Sukumar
Bandreddi Sukumar is an Indian film director, screenwriter, and producer who works in Telugu cinema. He is known for his intricate screenplays and for depicting protagonists with grey shades. He is the third highest-grossing Indian film director of all time and is one of the highest-paid directors in Indian cinema.
Before entering the film industry, Sukumar worked as a mathematics and physics lecturer at a junior college in Kakinada for nearly seven years. He began his film career as a writer, working with Editor Mohan, and later assisted V. V. Vinayak on Dil. He made his directorial debut with Arya, which was a major success and earned him the Filmfare Award for Best Director – Telugu and the Nandi Award for Best Screenplay Writer.
Sukumar's other notable films include Arya 2, 100% Love, 1: Nenokkadine, Nannaku Prematho, Rangasthalam, Pushpa: The Rise, and Pushpa 2: The Rule. Rangasthalam became the third highest-grossing Telugu film at the time, behind the Baahubali films. Pushpa was the highest-grossing Indian film of 2021, while Pushpa 2 went on to become one of the highest-grossing Indian films of all time.
In addition to his directorial work, Sukumar has produced films under his banner Sukumar Writings, including Kumari 21F, Uppena, and Virupaksha. In recognition of his contributions to Telugu cinema, he received the K. V. Reddy Memorial Award in 2014..
Early life and family
Sukumar was born on 11 January 1971, in a Telugu family in Mattaparru, a village near Malikipuram in erstwhile East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh. His father Tirupathi Rao Naidu was a rice trader and his mother Veera Veni was a homemaker. Sukumar was the youngest of the six children of Naidu and Veni. At the age of 6, following the slaughter of a rooster he loved, Sukumar practiced vegetarianism for a long time.He did his schooling from Zilla Parishad High School, Razole and graduated with a master's degree in mathematics. He later worked as a mathematics and physics lecturer in Aditya Junior college, Kakinada. After nearly seven years, Sukumar and his junior Prakash Toleti decided to do something creative as they opined that their life has become too mundane as a lecturer.
Career
Sukumar and Toleti began their career as writers in Telugu cinema and worked as writers for a few films. After writing three scenes for Jayanth C. Paranjee Bavagaru Bagunnara?, they were summoned by the college to help them in recruiting students. They walked out of the film on moral grounds. Due to lack of earnings, Sukumar briefly continued to teach students, earned money, and returned to film industry. He worked as an assistant director for Manasichi Choodu. Sukumar later assisted Editor Mohan for Kshemamga Velli Labhamga Randi and Hanuman Junction. Before making his directorial debut, Sukumar worked under V. V. Vinayak for Dil as an assistant director.Debut and breakthrough: 2004–2011
Sukumar began working on the script of his directorial debut, Arya, in Visakhapatnam before joining the sets of Dil. The producer of the film, Dil Raju, assured him that he would produce the film if Dil became a commercial success. Sukumar chose to narrate the story of a boy who confesses his love to a girl right in the beginning of the story, as opposed to films like Darr, Kabhie Haan Kabhie Naa, and Kaadhal Kondein, where the protagonist's love/obsession for the female lead is revealed towards the end, as he found that idea an "obsolete" one. Raju was impressed with Sukumar's script and Allu Arjun was selected as the protagonist after considering the likes of Ravi Teja, Nithin, and Prabhas. Anuradha Mehta and Siva Balaji were chosen for the other two lead roles. R. Rathnavelu and Devi Sri Prasad were chosen as the film's director of photography and music director, respectively, who both went on to collaborate with Sukumar in many of his future films. Arya was a huge commercial and critical success, collecting a distributor's share of 16 crores and a box-office gross of ₹30 crores, on a budget of 4 crores.The success of Arya catapulted Sukumar into stardom overnight. He earned the Filmfare Award for Best Director – Telugu at the 52nd Filmfare Awards South ceremony, and the Best Screenplay Writer award at the annual Nandi Awards ceremony.Sukumar then began working on the script of Jagadam, a crime film starring Ram Pothineni and Isha Sahni. Unlike Arya, Jagadam focused more on violence and in an interview with South Scope, Sukumar called the film an "act of bravado", adding that he "made it with an innocent passion", without thinking about the audience's response. Jagadam received mixed reviews with Sify calling the film a "not so much a plot-driven one" albeit praising the work of its technical crew, whereas Rediff called it a "good effort". Following the mixed reviews, Jagadam was a box office failure, although, over the years, it has gained a major cult following.
