Trivikram Srinivas

Trivikram Srinivas
Trivikram in 2016
Born	Akella Naga Srinivasa Sarma (1971-11-07) 7 November 1971 (age 52) Bhimavaram, Andhra Pradesh, India
Other names	Maatala Maantrikudu, Guruji
Alma mater	Andhra University
Occupations	Film director screenwriter
Years active	1999–present
Known for	Action comedy Romantic comedy Family drama
Spouse	Sai Soujanya ​ (m. 2002)​
Children	2
Parent(s)	Akella Uday Bhaskar Rao Akella Narsamma
Awards	Nandi Awards Filmfare Awards South

Trivikram Srinivas (born Akella Naga Srinivasa Sarma; 7 November 1971), often credited with his Pen name Trivikram also called Guruji and 3V at times, is an Indian film director and screenwriter who works in

A university gold medalist with a master's degree in Nuclear physics, Trivikram initially had no plans to enter the entertainment industry, but his interest in film and Telugu literature led him to become a screenwriter, and later a film director.^[9] He is known among the Telugu audience by the epithets "Maatala Maantrikudu" (transl. Wizard of Words), and "Guruji" (transl. The Master).^[3][5][6] His film craft is identified by its creative and quick-witted dialogue, humorous content, fast-paced repartee mixed with action, mythological references, courtship drama, importance of women in this world, and issues in relationships.^[4][6] Some of his films are noted for integrating ideas from Hindu philosophy into mainstream popular cinema.^[10]

In 2000, he wrote the dialogues for

Trivikram Srinivas was born as "Akella Naga Srinivasa Sarma" into a Telugu Brahmin family, in Bhimavaram, Andhra Pradesh.^[11][12][13] During his childhood, he used to watch a lot of films, and thought of becoming a film director at age 14. He however had no plans for a career in films, as he thought it's impractical. Considering his financial situation, which was such that, even buying a ticket to travel from Bhimavaram to Hyderabad, the hub of Telugu film industry, was itself a big task.^[14]

He finished his schooling at S.Ch.B.R.M. High School, and completed Intermediate, and graduated with a Bachelor of Science (B.Sc) degree from D.N.R. College in Bhimavaram. He then moved to the city of Visakhapatnam to study for his master's degree at Andhra University. In the city he spent every day of his stay, in watching movies; all the while he made sure his parents never knew of his intention to become a film director. He was also an avid reader and was so addicted to reading that he used to get, "a high while reading books". He completed his 2 years M.Sc degree course in Nuclear physics in 1 year 3 months, and graduated with a gold medal from Andhra University.^{[14][15][9][16]}

Trivikram then started to work as a High school teacher in Bhimavaram, teaching Maths, Physics and Chemistry.^[9] His friend, Actor Sunil, who was then struggling for chances in film industry, wanted someone to support him as a source of strength, and requested Trivikram to join him in Hyderabad, to which he obliged. He then started taking classes for students over there, living on the income from tuition fees, and spent his spare time in trying to find opportunities for himself to enter film industry.^[14][17]

Career

Early beginnings

Trivikram met writer Kommanapalli Ganapathi Rao, and on his suggestion, published his short story "Road" in Andhra Jyothi, a leading Telugu Weekly. It was his first and only story published so far. Rao liked his writing and assured him of work in the film Merupu, but expressed that producer won't be able to pay for his work. Trivikram then started working for the film, and after 10 days of work, when the shooting of the film shifted to far away location in Gandipet, he disassociated himself from the project, citing lack of money to travel. Actor Gautam Raju, a close friend of Sunil, then helped him in getting an opportunity in the industry. He introduced Trivikram to T. D. V. Prasad, who was then working on the film titled "Akka Bagunnava?". Prasad narrated the story, and said the entire script was complete except for the climax and asked Trivikram to come up with his own version of climax. He then wrote and narrated it. Posani Krishna Murali, one of the established writers, who happened to be present there, was impressed with the writing of Trivikram. However they later lost contact with each other.^[14]

