S. S. Rajamouli facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
S. S. Rajamouli
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Rajamouli in 2021
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Koduri Srisaila Sri Rajamouli
10 October 1973 Hire Kotnekal, Mysore State (present-day Karnataka), India
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Works
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Rama Rajamouli
(m. 2001) |
| Children | 2 |
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| Family | Koduri family |
| Awards | Full list |
| Honours | Padma Shri (2016) |
Koduri Srisaila Sri Rajamouli (born 10 October 1973) is a famous Indian filmmaker. He is known for making exciting epic, action, and fantasy movies, mostly in Telugu cinema. Many people consider him one of the best directors in the world.
Rajamouli has won many important awards, including an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award for his song "Naatu Naatu" from the movie RRR. He also received the Padma Shri award from the Indian government in 2016 for his amazing work in art. In 2023, Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
Film experts call Rajamouli "the biggest Indian film director ever." All twelve of his feature films have been very successful. Three of his movies—Baahubali: The Beginning (2015), Baahubali 2: The Conclusion (2017), and RRR (2022)—are among the highest-earning films in India. Baahubali 2 was the first Indian film to earn over ₹1,000 crore (about $120 million USD). It also sold over 100 million tickets, which is a huge number!
His films often feature grand stories, cool action scenes, and larger-than-life characters. He is also known for mixing CGI (computer graphics) with practical effects. Rajamouli helped start the "pan-Indian film" trend, where movies are released in many languages across India. He has also helped Telugu cinema and South Indian cinema become popular in other parts of India and around the world.
Contents
Early Life and Family Background
Koduri Srisaila Sri Rajamouli was born on 10 October 1973. His parents, V. Vijayendra Prasad and Raja Nandini, were staying in Hire Kotnekal, which is now in Karnataka, India. His parents came from Andhra Pradesh.
Rajamouli's parents had a love marriage and did not care about the traditional caste system. His father even dropped a letter from his name because he felt it showed his caste.
Rajamouli's parents were big fans of Lord Shiva. He was named Srisaila Sri Rajamouli because his mother had a special dream after visiting a holy place called Srisailam. He grew up in a joint family with his father, five uncles, and their families all living together.
He loved storytelling from a young age. When he was seven, his grandmother told him epic stories like Ramayana and Mahabharata. His father also introduced him to Amar Chitra Katha comics, which had stories about Indian heroes and folktales. These stories made him love big, exciting characters. His mother encouraged him to read and watch English movies, which helped him learn English.
When Rajamouli was about 10 or 11, his family lost a lot of their wealth. His father and uncle, who loved filmmaking, moved to Madras (now Chennai) to make movies. They faced financial problems and worked as ghostwriters to earn money. Rajamouli remembers his family making jokes about their tough situation, but they were never sad.
Later, his father became a successful screenwriter. But a film his father directed in 1996, called Ardhangi, failed badly. Rajamouli was an assistant director on that film and felt very sad about its failure. This experience taught him to work very hard and make every part of his films as perfect and interesting as possible for the audience.
Starting His Film Career
Rajamouli began his film journey by learning from a famous film editor, Kotagiri Venkateswara Rao. He worked with him for six months. Rajamouli later said he joined films to escape his father's constant reminders to do something with his life. He slowly found his passion for directing.
He also worked as an assistant director for a short time and helped his father for six years. He felt frustrated when other directors didn't make his stories as he imagined, which made him want to direct his own films.
Later, he moved to Hyderabad and learned more about filmmaking from his relative, Gunnam Gangaraju. He also directed commercials and a TV show called Santhi Nivasam for about a year and a half. He worked very long hours on the TV show, sometimes 17 hours a day!
Film Debut and Early Success (2001–2008)
In 2001, a famous director named K. Raghavendra Rao gave Rajamouli a chance to direct his first movie, Student No: 1. Rajamouli accepted, and the film became a big success. It was the first hit movie for actor Jr. NTR, who Rajamouli would work with many times.
His second film was Simhadri (2003), also starring Jr. NTR. This was his first time working with his father, Vijayendra Prasad, who wrote the story. Simhadri was a huge hit and became one of the highest-earning Telugu films at that time.
Rajamouli's third film was Sye (2004). He wanted to make something different, so he made a movie about Rugby, which was new for Telugu cinema. Sye was successful and helped make Rugby popular in the region.
Next, he directed Chatrapathi (2005), an action drama starring Prabhas. This was his fourth successful film in a row.
