Tharun Bhascker Dhaassyam (born 5 November 1988) is an Indian film director, actor 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 the romantic comedy '' Pelli Choopulu'' (2016), which won him the

National Film Award The National Film Awards are awards for artistic and technical merit given for "Excellence within the Cinema of India, Indian film industry". Established in 1954, it has been administered, along with the International Film Festival of India ...

for Best Feature Film in Telugu and Best Screenplay – Dialogues. He later directed '' Ee Nagaraniki Emaindhi'' (2018), and made his acting debut in a lead role with '' Meeku Maathrame Cheptha'' (2019).

Early life

Tharun Bhascker was born on 5 November 1988 in

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 ...

(now

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

) and was raised in

Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

. His father hailed from

Warangal Warangal () is a city in the Indian state of Telangana and the district headquarters of Warangal district. It is the second largest city in Telangana with a population of 811,844 per 2011 Census of India, and spreading over an . Warangal serv ...

Telangana Telangana is a States and union territories of India, state in India situated in the Southern India, south-central part of the Indian subcontinent on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, ele ...

, while his mother is from

Tirupati Tirupati () is a city in the Indian States and territories of India, state of Andhra Pradesh and serves as the administrative headquarters of Tirupati district. It is known for its significant religious and cultural heritage, being home to th ...

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 ...

. Bhascker studied at

Hyderabad Public School The Hyderabad Public School, Begumpet (HPS, Begumpet) is a privately funded public school in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. The school has grades from pre-primary to the 12th (ages 3 to 17). The school is affiliated with the Council for the Ind ...

, and Swami Vivekananda Institute of Technology. He later graduated from

New York Film Academy New York Film Academy – School of Film and Acting (NYFA) is a Private college, private For-profit higher education in the United States, for-profit film school and Drama school, acting school based in New York City, Los Angeles metropolitan ar ...

. His father, Uday Bhaskar, died in 2015. His mother, Geetha Bhaskar, made her acting debut in

Sekhar Kammula Sekhar Kammula (born 4 February 1972) is an Indian film director, screenwriter and producer who works in Telugu cinema. He has garnered two Filmfare Awards South, and six state Nandi Awards for his directional works. Sekhar Kammula was among the ...

's ''

Fidaa ''Fidaa'' () is a 2017 Indian Telugu-language romantic drama film written and directed by Sekhar Kammula, and produced by Dil Raju under Sri Venkateswara Creations banner. The film stars Varun Tej and Sai Pallavi in the lead roles. The film ...

'' (2017).

Film career

Bhascker started his career directing short films such as ''Anukokunda'', and ''

Sainma Tharun Bhascker Dhaassyam (born 5 November 1988) is an Indian film director, actor and screenwriter who works in Telugu cinema. He directed the romantic comedy '' Pelli Choopulu'' (2016), which won him the National Film Award for Best Feature F ...

''. ''Anukokunda'' was screened at the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Film Festival (; ), until 2003 called the International Film Festival ('), is the most prestigious film festival in the world. Held in Cannes, France, it previews new films of all genres, including documentaries, from all around ...

. His first full length directorial feature film was '' Pelli Choopulu'' (2016). The film received

for Best Feature Film in Telugu, and Bhasckar won Best Screenplay for Dialogues. The film was remade in

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

as ''

Mitron ''Mitron'' () is a 2018 Indian Hindi-language romantic comedy film directed by Nitin Kakkar, written by Sharib Hashmi, and produced by Vikram Malhotra under the Abundantia Entertainment banner. An official remake of the 2016 Telugu film '' Pell ...

'' (2018), in

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of ...

as ''

Vijay Superum Pournamiyum ''Vijay Superum Pournamiyum'' () is a 2019 Indian Malayalam-language romantic comedy film, written and directed by Jis Joy, starring Asif Ali and Aishwarya Lekshmi, along with Balu Varghese, Siddique, Aju Varghese and Renji Panicker in ...

'' (2019), and in

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

as ''

Oh Manapenne ''Oh Manapenne!'' ( ) is a 2021 Indian Tamil-language romantic comedy film directed by Kaarthikk Sundar in his directorial debut and written by Deepak Sundarrajan. A remake of the Telugu film '' Pelli Choopulu'' (2016), it stars Priya Bhavani Sha ...

''. In 2018, Bhasckar made his acting debut with the role of

Singeetham Srinivasa Rao Singeetam Srinivasa Rao (born 21 September 1931) is an Indian film director, screenwriter, producer, composer, and actor. He is widely regarded as one of India's most versatile and innovative filmmakers. He has directed around sixty films across ...

in the biopic ''

Mahanati ''Mahanati'' () is a 2018 Indian Telugu cinema, Telugu-language biographical film, biographical drama (film and television), drama film based on the life of actress Savitri (actress), Savitri. It is written and directed by Nag Ashwin, and prod ...

''. His second directorial is the

buddy comedy The buddy film is a subgenre of adventure and comedy film in which two people go on an adventure, mission, or road trip. The two typically are males with contrasting personalities. The contrast is sometimes accentuated by an ethnic difference be ...

film '' Ee Nagaraniki Emaindhi'' (2018). Later in the year, he wrote the screenplay for the

ZEE5 ZEE5 or Z5 is an Indian subscription video on demand and over-the-top streaming service, owned by Zee Entertainment Enterprises. It was launched in India on 14 February 2018 with content in 12 languages. The ZEE5 mobile app is available on We ...

web series, ''B. Tech''. In 2019, Bhaskar played the lead role in '' Meeku Maathrame Cheptha''. ''Keedaa Cola'', directed by Tharun Bhascker, was released on 3 November 2023.

Personal life

Bhasckar is married to Latha Naidu. She is a

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stat ...

and

costume designer A costume designer is a person who designs costumes for a film, stage production or television show. The role of the costume designer is to create the characters' outfits or costumes and balance the scenes with texture and colour, etc. The costum ...

for films and advertisements. She worked for films such as '' Pelli Choopulu'', ''

Ee Nagaraniki Emaindi ''Ee Nagaraniki Emaindi'' ( What happened to this city?) is a 2018 Indian Telugu-language buddy comedy film written and directed by Tharun Bhascker, and produced by D. Suresh Babu under Suresh Productions. The film stars Vishwak Sen, Sai Sush ...

'' and '' U Turn''.

Filmography

Film

As Director

As Actor

Short films

As Voice Actor

Television

Discography

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bhascker, Tharun 1988 births Living people Telugu film directors Film directors from Hyderabad, India Gaddar Telangana Film Awards winners 21st-century Indian screenwriters People from Warangal Screenwriters from Hyderabad, India Telugu screenwriters Best Dialogue National Film Award winners South Indian International Movie Awards winners Santosham Film Awards winners Indian screenwriters Indian male screenwriters Indian film directors Telugu playback singers Male actors in Telugu cinema