He then worked as writer for a film based program, conducted by Gautam Raju, in

Trivikram, who initially had no plans in writing for films, but instead had an interest in directing films, didn't want to settle in his new found role as an assistant or associate writer of others. He met actor Venu, and producer Venkata Shyam Prasad, and narrated the story of Swayamvaram to them. They believed in the gist of his story, which Trivikram condensed into one single dialogue, "Prema ane swargam nundi, 7 adugula dooramlo vunde narakame pelli." (transl. From the Heaven called Love, 7 steps away lies the Hell called Marriage). After listening to this dialogue, the director of the film Vijay Bhaskar, insisted that he should write the dialogue for the film. Producer Shyam, overcoming many obstacles and risks, produced and released the film on 22 April, 1999, which then became a hit. The movie marked the official debut of Trivikram as a Screenwriter.^[1][14]

Nuvve Kavali (2000)

Despite the success of Swayamvaram, Trivikram had no interesting offers, and went back to Bhimavaram and lived there for over one and half month. He then received a call from Sravanthi Ravi Kishore, to accompany him to Chennai, for buying the remake rights of Malayalam film Niram. Taking only the essence of the film without its transcript, Trivikram rewrote the entire dialogue afresh, using only one dialogue from the original, "Nuvvendukuraa Naaku mundu I Love You cheppaledu." (transl. Why haven't you told I Love You to me first), as he felt it captures the essence of the film. He added humor with the dialogues and incorporated new characters, including one for his actor friend Sunil. While Nuvve Kavali was getting done, he simultaneously penned the story and dialogues for his next venture Chiru Navvutho. The film Nuvve Kavali released in late 2000, went on to be a huge hit and became the highest grosser of its time.^[14][18]

Other projects

After the success of his first two films as a writer,

During the filming of Nuvve Kavali, Trivikram narrated the script of Nuvve Nuvve to producer Sravanthi Ravi Kishore, who liked it and asked him if he could direct it. Trivikram accepted the offer and asked for some time as he needed more confidence. He commenced the direction of Nuvve Nuvve, after the release of his another work as writer, Nuvvu Naaku Nachav, in late 2001. Released on 10 October 2002, Nuvve Nuvve marked the directorial debut of Trivikram. Although the film turned out to be successful at the box office, and received critical acclaim, he wasn't happy with it completely, and felt the writer in him dominated the director in that film.^[14]

This was followed by the critically acclaimed film Athadu (2005). Athadu collected a distributor share of ₹19 crore in its total run, thus becoming a box office hit.^{[citation needed]} Its satellite rights were sold for ₹4.5 crore. Following upon its initial recognition, the film was dubbed into Tamil, Malayalam, and Hindi, as well as being dubbed into Polish for a release in Poland as a Poszukiwany, becoming the first Telugu film released in Poland.^{[citation needed]}

Trivikram's next directorial Jalsa became the most anticipated film of the year 2008, with a release of 325 prints in 1000 theatres. The film's audio rights were sold to Aditya Music for ₹90 lakh, the highest for a Telugu film ever at the time. Jalsa became a major hit at box office and was the highest grossing Telugu film of 2008.^{[citation needed]} Jalsa was followed by Khaleja (2010) released on 7 October 2010, for which Trivikram directed Mahesh Babu in two Thums Up soft drink commercials to assist in promoting the film.^{[citation needed]} Khaleja opened to mixed reviews and underperfomred at the box office.^{[citation needed]}

2011–2024: Commercial success and rise to top, Guntur Kaaram

Trivikram provided the dialogues and screenplay for the film,

He then directed

NTR Jr. and Pooja Hegde became a hit, collecting ₹95.2 crore distributor share worldwide.^[26] His 2020 film Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo (2020) starring Allu Arjun and Pooja Hegde became the 4th highest grossing Telugu film of all time at the time of its release, collecting more than ₹152 crore distributor share worldwide with a gross over ₹250 crore.^[27]

His next projects were

Sai Dharam Tej respectively. His next directorial feature was Mahesh Babu starrer Guntur Kaaram, marking their third collaboration.^[28][29] It received negative reviews from critics and was a box office failure.^[30][31]

