Koduri Viswa Vijayendra Prasad (born 27 May 1942) is an Indian screenwriter and film director who predominantly 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 ...

. With a career spanning across nearly three decades, his filmography consists of over 25 films as a screenwriter. He is considered to be one of the most successful film writers in India and only screenwriter who has had a hand in several of the biggest films of

Indian cinema The cinema of India, consisting of motion pictures made by the Indian film industry, has had a large effect on world cinema since the second half of the 20th century. Indian cinema is made up of various film industries, each focused on p ...

. He has frequently collaborated with his son, director

S. S. Rajamouli Koduri Srisaila Sri Rajamouli ( ; born 10 October 1973) is an Indian filmmaker who works in Telugu cinema. Known for his epic, action and fantasy genre films, he is the highest grossing Indian director of all time, as well as the highest-paid d ...

, to deliver some of the highest-grossing Indian films of all time. His notable work as a writer includes films like ''

Bobbili Simham '' Bobbili Simham'' () is a 1994 Telugu language, Telugu-language action drama film directed by A. Kodandarami Reddy and produced by T. Trivikrama Rao under the Vijayalakshmi Art Pictures banner. It stars Nandamuri Balakrishna, Meena (actress), M ...

'' (1994)'',

Magadheera ''Magadheera'' () is a 2009 Indian Telugu-language epic romantic fantasy action drama film co-written & directed by S. S. Rajamouli, based on a story by V. Vijayendra Prasad and with dialogues by M. Rathnam. Produced by Allu Aravind under ...

'' (2009)'','' ''

Eega ''Eega'' () is a 2012 Indian Telugu-language fantasy action film written and directed by S. S. Rajamouli. The film was produced by Sai Korrapati Vaaraahi Chalana Chitram with an estimated budget of 30–40 crore (US$6–7 million). It was ...

'' (2012), ''Baahubali'' duology (20152017), ''

Bajrangi Bhaijaan ''Bajrangi Bhaijaan'' () is a 2015 Indian Hindi-language comedy-drama film co-written and directed by Kabir Khan, based on an original story by screenwriter V. Vijayendra Prasad, and produced by Salman Khan, Rockline Venkatesh and Kabir Kh ...

'' (2015) and '' RRR'' (2022). In 2011, he has directed ''

Rajanna ''Rajanna'' is a 2011 Indian Telugu-language period action film written and directed by V. Vijayendra Prasad. The film is produced by Nagarjuna, and starred him, Sneha, Shwetha Menon and child artist Baby Annie. The film is partially inspir ...

'', for which he won the

Nandi Award for Best Feature Film This is the list of winners of the Nandi Award for Best Feature Films since 1964. Best Feature Film - Gold Second Best Feature Film - Silver Third Best Feature Film - Bronze References See also * Cinema of Andhra Pradesh {{DEFAULTSORT:Na ...

. In 2016, he won the

Filmfare Award for Best Story The Filmfare Award for Best Story is given by ''Filmfare'' as part of its annual Filmfare Awards for Hindi films, to recognise a writer who wrote a film's story. List of winners 1950s * 1955 Mukhram Sharma – ''Aulad (1954 film), Aulad'' * 1 ...

for ''

.'' On 6 July 2022, President of India

Ram Nath Kovind Ram Nath Kovind ( ; born 1 October 1945) is an Indian politician and lawyer who served as the president of India from 2017 to 2022. He is the first person from Uttar Pradesh to serve as the president. He is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Pa ...

nominated him as a member of

Rajya Sabha Rajya Sabha (Council of States) is the upper house of the Parliament of India and functions as the institutional representation of India’s federal units — the states and union territories.https://rajyasabha.nic.in/ It is a key component o ...

, the

upper house An upper house is one of two Legislative chamber, chambers of a bicameralism, bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house. The house formally designated as the upper house is usually smaller and often has more restricted p ...

Indian Parliament The Parliament of India (ISO: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Government of the Republic of India. It is a bicameral legislature composed of the Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and the Lok Sabha (House of the People). The President o ...

Early life

Koduri Viswa Vijayendra Prasad was born on 27 May 1942 in a

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of South India ** Telugu literature, is the body of works written in the Telugu language. * Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Tel ...

family, in

Kovvur Kovvur, also natively known as Kovvuru, is a town in the East Godavari district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is a municipality and the mandal headquarters of Kovvur mandal in Kovvur revenue division. Etymology This Town was ...

near

Rajahmundry Rajahmundry ( ), officially Rajamahendravaram, is a city in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh and district headquarters of East Godavari district. It is the fifth most populated city in the state. During British rule, the district of Rajahmu ...

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 ...

. He studied at Sir C. R. Reddy College in Eluru. Prasad's family had lands in Kovvur which were lost when the railways lines went most through them. Then, Prasad moved to

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

from Kovvur in 1968. He, along with his elder brother K. V. Sivashankar, bought seven

acre The acre ( ) is a Unit of measurement, unit of land area used in the Imperial units, British imperial and the United States customary units#Area, United States customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one Chain (unit), ch ...

s of paddy fields in Hirekotikal village of Manvi Taluk in

Raichur district Raichur District is an administrative district in the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located in the northeast part of the state and is bounded by Yadgir district in the north, Bijapur district, Karnataka, Bijapur and Bagalkot district in the n ...

