Deva Katta is an

Indian American Indian Americans are Americans whose ancestry originates wholly or partly from India. The terms Asian Indian and East Indian are used to avoid confusion with Native Americans in the United States, Native Americans in the United States, who ar ...

film director and screenwriter who works in

Telugu cinema Telugu cinema, also known as Tollywood, is the segment of Cinema of India, Indian cinema dedicated to the production of Film, motion pictures in the Telugu language, widely spoken in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Based in Film N ...

. He directed cult classic Telugu movies such as ''

Vennela ''Vennela'' () is a 2005 Telugu cinema, Telugu romantic comedy film written and directed by Deva Katta in his directorial debut. The film stars Raja Abel, Raja and Parvati Melton, while Sharwanand and Ravi Varma (East Godavari actor), Ravi Varma p ...

'' (2005), '' Prasthanam'' (2010), '' Autonagar Surya'' (2014), and ''

Republic A republic, based on the Latin phrase ''res publica'' ('public affair' or 'people's affair'), is a State (polity), state in which Power (social and political), political power rests with the public (people), typically through their Representat ...

'' (2021). In 2010, '' Prasthanam'' was showcased in the Indian Panorama section at the

International Film Festival of India The International Film Festival of India (IFFI), founded in 1952, is an annual film festival currently held in Goa, on the western coast of India. The festival aims at providing a common platform for the cinemas of the world to project the excel ...

. The film also won two

Filmfare awards The Filmfare Awards are annual awards that honour artistic and technical excellence in the Indian cinema.Al The Filmfare ceremony is one of the most famous film events in India. The awards were introduced by Filmfare magazine of The Times G ...

including Filmfare South Critics Award for Best Film and Nandi Award for Best Feature Film in 2010.

Early life

Deva Katta was born in Eluru,

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (ISO 15919, ISO: , , AP) is a States and union territories of India, state on the East Coast of India, east coast of southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, seventh-largest state and th ...

. His father, Niranjan Naidu Katta, hails from

Kadapa Kadapa is a city in the southern part of Andhra Pradesh, India. It is located in the Rayalaseema region, and is the district headquarters of YSR Kadapa district. It is located south of the Penna River. The city is surrounded on three sides by ...

, while his mother hails from Tirupathi,

. He holds a

Master of Science A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medici ...

degree in

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines and mechanism (engineering), mechanisms that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and engineering mathematics, mathematics principl ...

from

Wayne State University Wayne State University (WSU) is a public university, public research university in Detroit, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1868, Wayne State consists of 13 schools and colleges offering approximately 375 programs. It is Michigan's third-l ...

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

. He worked as a vehicle

crashworthiness Crashworthiness is the ability of a structure to protect its occupants during an impact. This is commonly tested when investigating the safety of aircraft and vehicles. Different criteria are used to figure out how safe a structure is in a crash, ...

expert at

General Motors General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The company is most known for owning and manufacturing f ...

. He is a naturalized American citizen.

Career

He graduated from film school before making a digital

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

about Indian students in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, which was titled ''Valasa''. He then debuted as a successful writer and director with the romantic comedy flick ''

'', portraying Indian students in America. In 2015, Katta teamed up with actor

Vishnu Manchu Manchu Vishnu Vardhan Babu (born 23 November 1981) is an Indian actor and film producer known for his works in Telugu cinema and television. Manchu had a brief stint as a child artist with the 1985 film ''Ragile Gundelu''. Years later, he starr ...

for the film ''Dynamite'', a remake of the Tamil film '' Arima Nambi'' (2014), and Katta's only remake till date. Katta, however, said that he shot the film for only nine days and walked out due to creative differences. Katta was credited as the film's director nonetheless. In one of his interviews, he mentioned that ''Prasthanam'', ''Autonagar Surya'', and ''Republic'' are part of his quadrilogy of the society which show the perspective of a Politician (Legislative), Common Man (Voter), and Bureaucrat (Executive) on society. He is currently working on the final part of the quadrilogy which will show the perspective of a Judicial (Judiciary) on society.

Filmography

Feature films

Web series

Short films

Acting roles

* '' D for Dopidi'' (2013) as A.C.P. Krishnamachari

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Katta, Deva Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Wayne State University alumni Indian emigrants to the United States American people of Telugu descent Telugu film directors American film directors of Indian descent Film directors from Andhra Pradesh Screenwriters from Andhra Pradesh Naturalized citizens of the United States Telugu screenwriters