V. Vijayendra Prasad


Koduri Viswa Vijayendra Prasad is an Indian screenwriter and film director who predominantly works in Telugu cinema. With a career spanning across nearly three decades, his filmography consists of over 25 films as a screenwriter. He is considered to be one of the most successful screenwriter of Indian cinema. He has frequently collaborated with his son, director S. S. Rajamouli, to deliver some of the highest-grossing Indian films of all time.
His notable work as a writer includes films like Bobbili Simham '', Magadheera ,'' Eega, Baahubali duology, Bajrangi Bhaijaan and RRR. In 2011, he has directed Rajanna, for which he won the Nandi Award for Best Feature Film. In 2016, he won the Filmfare Award for Best Story for Bajrangi Bhaijaan.
On 6 July 2022, President of India Ram Nath Kovind nominated him as a member of Rajya Sabha, the upper house of Indian Parliament.

Early life

Koduri Viswa Vijayendra Prasad was born on 27 May 1942 in a Telugu family, in Kovvur near Rajahmundry, Andhra Pradesh. He studied at Sir C. R. Reddy College in Eluru.
Prasad's family had lands in Kovvur which were lost when the railway lines went through most of them. Then, Prasad moved to Karnataka from Kovvur in 1968. He, along with his elder brother K. V. Sivashankar, bought seven acres of paddy fields in Hirekotikal village of Manvi Taluk in Raichur district. Their family moved back to Kovvur in 1977. He also ventured into various businesses which ended up as losses.

Career

His brother Siva Shakthi Datta's passion for films made Vijayendra Prasad and his family to shift to Madras. Datta assisted a couple of directors for some time and started a film titled Pillanagrovi which was stopped midway due to financial reasons. As his brother was already in the film industry, Prasad started assisting his brother.
Prasad got introduced to K. Raghavendra Rao through Samatha Arts' Mukherjee who was a friend of his. Raghavendra Rao started giving he and Datta small assignments. They got their first break with Janaki Ramudu which became successful at the box office.
Next, he wrote the film Bangaru Kutumbam which won the Nandi Award for Best Film. His next film was Bobbili Simham which was commercially successful and earned Prasad recognition as a screenwriter. He later provided the story for Samarasimha Reddy which became one of the biggest hits of the time in Telugu cinema.

Personal life

Prasad married Raja Nandini. They have two children—a daughter who now lives in Australia and a son S. S. Rajamouli, a filmmaker. Prasad is uncle to music composers M. M. Keeravani, M. M. Srilekha, and Kalyani Malik.
Prasad dropped 'K' from his name, K. V. Vijayendra Prasad as he felt it was an indicator of his caste. He cited Hindu epics Mahabharata and Ramayana as a source of his inspiration. He cites 1957 Telugu film Mayabazar, as his all-time favourite film. He also cited the screenwriting duo Salim–Javed as a major inspiration on his work, especially their screenplay for Sholay, among other films. On 6 July 2022, Indian government nominated Prasad to the Rajya Sabha.

Filmography

YearTitleStoryScreenplayDirectionLanguageNotes
1988Janaki RamuduTelugu
1994Bangaru KutumbamTelugu
1994Bobbili SimhamTelugu
1995Gharana BulloduTelugu
1995Aalu MagaluTelugu
1996ArdhangiTeluguDirectorial debut
1996Sarada BulloduTeluguAlso dialogues
1996AppajiKannada
1998Kurubana RaniKannada
1998Yuvarathna RanaTelugu
1999Samarasimha ReddyTelugu
2000Okkadu ChaluTelugu
2003SimhadriTelugu
2004SyeTelugu
2004Vijayendra VarmaTelugu
2005Naa AlluduTelugu
2005ChatrapathiTelugu
2005Pandu Ranga VittalaKannada
2006Sri Krishna 2006Telugu
2006VikramarkuduTelugu
2007YamadongaTelugu
2009MitruduTelugu
2009MagadheeraTelugu
2011RajannaTelugu
2012EegaTelugu
Tamil
2015Baahubali: The BeginningTelugu
Tamil
2015Bajrangi BhaijaanHindi
2016JaguarKannada
Telugu
2017Baahubali 2: The ConclusionTelugu
Tamil
2017SrivalliTelugu
2017MersalTamil
2019Manikarnika: The Queen of JhansiHindi
2021ThalaiviiTamil
Hindi
2022RRRTelugu
2025Baahubali: The EpicTelugu
2027Telugu

Television