In 2006, he made Vikramarkudu with Ravi Teja and Anushka Shetty. This film was very popular and was remade into many other Indian languages, including Hindi as Rowdy Rathore (2012).
He then directed Yamadonga (2007), a fantasy action comedy. The story is about a thief whose soul goes to hell and meets Yama, the god of death. This film was also a big hit.
Big Hits and International Fame (2009–Present)
Rajamouli's next big movie was the fantasy-action film Magadheera (2009). It starred Ram Charan and Kajal Aggarwal. This was the most expensive Telugu film at the time. Magadheera was a massive success and won many awards, including the National Award for Best Choreography and Best Special Effects. It was even dubbed into Japanese and became very popular there!
In 2010, he directed a smaller action comedy film called Maryada Ramanna. He got the idea from a very old silent comedy film. This movie was also a big hit and was remade into many languages, including Hindi as Son of Sardaar. Rajamouli has said Maryada Ramanna is his personal favorite film he has directed.
His next project was the fantasy action film Eega (2012). The unique idea for this film came from his father: a housefly seeking revenge on a human! Rajamouli wanted to make something completely different. The film was made in Telugu and Tamil at the same time. Eega received great reviews and became one of the highest-earning Telugu films ever. It was even shown at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival and won awards for being very original.
In 2015, Rajamouli directed the epic action film Baahubali: The Beginning. It starred Prabhas, Rana Daggubati, and Anushka Shetty. This film was a huge success, becoming one of the highest-earning Indian films of all time. It was the first Telugu film to win the National Film Award for Best Feature Film.
His next film was Baahubali 2: The Conclusion (2017), which continued the story. This movie was even bigger! It was the most expensive Indian film ever made at the time. Baahubali 2 earned over ₹1,810 crore (about $267 million USD) worldwide, becoming the highest-earning Indian film ever. It also sold over 100 million tickets, which is an incredible achievement! The success of the Baahubali films helped start the "pan-Indian film" movement, making South Indian cinema popular across all of India and beyond.
Rajamouli's most recent film is RRR (2022), an epic action drama about Indian revolutionaries. It starred NTR Jr, Ram Charan, Ajay Devgn, and Alia Bhatt. RRR broke records on its first day, earning ₹240 crore (about $31 million USD) worldwide. It became the second-highest-earning film in India and the third-highest-earning Indian film worldwide. RRR won many international awards, including an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award for its song "Naatu Naatu". Rajamouli also won the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Director for RRR.
Upcoming Projects
Rajamouli is currently working on an exciting new film with actor Mahesh Babu. This movie is expected to be a jungle adventure set in Africa, like a James Bond or Indiana Jones film with Indian roots.
He has also talked about making an animated film based on Indian stories. A big dream project for him is to make a film series based on the Indian epic Mahabharata. He thinks it could be a huge project, possibly taking 6 to 10 years and having many parts. He also wants to make films about historical rulers like Sri Krishnadevaraya and Rajaraja Narendra.
Personal Life
Rajamouli married Rama in 2001. Rama works as a costume designer for many of his films. Rajamouli adopted Karthikeya, Rama's son from her previous marriage. They also have an adopted daughter named Mayookha.
Many of Rajamouli's family members work in the film industry. His cousin, M. M. Keeravani, has composed music for all of his films. Other cousins, Kalyani Malik and M. M. Srilekha, are also music composers. Rajamouli considers K. Raghavendra Rao his teacher and mentor.
Rajamouli is nicknamed Jakkanna after a famous sculptor known for his hard work and perfection. This nickname was given to him because he is very dedicated and aims for perfection in his work.
Filmmaking Style
Rajamouli loves films and says his movies are all about "emotion." He believes that strong human emotions drive his stories. A common theme in his films is revenge. Many of his movies also use flashbacks to show the main character's past.
He describes his films as "big-scale action movies driven by hard-core emotion." He sees himself as a magnifying glass that makes the characters' emotions bigger on screen. He also thinks that exciting action scenes are important to keep viewers interested.
Rajamouli's films often use a lot of visual effects. He is one of the first filmmakers in India to combine computer-generated imagery (CGI) with live action. He prefers to film as much as possible using practical effects (real things) before adding CGI. Over time, the CGI in his films has become much better.
He is known for his unique filmmaking style, which lets audiences feel the excitement and emotions of the story with less talking. All his films end with his special circular stamp that says: "an S. S. Rajamouli film."
