Bandreddi Sukumar (born 11 January 1970) is an Indian film director, screenwriter and producer who works in Telugu cinema. He is known for his complex and multi-layered screenplays, and infusing grey shades in the characterisation of his protagonists. He is one of the highest paid directors in South Indian cinema.Sukumar worked as a mathematics and physics lecturer at a junior college in Kakinada for nearly seven years before pursuing a career in films as a director. He began working as a writer and worked with Editor Mohan before assisting V. V. Vinayak on Dil (2003). He made his directorial debut with Arya in 2004, whose success catapulted him to stardom. He won the Filmfare Award for Best Director – Telugu and Nandi Award for Best Screenplay Writer for his work on Arya.Sukumar's other notable films include Arya 2 (2009), 100% Love (2011), 1: Nenokkadine (2014), Nannaku Prematho (2016), Rangasthalam (2018) and Pushpa: The Rise (2021). Rangasthalam was the third highest grossing Telugu film at the time behind the Baahubali films. Pushpa: The Rise is the highest-grossing Indian film of 2021 and ranks among the highest-grossing Telugu films of all time.Sukumar also produced films like Kumari 21F (2015), Uppena (2021), Virupaksha (2023) under the banner Sukumar Writings. In 2014, he received the K. V. Reddy Memorial award for his contributions to Telugu cinema.

Early and personal life

Sukumar was born on 11 January 1970, in Mattaparru, a village near Malikipuram in the East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh. His father Tirupathi 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 began practising vegetarianism. He did his schooling from a 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 six 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.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's Bavagaru Bagunnara? (1998), they were summoned by the college to help them in recruiting the 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 the Manasichi Choodu (1999). Sukumar later assisted Jayam Raja's father Mohan for Kshemamga Velli Labhamga Randi (2000) and Hanuman Junction (2001). Before making his directorial debut, Sukumar worked under V. V. Vinayak for Dil (2003) as an assistant director.Sukumar had a relationship with Thabitha, whom he met first at the Sudarshan Theatre, RTC X Roads, Hyderabad during the screening of his directorial debut Arya (2004). They married in 2009 in the presence of his parents and sister. Though Thabitha's parents opposed Sukumar for being a film technician, they accepted their alliance later. The couple have a daughter and a son.

Early life and family

Sukumar was born on 11 January 1970, in Mattaparru, a village near Malikipuram in erstwhile East Godavari district (present-day Konaseema 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?'' (1998), 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 back to film industry. He worked as an assistant director for ''Manasichi Choodu'' (1998). Sukumar later assisted Editor Mohan for ''Kshemamga Velli Labhamga Randi'' (2000) and ''Hanuman Junction'' (2001). Before making his directorial debut, Sukumar worked under V. V. Vinayak for ''Dil'' (2003) as an assistant director.Sukumar began working on the script of his directorial debut ''Arya'' (2004) in Visakhapatnam before joining the sets of Vinayak's ''Dil''. Its producer Dil Raju assured that he would produce the film if ''Dil'' becomes a commercial success. Sukumar chose to narrate the story of a boy who confess his love to a girl right in the beginning, opposed to films like ''Darr'' (1993), ''Kabhie Haan Kabhie Naa'' (1994), and ''Kaadhal Kondein'' (2003) 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 its protagonist after considering 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; they both collaborated with Sukumar in many of his future projects. ''Arya'' was commercially successful; it grossed 16 crore on a budget of 4 crore. 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'' (2007), 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 and was a commercial failure. While Sify called the film a "not so much a plot-driven film" albeit praising the work of its technical crew, Rediff called it a "good effort". He then wrote and directed ''Arya 2'' (2009), which was promoted as the namesake sequel of 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 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 style 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'' (2011) 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; it 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. 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". ''1: Nenokkadine'' collected approximately 28.9 crore share worldwide on a budget of 6070 crore, thus becoming a commercial failure. In 2014, he wrote and directed a 2.5 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 critical feedback 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'' (2021), starring Allu Arjun and Rashmika. Budgeted between 170200 crores, it was released as a pan-Indian film and went on to get amazing commercial reception in Telugu, Hindi, and Tamil languages to earn more than 350 crores by the end of its run. Post the pan-Indian success of ''Pushpa: The Rise'', Sukumar announced that the sequel, ''Pushpa 2: The Rule'', would commence production from summer 2022. In 2020 September, Sukumar announced that he would be collaborating with Vijay Devarakonda after completing the ''Pushpa'' duology.

Debut and breakthrough: 2004–2011

Sukumar began working on the script of his directorial debut ''Arya'' (2004) in Visakhapatnam before joining the sets of Vinayak's ''Dil''. Its producer Dil Raju assured that he would produce the film if ''Dil'' becomes a commercial success. Sukumar chose to narrate the story of a boy who confess his love to a girl right in the beginning, opposed to films like ''Darr'' (1993), ''Kabhie Haan Kabhie Naa'' (1994), and ''Kaadhal Kondein'' (2003) 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 its protagonist after considering 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; they both collaborated with Sukumar in many of his future projects. ''Arya'' was commercially successful; it grossed 16 crore on a budget of 4 crore. 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'' (2007), 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 and was a commercial failure. While Sify called the film a "not so much a plot-driven film" albeit praising the work of its technical crew, Rediff called it a "good effort". He then wrote and directed ''Arya 2'' (2009), which was promoted as the namesake sequel of 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 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 style 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'' (2011) 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; it 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

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". ''1: Nenokkadine'' collected approximately 28.9 crore share worldwide on a budget of 6070 crore, thus becoming a commercial failure. In 2014, he wrote and directed a 2.5 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 critical feedback 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'' (2021), starring Allu Arjun and Rashmika. Budgeted between 170200 crores, it was released as a pan-Indian film and went on to get amazing commercial reception in Telugu, Hindi, and Tamil languages to earn more than 350 crores by the end of its run. Post the pan-Indian success of ''Pushpa: The Rise'', Sukumar announced that the sequel, ''Pushpa 2: The Rule'', would commence production from summer 2022. In 2020 September, Sukumar announced that he would be collaborating with Vijay Devarakonda after completing the ''Pushpa'' duology.

Personal life

Sukumar met Thabitha Hamsini at the screening of ''Arya'', in the Sudarshan Theatre, RTC X Roads, in Hyderabad. After a courtship of 4 years, they got married in 2009, in the presence of his parents and sister. Thabitha's parents initially opposed their relationship due to Sukumar being a film director, however, they later accepted their alliance. The couple have a daughter and a son, named Sukriti and Sukranth, respectively.