Personal life

In Hyderabad, as a group of aspirants for a career in films, Trivikram, Sunil, R. P. Patnaik, Chandra Siddhartha, Gopimohan, Dasaradh, and Venu all used to meet in the cafe called "Try Luck", and discuss about opportunities in films. Interestingly, they all started getting noticed in film industry only after the cafe went out of business. R. P. Patnaik came to Hyderabad to prepare for civil services, and joined Trivikram, Sunil’s room and stayed with them for many days.^{[citation needed]} Gunasekhar, also stayed with them as their roommate during his struggling days. As of 2016, Trivikram maintains the room, in the Punjagutta neighbourhood, as a memory by paying rent.^[32][33]

Actor Sunil and Trivikram were friends since their early days in Bhimavaram. Both graduated from the same D.N.R. College in Bhimavaram, Trivikram with B.Sc and Sunil with B.Com Fine Arts, both even married on the same day.^{[citation needed]}

In 2002, Trivikram married Sai Soujanya, niece of Telugu lyricist, Sirivennela Seetharama Sastry; the couple have two children.^[11]

Filmmaking style

Trivikram's writing is interlaced with original and subtle humour. His films are known for their creative and quick-witted dialogue.^[34] Idlebrain.com praised his 2002 directorial debut, Nuvve Nuvve, for "decimating the dullness and the dreariness" plaguing the characterization of actors in then Telugu fims.^[35] In early 2005, The Hindu compared Trivikram favourably with filmmaker Shankar.^[36] Trivikram packs his films with surprise action sequences, and often projects two versions of the same event—appearing at two different junctures in the film—showcasing two different perspectives towards the same incident. The female protagonists in his films ensure majority of the laughs, whereas the male protagonists are guarded about their families and provide security. Issues of self-respect, and relationships-over-money also form major part of his plots.^[20]

Filmography

Key

†	Denotes films that have not yet been released

Trivikram has directed 12 feature films so far.

Directed features

Year	Title	Director	Story	Screenplay	Dialogue	Notes	Ref.
2002	Nuvve Nuvve	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Also playback singer for "Computerlu"
2005	Athadu	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
2008	Jalsa	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
2010	Khaleja	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
2012	Julayi	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
2013	Attarintiki Daredi	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
2015	S/O Satyamurthy	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
2016	A Aa	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
2018	Agnyaathavaasi	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
	Aravinda Sametha Veera Raghava	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
2020	Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
2024	Guntur Kaaram	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes		[37]

Other roles

Year	Title	Story	Screenplay	Dialogue	Notes	Ref.
1999	Swayamvaram	Yes	No	Yes
	Samudram	No	No	Yes
2000	Ninne Premistha	No	No	Yes
	Nuvve Kavali	No	No	Yes
	Chiru Navvutho	Yes	No	Yes
2001	Nuvvu Naaku Nachav	Yes	No	Yes
2002	Vasu	No	No	Yes
	Manmadhudu	Yes	No	Yes
	Ninnu Choodaka Nenundalenu	Yes	No	Yes		[38]
2003	Oka Raju Oka Rani	No	No	No	As a lyricist
	Vaseegara	Yes	No	No
2004	Malliswari	Yes	No	Yes
2005	Jai Chiranjeeva	Yes	No	Yes
2011	Teen Maar	No	Yes	Yes
2018	Chal Mohan Ranga	Yes	No	No	Also co-producer
2022	Bheemla Nayak	No	Yes	Yes	Also lyricist for "Lala Bheemla"	[28]
2023	Bro	No	Yes	Yes		[39]

Frequent collaborators

This section contains a list of miscellaneous information. Please relocate any relevant information into other sections or articles. (February 2022)

Collaborator	Nuvve Nuvve (2002)	Athadu (2005)	Jalsa (2008)	Khaleja (2010)	Julayi (2012)	Attarintiki Daredi (2013)	S/O Satyamurthy (2015)	A Aa (2016)	Agnyaathavaasi (2018)	Aravinda Sametha Veera Raghava (2018)	Ala Vaikuntapuramulo (2020)	Guntur Kaaram (2024)
Mahesh Babu			Voiceover
Pawan Kalyan
Allu Arjun
Pooja Hegde
Samantha Ruth Prabhu
Ileana D'Cruz
Mani Sharma
Devi Sri Prasad
S. Thaman
S. Radha Krishna
Ramajogayya Sastry
Sirivennela Seetharama Sastry
Sunil
Sonu Sood
Ali
M. S. Narayana
Amit Tiwari
Dharmavarapu Subramanyam
Tanikella Bharani
Brahmaji
Sampath Raj
Shatru
Brahmanandam
Prakash Raj					Voiceover
Jayaprakash
Jagapathi Babu
Jayaram
Murali Sharma
Rajendra Prasad
Rao Ramesh
Kota Srinivasa Rao
Mukesh Rishi
Posani Krishna Murali
Easwari Rao
Vennela Kishore
Srinivasa Reddy
Raghu Babu
Ravi Prakash
Ajay
Pragathi
Hari Teja