He then wrote and directed Arya 2, which was promoted as the namesake sequel to his debut Arya. It featured Allu Arjun, Kajal Aggarwal, and Navdeep in the lead roles and narrated the story of Arya, a psychotic orphan whose love for his childhood friend, Ajay, and his colleague, Geetha, is never reciprocated. The film received mixed reviews from critics. However, Arya 2 became one of the few successful Telugu films of the year, and was praised for its stylistic quotient and music. Sukumar received a nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Director – Telugu at the 57th Filmfare Awards South ceremony, but lost it to S. S. Rajamouli for Magadheera. Rajamouli stated that he regards Sukumar as the best of the lot after watching Arya 2, which according to Sukumar "was the most precious and sweetest thing I have heard about myself".
After a gap of two years, Sukumar's next directorial film 100% Love was released. Sukumar envisioned the film's concept 15 years ago, which dealt with the simple conflicts couples face and the way they solve them, and made changes based on the technological and behavioural developments of the students in the colleges. 100% Love featured Naga Chaitanya and Tamannaah in the lead roles and was produced by Allu Aravind and Bunny Vasu. 100% Love was commercially successful, collecting a share of ₹18.11 crore and received the Best Home-viewing Feature Film award at the annual Nandi Awards ceremony. Sukumar earned another nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Director – Telugu at the 59th Filmfare Awards South, and a nomination for the Best Director – Telugu at the 1st South Indian International Movie Awards.
Darker themes: 2014–present
After completing 100% Love, Sukumar began working on 1: Nenokkadine, a psychological thriller keeping Mahesh Babu in mind as the protagonist as he felt that Mahesh had a universal appeal in terms of looks. The incident of a bus driver talking about a young boy who claims that his parents were murdered in that bus was taken as the story's base. He worked on the film's script for two months, and considered it as his dream project. 1: Nenokkadine was released on 10 January 2014 globally and received mixed reviews from the critics. While Suresh Kavirayani of Deccan Chronicle opined that Sukumar "fails to deliver" and the story is "run of the mill", Sangeetha Devi Dundoo of The Hindu stated, "Habitual to watching films that begin with a great premise only to fall into the commercial trap of force-fit comic situations, it comes as a relief when Sukumar laces the psychological thriller with subtle wit that never takes the focus away from the plot". Following the mixed reviews, 1: Nenokkadine collected approximately 28.9 crore share worldwide on a budget of 6070 crore, thus becoming a commercial failure. Over the years, 1: Nenokkadine became a major cult film.In 2014, he wrote and directed a 3-minute short film I Am That Change produced by and starring Allu Arjun. Upon its release, the short film received viral response online and was acclaimed by many including celebrities for its concept and execution.
Following the demise of his father Tirupathi Naidu, Sukumar decided to direct Nannaku Prematho starring N. T. Rama Rao Jr. and Rakul Preet Singh in the lead roles. Nannaku Prematho, which was Rama Rao Jr.'s 25th film as an actor, dealt with an emotional relationship between a father and his son spanning the last 30 days of the father's life. Released on 13 January 2016, Nannaku Prematho received positive reviews from the critics. Pranita Jonnalagedda of The Times of India stated that the viewers see ups every time when Sukumar "decides to listen to his inner self and gives us some interestingly conceived sequences" and downs come whenever he "gives in to the prerequisite mandates of Telugu cinema". An above average grosser at the domestic box office, Nannaku Prematho became the third highest grossing Telugu film of all time in the overseas market. His 2018 period action film with Ram Charan titled Rangasthalam received positive reviews with particular praise for Ram Charan's performance, and Sukumar's direction and screenplay. Rangasthalam ended up as one of the highest-grossing Telugu films of all time.
Post the success of Rangasthalam, Sukumar started working on the period action drama, Pushpa: The Rise, starring Allu Arjun and Rashmika. Budgeted between 170200 crores, it was released as a pan-Indian film and although it received mixed reviews from critics, the film was well received by the audiences and went on to get amazing commercial reception in Telugu, Hindi, and Tamil languages earning a total gross of 373 crores by the end of its theatrical run. Post the success of Pushpa: The Rise, Sukumar announced that the sequel, Pushpa 2: The Rule, is in development and production commenced in 2022. The film released on 5 December 2024 and was met with critical acclaim.