S. S. Rajamouli is one of India’s greatest film director/screenwriters working in the Telugu industry, born on October 10, 1973, in Kovvur, West Godavari district, Andhra Pradesh. Rajamouli comes from a filmy family. His father, Vijayendra Prasad, is the award-winning screenwriter of Baahubali 1 and 2. Baahubali’s music director, M. M. Keeravani is his cousin. Rajamouli began his career in the Telugu television industry working with mentor K. Raghavendra Rao. He made his directorial debut with the film ‘Student No. 1’ (2001). It starred Jr. NTR and it was a big hit. Through the years, Rajamouli formed an excellent team around him, such as Senthil Kumar, cinematographer, and Keeravani for music. He has experimented with themes, such as Telugu’s first sports film ‘Sye’ (2004), and fantasy with ‘Yamadonga’ (2007), and ‘Eega’ (2012). In 2005, he worked with a young Prabhas in a powerful emotional drama, ‘Chatrapathi’. A few of his hits have been remade, such as ‘Vikramarkudu’ (2006) which became Rowdy Rathore in Hindi, ‘Siruthai’ in Tamil, ‘Veera Madakari’ in Kannada; and ‘Maryada Ramanna’ (2010), which became ‘Son of Sardar’ (Hindi). In 2009, Rajamouli worked with special effects in the reincarnation film ‘Magadheera’. It became the highest-grossing Telugu film of all time at the time. In 2015, it was eclipsed by Rajamouli’s epic ‘Baahubali: The Beginning’ and ‘Baahubali 2’, both starring Prabhas, Rana Daggubati, and Anushka Shetty. These films were immensely popular in India and globally. ‘Baahubali 2’ is currently the highest-grossing film in India and the second-highest-grossing Indian movie globally. In 2017, Baahu 2 won the National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment, and Baahu 1 won National Film Award for Best Feature Film. Rajamouli is currently working on his next, ‘RRR’, starring N. T. Rama Rao Jr. and Ram Charan.