. Their family moved back to Kovvur in 1977. He also ventured into various businesses which ended up as losses.

Career

His brother Siva Shakthi Datta's passion for films made Vijayendra Prasad and his family to shift to

Madras Chennai, also known as Madras ( its official name until 1996), is the capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. According to the 2011 Indian ce ...

. Datta assisted a couple of directors for some time and started a film titled ''Pillanagrovi'' which was stopped midway due to financial reasons. As his brother was already in the film industry, Prasad started assisting his brother. Prasad got introduced to

K. Raghavendra Rao Kovelamudi Raghavendra Rao (born 23 May 1942) is an Indian filmmaker known primarily for his work in Telugu cinema, besides a few Hindi film and Kannada films. Over a career spanning more than four decades, he has directed over a hundred films ...

through Samatha Arts' Mukherjee who was a friend of his. Raghavendra Rao started giving him and Datta small assignments. They got their first break with '' Janaki Ramudu'' (1988) which became successful at the box office. Next, he wrote the film '' Bangaru Kutumbam'' (1994) which won the Nandi Award for Best Film. His next film was ''

'' (1994) which was commercially successful and earned Prasad recognition as a screenwriter. He later provided the story for ''

Samarasimha Reddy ''Samarasimha Reddy'' is a 1999 Indian Telugu-language action drama film directed by B. Gopal and produced by Chengala Venkat Rao. It stars Nandamuri Balakrishna in the title role alongside Anjala Zaveri, Simran, Sanghavi, with music com ...

'' (1999) which became one of the biggest hits of the time in

Personal life

Prasad married Raja Nandini.; Event occurs from 36:12 to 38:51 They have two children—a daughter who now lives in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

and a son

, a filmmaker. Prasad is uncle to music composers M. M. Keeravani,

M. M. Srilekha Manimekhala Srilekha (born Koduri Srilekha), known professionally as M. M. Srilekha, is an Indian film playback singer and music composer, known for her works predominantly in Telugu cinema. She is the only female music composer in the Telugu ...

, and

Kalyani Malik Kalyan Malik is an Indian music director and playback singer in Telugu cinema. Since achieving recognition through Chandra Sekhar Yeleti's film ''Aithe'' (2003), Malik has provided musical scores for many other films. His most recent works are ...

. Prasad dropped ‘K’ from his name, K. V. Vijayendra Prasad as he felt it was an indicator of his caste. He cited Hindu epics

Mahabharata The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; , , ) is one of the two major Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epics of ancient India revered as Smriti texts in Hinduism, the other being the ''Ramayana, Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the events and aftermath of the Kuru ...

and

Ramayana The ''Ramayana'' (; ), also known as ''Valmiki Ramayana'', as traditionally attributed to Valmiki, is a smriti text (also described as a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic) from ancient India, one of the two important epics ...

as a source of his inspiration. He cites 1957 Telugu film ''

Mayabazar ''Mayabazar'' () is a 1957 Indian epic film, epic Hindu mythological film directed by K. V. Reddy. It was produced by Nagi Reddi and Chakrapani (filmmaker), Chakrapani under their banner, Vijaya Vauhini Studios, Vijaya Productions. The film w ...

'', as his all time favourite film. He also cited the screenwriting duo

Salim–Javed Salim–Javed were an Indian screenwriting duo, composed of Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar, who worked primarily in Hindi cinema. They were among the first Indian screenwriters to achieve star status, and are regarded as among "Hindi cinema's grea ...

(

Salim Khan Salim Abdul Rashid Khan (born 24 November 1935) is an Indian actor, film producer and screenwriter. He wrote the screenplays, stories and scripts for numerous Bollywood films. He is one half of the prolific screenwriting duo of Salim–Javed, ...

and

Javed Akhtar Javed Akhtar (born 1945) is an Indian screenwriter, lyricist and poet. Known for his work in Hindi cinema, he has won five National Film Awards, and received the Padma Shri in 1999 and the Padma Bhushan in 2007, two of India's highest civili ...

) as a major inspiration on his work, especially their screenplay for ''

Sholay ''Sholay'' (, ) is a 1975 Indian epic action-adventure film directed by Ramesh Sippy, produced by his father G. P. Sippy, and written by Salim–Javed. The film is about two criminals, Veeru (Dharmendra) and Jai (Amitabh Bachchan), hired ...

'' (1975), among other films. On 6 July 2022, Indian government nominated Prasad to the

Filmography

Television

* '' Aarambh: Kahaani Devsena Ki'' (2017;

StarPlus StarPlus is an Indian Hindi-language general entertainment pay television channel owned by JioStar, a joint venture between Viacom18 and Disney India. Its programming consists of family dramas, romantic comedies, youth-oriented realit ...

)

Awards and nominations

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Prasad, K. V. Vijayendra Telugu screenwriters Telugu film directors Filmfare Awards winners Living people Film people from West Godavari district Film directors from Andhra Pradesh Indian male screenwriters 20th-century Indian dramatists and playwrights 21st-century Indian dramatists and playwrights Screenwriters from Andhra Pradesh 20th-century Indian male writers 1942 births 21st-century Indian male writers Nandi Award winners Nominated members of the Rajya Sabha S. S. Rajamouli