption = From top, left to right: Visakhapatnam aerial view, Vizag seaport, Simhachalam Temple, Aerial view of Rushikonda Beach, Beach road, Novotel, Novotel Visakhapatnam, INS Kursura (S20), INS ...

and completed his intermediate in

Kakinada Kakinada (List of renamed places in India, formerly called Kakinandiwada, Coringa, and Cocanada; ) is the List of cities in Andhra Pradesh by population, sixth largest city of the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Andhra P ...

. He grew up in

Narasapuram Narasapuram, or Narsapur, is a city in West Godavari district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is a municipality and mandal headquarters of Narasapuram mandal in Narasapuram revenue division. The city is situated on the banks of the V ...

. He was an Electronics and Communication Engineer by profession. He started his career as an assistant director. Varma was married with two children.

Career

Sudheer Varma released his debut directorial venture '' Swamy Ra Ra'' (2013), starring

Nikhil Siddharth Nikhil Siddhartha (born 1 June 1985) is an Indian actor of the Telugu film industry. He played minor roles in various films before being cast in ''Happy Days'' (2007) as one of the four male leads. The film was successful and became his breakth ...

and

Swathi Reddy Swathi Reddy (born 19 April 1987) is an Indian actress and television presenter who predominantly works in Telugu films, along with Tamil and Malayalam films. Her nickname ''Colours Swathi'' comes from her stint in the Telugu television show ' ...

. ''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...

'' stated that "the film will pick-pocket your brain and you'll most probably end up feeling richer, if not a millionaire." It was commercially successful at the box office. The film was remade in

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 ...

as ''

Jamboo Savari Mysore Dasara is the ''Nadahabba'' (state festival) of the state of Karnataka in India. It is a 10-day festival, starting with nine nights called Navaratri and the last day being Vijayadashami. The festival is observed on the tenth day in the ...

.'' Varma's second film was ''

Dohchay ''Dohchay'' () is a 2015 Indian Telugu-language crime comedy film written and directed by Sudheer Varma and produced by B. V. S. N. Prasad under the banner Sri Venkateswara Cine Chitra. The film stars Naga Chaitanya and Kriti Sanon with Brahma ...

'' (2015), 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

Kriti Sanon Kriti Sanon (born 27 July 1990) is an Indian actress who works in Hindi and Telugu-language films. After pursuing a degree in engineering from the Jaypee Institute of Information Technology, she briefly worked as a fashion model. Sanon began ...

. He later directed ''Keshava'' (2017) with

Ritu Varma Ritu Varma (born 10 March 1990) is an Indian actress who works in Telugu and Tamil films. After appearing in short films and supporting roles, Varma played the lead in the Telugu film ''Pelli Choopulu'' (2016) for which she received Nandi Award ...

, and Isha Kopikar in the lead roles.

Style and influences

Talking about his style Sudheer shared, "I'm influenced largely by foreign films. I am a huge fan of

Quentin Tarantino Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American film director, writer, producer, and actor. His films are characterized by stylized violence, extended dialogue, profanity, Black comedy, dark humor, Nonlinear narrative, non-lin ...

Christopher Nolan Christopher Edward Nolan (born 30 July 1970) is a British-American filmmaker. Known for his lucrative Cinema of the United States, Hollywood blockbusters with complex storytelling, Nolan is considered a leading filmmaker of the 21st century. ...

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Spie ...

, and

Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominatio ...

. Their work has been very important to me, in regards to my learning. As for my style, whenever I do a film, I watch a lot of films from the same genre. If I see anything interesting, I adapt it. The story structure is mine and in place even before I've thought of possible inspirations. After that, I might adapt some scenes in my films, from others. Still, I do the screenplay to suit our audience. I don't want the audience to get disconnected from my film, so I make sure our audience relate to it." In another interview he said, "According to me, inspiration or copying, both are the same. That's why I give credit to the directors from whom I steal the scenes. ''

Keshava Keshava (Sanskrit: ') is an epithet of Vishnu in Hindu tradition. Keshava means Parabrahman, according to Hindu scriptures. The name appears as the 23rd and 648th names in the Vishnu Sahasranama of the Mahabharata. Keshava is also venerated ...

'' too, is inspired from several films, but not any one particular film. So, in the special thanks card, I mentioned each director from whose films I took inspiration for ''Keshava''. This is my way of paying tribute to the scenes that have left a great impact on me. My favourite Indian directors are

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 ...

Ram Gopal Varma Penmetsa Ram Gopal Varma (born 7 April 1962), often referred to by his initials RGV, is an Indian film director, screenwriter and producer, known for his works in Telugu cinema in addition to Bollywood, Hindi, Kannada cinema, Kannada language ...

Rajkumar Santoshi Rajkumar Santoshi is an Indian film director, producer and screenwriter of Hindi films. Having received several accolades including three National Film Awards and six Filmfare Awards, he made his directorial debut with the crime film ''Ghayal ( ...

, and

Rajkumar Hirani Rajkumar Hirani (born 20 November 1962), also called Raju Hirani, is an Indian filmmaker, director, producer and editor known for his works in Hindi films. He is the recipient of several accolades, including three National Film Awards and eleve ...

Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Varma, Sudheer 20th-century births Telugu screenwriters Telugu film directors Film directors from Andhra Pradesh People from West Godavari district 21st-century Indian film directors Screenwriters from Andhra Pradesh Year of birth missing (living people)