Ram Gopal Varma

Born: 7 April, 1962 in Hyderabad, AP

Biography: Ram Gopal Varma is a first generation film maker with no filmy background or education as regards cinema. He is actually a civil engineer from V. R. Siddhartha Engineering College, Vijayawada. He was a movie lover who watched a variety of films; he would frequently miss out on classes and would watch around 8 - 10 movies a week. Many a time he would watch the same film again and again in order to observe certain scenes which interested him. According to him, this is what taught him film making.

Varma started off as an assistant director in the Telugu film industry for films like Raogarillu and Collectorgari Abbai. His father worked at Annapurna Studios owned by actor Nagarjuna. One day Varma met this actor on one of his sets and narrated a script. The actor liked the script very much and this resulted into Varma’s first film Shiva, which was based on student politics. The film turned a blockbuster and was remade in Hindi. Thereafter he made many Telugu films experimenting with various themes, like Kshana Kshanam, Antham, Raatri, Gaayam, Govinda Govinda and others.

Later, Varma focused all his energies in the Bollywood industry and his first film was the remake of the blockbuster Shiva. His next film Rangeela (1995) casting Aamir Khan, Urmila Matondkar and Jackie Shroff and which also introduced A. R. Rehman as the music director was a major box office hit. Although his next film Daud failed commercially, another film Satya, which was based on the Mumbai criminal world, was critically acclaimed. His biggest hit came in the form of Company, which was again based on the underworld. The film won 7 Filmfare Awards including a nomination for the Best Director. His next release Sarkar and the sequel Sarkar Raj also won critical appreciation. His latest film Phoonk (2008) was a horror film and his forthcoming films are Rann and Agyaat.

Varma also has his own production company and has produced several films like Ek Hasina Thi and Ab Tak Chhappan.

AKA & Alternative Spellings: Ram Gopal warma