Sukumar (director)

Sukumar
Native name	బండ్రెడ్డి సుకుమార్
Born	Sukumar Bandreddi 11 January 1971 Mattaparru,East Godavari District,Andhra Pradesh, India
Residence	Hyderabad, Telangana, India
Other names	Suku
Occupation	Director & Producer
Years active	2000–present
Height	5'10
Spouse(s)	Thabitha Bandreddi
Children	Sukriti Veni,Sukranth Naidu
Parent(s)	Bandreddi Tirupati Rao Naidu (late) Bandreddi Veera Veni

Sukumar (born Sukumar Bandreddi), is an Indian film director and screenwriter known for his works predominantly in Telugu cinema. He made his directorial debut with the blockbuster romantic comedy, Arya. In 2014, he directed the Psychological thriller, 1: Nenokkadine which had one of the best openings ever for an Indian film, in the United States, and reached $1 million mark in its first weekend.^[1][2]

Background

Sukumar was born in East Godavari District. He did his schooling from ZPH high school, Razole and graduated from Government College, Razole. Sukumar worked as a mathematics lecturer at Aditya Educational Institutions (Junior College) in Kakinada. Before venturing into film direction, He had earlier worked as a script associate and assistant director for Telugu films Manasichi Choodu, Kshemanga Velli Labhanga Randi, Hanuman Junction and Dil. He then directed his first film Arya in 2004, which is a trend setter in Telugu film industry which earned him the Filmfare Award for Best Director – Telugu.^[3]

His next film was Jagadam with Ram in the lead, despite commercial failure, he received critical applause. His third film Arya 2, released amid huge expectations was criticized by critics as an under-rated movie despite of much hype of the audio, but was appreciated by Allu Arjun's fans. His next movie, titled 100% Love and starring Naga Chaitanya and Tamanna, was produced by Bunny Vasu under Geetha Arts studio. It was released on 6 May 2011 and turned out to be successful. Sukumar's next film, named "1 Nenokkadine" featuring Mahesh Babu and Kriti Sanon as leads, released on 10 January 2014^[4] and received mixed response.^[5] His Latest Film named Nannaku Prematho featuring Jr.NTR and Rakul Preet Singh released on 13 January 2016 and now successfully running in theatres. ^[6]

Career in Telugu cinema

Reports of Sukumar directing Mahesh Babu were afloat since 2009 but the project was delayed due to the latter's other commitments.^[7] In May 2010, it was reported that Mahesh signed two films with 14 Reels Entertainment, one with Srinu Vytla and the other with Sukumar.^[8] Due to the delay during filming of Dookudu and the producers being same for both projects,^[9] it was evident that the project with Sukumar would not take off until Dookudu was released. This led Sukumar to begin working on 100% Love which was released in May 2011. 14 Reels Entertainment's Dookudu with Mahesh was released in September 2011. In July 2011, it was reported that Sukumar began working on the film with Mahesh and this would be his next project.^[10] On 12 November 2011 Sukumar attended the 50 days public function of Dookudu and along with Mahesh, Ram Achanta, Gopichand Achanta and Anil Sunkara, he officially announced the project and revealed that the project would start in early 2012. On 12 February 2012 the film's muhurtham^[11] and pooja ceremony were held in Hyderabad.^[12][13] It was announced that Devi Sri Prasad would score the soundtrack. Rathnavelu will handle the camera. The film's title was officially announced as 1 on 31 May 2013 to coincide with actor Krishna's birthday. On the same day, first look posters and teaser of the film were released.^[14][15]

Before the completion of Arya 2, Sukumar had discussed making the film with Geetha Arts with Varun Sandesh and Tamannaah Bhatia in the lead roles, but the film failed to materialise.^[16] February 2010, the project was announced with a statement reporting the collaboration of Geetha Arts, Sukumar and Naga Chaitanya for the film mentioned.^[17] The subsequent month saw Tamannaah announce that she had signed on to portray the lead female role in the project.^[18][19] The film was launched at Annapoorna Studios, Hyderabad on 8 June 2010 with several leading Telugu film personalities being involved with the event. Noted producer D. Ramanaidu rendered the launch, another producer Nagababu switched on the camera and Naga Chaitanya's father actor Nagarjuna clapped the first shot. The formal first shot direction was done by S. S. Rajamouli and Akkineni Nageswara Rao handed over the script to the director.^[20]

The film continued its shoot untitled officially until 20 March 2011 when the title 100% Love was formally announced. During the production of the film, several titles were reported in the media for the project including Balu Weds Mahalakshmi,^[21] I Love You,^[22] I Love You Mahalakshmi,^[23] I Hate Mahalakshmi and I am Number One. Despite having an original planned release of December 2010, strikes in the industry pushed the release date to April 2011. His next project is with N. T. Rama Rao Jr. which is titled as Nannaku Prematho.^[24] He also started "Sukumar Writings" with Kumari 21F.

Awards

Filmfare Awards South

• Filmfare Award for Best Director – Telugu – Arya

Nandi Awards

• Nandi Award for best screenplay writer^[25] - Arya

Other

• K.V.Reddy Award^[26]

Filmography

Filmography as Producer

References

External links

• Sukumar at the Internet Movie Database