Film critic Baradwaj Rangan says Rajamouli is a "great storyteller" who takes common ideas and makes them new and exciting. Production designer Sabu Cyril, who worked on the Baahubali films, said his team made 25,000 sketches to design the grand sets for the movie. This shows how much detail Rajamouli puts into his films.
In 2022, Rajamouli shared his top ten favorite films, which included Forrest Gump, Mayabazar, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and The Lion King.
Filmography
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Denotes films that have not yet been released |
| Year | Title |
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| 2001 | Student No: 1 |
| 2003 | Simhadri |
| 2004 | Sye |
| 2005 | Chatrapathi |
| 2006 | Vikramarkudu |
| 2007 | Yamadonga |
| 2009 | Magadheera |
| 2010 | Maryada Ramanna |
| 2012 | Eega |
| 2015 | Baahubali: The Beginning |
| 2017 | Baahubali 2: The Conclusion |
| 2022 | RRR |
| 2027 | Untitled film starring Mahesh Babu |
Box-office Performance
Here's a look at how well S. S. Rajamouli's films have done at the box office. The numbers are estimates from various sources.
| Year | Title | Budget (estimated) | Box-office (estimated) | ||
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| Worldwide Share | Worldwide Gross | ||||
| 2001 | Student No. 1 | ₹1.80 crore ($392,000) | ₹12.09 crore ($2.54 million) | — | |
| 2003 | Simhadri | ₹8.5 crore ($1.8 million) | ₹25.7 crore ($5.6 million) | — | |
| 2004 | Sye | ₹10.2 crore ($2.2 million) | ₹11 crore ($2.4 million) | — | |
| 2005 | Chatrapathi | ₹12.5 crore ($2.8 million) | ₹22 crore ($5 million) | — | |
| 2006 | Vikramarkudu | ₹11 crore ($2.4 million) | ₹23 crore ($5.1 million) | — | |
| 2007 | Yamadonga | ₹18–20 crore ($4.3–4.8 million) | ₹29 crore ($7 million) | — | |
| 2009 | Magadheera | ₹35–44 crore ($7–10 million) | ₹73–78 crore ($15–16 million) | ₹150 crore ($31 million) | |
| 2010 | Maryada Ramanna | ₹12–14 crore ($2.6–3.1 million) | ₹29 crore ($6.35 million) | ₹40 crore ($8.75 million) | |
| 2012 | Eega | ₹30–40 crore ($6–7 million) | ₹54 crore ($10 million) | ₹130 crore ($23 million) | |
| 2015 | Baahubali: The Beginning | ₹180 crore ($28 million) | ₹302 crore ($47 million) | ₹650 crore ($101 million) | |
| 2017 | Baahubali 2: The Conclusion | ₹250 crore ($38 million) | ₹831 crore ($128 million) | ₹1,810 crore ($278 million) | |
| 2022 | RRR | ₹550 crore ($72 million) | ₹624 crore ($82 million) | ₹1387.26 crore ($164 million) | |
Awards and Recognition
Rajamouli has won many awards, including four National Film Awards, five Filmfare Awards, and five state Nandi Awards. In 2015, he was named the CNN-News18 Indian of the Year in Entertainment. The Indian government honored him with the Padma Shri in 2016 for his contributions to art.
His films have been shown at many international film festivals, like the Cannes Film Festival and the Shanghai International Film Festival. In 2022, a special program called "From Tollywood to Hollywood" showed a collection of Rajamouli's films at the Beyond Fest in the U.S.
Other filmmakers like Prashanth Neel and Ayan Mukerji have said Rajamouli influenced them. Matt Groening, the creator of The Simpsons, even said Rajamouli made some of his favorite films and that his show Disenchantment has nods to Rajamouli's work. Filmmaker Mani Ratnam said the success of Baahubali inspired him to work on his own big historical film.
Through his Baahubali films, Rajamouli is known for starting the "pan-Indian film" movement. This means making movies that appeal to audiences across all of India, no matter what language they speak. Film experts call him the "original Pan India filmmaker" and the "most successful Pan India filmmaker."
Rachel Dwyer, a professor who studies Indian cinema, says Rajamouli is currently India's most important director. He can make films in a South Indian language that become popular all over India and even overseas. Film trade analyst Komal Nahta calls him the "biggest Indian film director ever" because of his amazing success.
At the 95th Academy Awards, the song "Naatu Naatu" from RRR became the first song from an Indian film to win the Academy Award for Best Original Song. Rajamouli was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in June 2024, which is a big honor in Hollywood.