Awards

Nandi Awards

Year	Work	Category	Result
2000	Chirunavvutho	Best Dialogue Writer	Won
2001	Nuvvu Naaku Nachav	Best Dialogue Writer	Won
2002	Nuvve Nuvve	Best Dialogue Writer	Won
2004	Malliswari	Best Dialogue Writer	Won
2005	Athadu	Best Dialogue Writer	Won
2013	Atharintiki Daaredi	Best Dialogue Writer	Won
2015	BN Reddy National Award	Honorary Nandi Award	Won

Filmfare Awards South

Year	Work	Category	Result
2005	Athadu	Best Director	Won
2013	Atharintiki Daaredi	Best Director	Won

South Indian International Movie Awards

Year	Work	Category	Result
2013	Attarintiki Daredi	Best Director	Won
2020	Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo	Best Director	Won

Santosham Film Awards

Year	Work	Category	Result
2008	Jalsa	Best Director	Won

• Allu Ramalingaiah Memorial Award^[40]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Sri Atluri (10 April 2008). "TC Exclusive Interview: Trivikram Srinivas". Telugu Cinema. pp. 1, 2, 3. Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 2 March 2011.
2. News18
   (in Telugu). 6 March 2022. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
3. ^ ^{a b} Vyas (8 May 2021). "Buzz: Shocking remuneration to Trivikram Srinivas". The Hans India. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
4. ^ ^{a b} "Trivikram Remuneration: త్రివిక్రమ్ షాకింగ్ రెమ్యూనరేషన్.. 'సూపర్ స్టార్' మహేష్ బాబుకు పోటీగా!!". Zee News (in Telugu). 6 March 2022. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
5. ^ ^{a b} "Trivikram Srinivas: 'We have incorporated patriarchy in a subtle way'". The Times of India. Retrieved 2 September 2022. Trivikram Srinivas, tagged as the 'Guruji' among the Telugu folks, is famous for his heart-touching quotes in his movies. His dialogues not only rhyme, but also convey life lessons.
6. ^
   ISSN 0971-751X
   . Retrieved 2 September 2022. 'Maatala mantrikudu' and 'guruvu gaaru' are often-used tags to describe him thanks to his dialogues.
7. ^ Naramaneni, Ram (7 July 2022). "Trivikram Dialogues: ఆయన డైలాగ్ చెప్పాడంటే అది జీవిత సత్యమే.. మాటల మాంత్రికుడి టాప్-10 డైలాగ్స్". TV9 (in Telugu). Retrieved 2 September 2022.
8. ^ "Andhra Pradesh government announces Nandi awards for 2014-2016 - Times of India". The Times of India. 15 November 2017.
9. ^ ^{a b c} Pasupulate, Karthik (19 May 2014). "Trivikram Srinivas did M.Sc in Nuclear Physics". The Times of India. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
10. ^ "Tollywood takes divine path with its themes". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 4 July 2022. Amid this flood of bitter-sweet good-for-nothings have come 'Vedam', 'Gamyam' (Destination), 'Athadu' (He), 'Chirunavvutho' (With a smile) and 'Khaleja' (Courage), that are based on the Vedantic ideals. And the minds behind this 'philosophical revolution' are directors Radhakrishna, popularly known as Krish, and Trivikram Srinivas. Trivikram's characterisation of the protagonist in almost all his films as a detached and stoic man with Daivi (divine) qualities has earned him laurels.
11. ^ ^{a b} "Happy Birthday Trivikram Srinivas: Tollywood stars queue to wish the directorial genius". The Times of India. 7 November 2019. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
12. ^ Haseeb, Ahssanuddin (12 January 2018). "Do You Know About Pawan Kalyan's Sporting Sacred Thread 'Jandhyam'?". #KhabarLive | Breaking News, Analysis, Insights. Retrieved 16 August 2023.
13. ^ GTNEWS1 (1 December 2021). "Director Trivikram was married in Sirivennelas house - Great Telangaana | English Director Trivikram was married in Sirivennelas house". Great Telangaana | English. Retrieved 16 August 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
14. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h} "Trivikram interview - Telugu film director". Idlebrain.com. 7 August 2012.
15. ^ "Do you know Trivikram's real name ?". Suryaa. 7 November 2021.
16. ISSN 0971-751X
    . Retrieved 13 February 2022.
17. ^ "Interview with Sunil by Jeevi". Idlebrain.com. Retrieved 28 September 2022.
18. ^ "Nuvve Kavali's budget was originally 75 lakhs - Times of India". The Times of India.
19. ^ "Trivikram Srinivas". rottentomatoes.com. Retrieved 29 September 2022.
20. ^ ^{a b} "Trivikram, the name says it all". The Hindu. 9 January 2018.
21. ^ "Reddy Ikkada Soodu Song Aravindha Sametha By Trivikram". TollyBag. 16 November 2017. Retrieved 3 March 2011.
22. ^ "Pawan Kalyan, Jayanth's movie will be released on March,28th..!". Telugmall. Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 3 March 2011.
23. ^ attarintiki daredi collections: Latest News, Videos and attarintiki daredi collections Photos Times of India (30 April 2015). Retrieved on 2015-11-11.
24. ^ "'Attarintiki Daredi' Review Roundup: Pawan Kalyan Starrer a Perfect Family Entertainer". International Business Times India. 28 September 2013. Archived from the original on 22 January 2015. Retrieved 22 January 2015.
25. DNA India
    . Retrieved 27 September 2015.
26. ^ Hooli, Shekhar H. (29 October 2018). "Aravinda Sametha 18-day box office collection: Jr NTR film turns fifth all-time highest Telugu film". International Business Times India. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
27. ^ Vyas (13 March 2020). "Allu Arjun's Ala Vaikunthapurramloo Movie Closing Collections Report". The Hans India. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
28. ^ ^{a b} Kumar, Gabbeta Ranjith (25 January 2021). "Pawan Kalyan-Rana Daggubati film goes on the floor". Indian Express. Retrieved 18 February 2021.
29. ^ "Mahesh Babu and Trivikram Srinivas to join hands for the third time". India Today. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
30. ^ "'Guntur Kaaram' Review: Spice Hits In The Eyes". 12 January 2024. Overall, "Guntur Kaaram" can be classified as a formulaic commercial family entertainer. While the film avoids gratuitous violence commonly found in today's big star movies, it suffers from outdated sequences and a lack of emotional depth. There is no humor either. The film largely hinges on Mahesh Babu's star power and his performance.
31. ^ "Guntur Kaaram final box office collections: Mahesh Babu close with 172Cr Worldwide". Pinkvilla. 8 February 2024.
32. ^ "ఆయనో స్టార్‌ డైరెక్టర్‌.. ఇప్పటికీ రూ.ఐదు వేల అద్దె కడుతూ." Sakshi (in Telugu). 30 August 2021.
33. ^ "ఆ గది పంజాగుట్టలో ఉంది..." Samayam Telugu (in Telugu). 19 February 2016. Retrieved 16 February 2022.
34. ^ "Nuvvu Naaku Nachchaav Movie Review". Fullhyderabad. 10 September 2001. Retrieved 2 March 2011.
35. ^ Telugu Cinema – Research – Analysis – Some Ramblings -Nuvve Nuvve – Srinivas Kanchibhotla. IdleBrain. Retrieved on 11 November 2015.
36. ^ M.L. Narasimham (23 February 2004). "Action-packed thriller". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 16 February 2006. Retrieved 2 March 2011.
37. ^ "#SSMB28: Mahesh Babu's next with Trivikram Srinivas launched with formal pooja | Telugu Movie News - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
38. ^ "Telugu cinema - Ninnu Choodaka nenundalenu - Sachin, Bhavana Paani - Ilayaraja".
39. ISSN 0971-751X
    . Retrieved 19 May 2023.
40. ^ "Allu Ramalingaiah who received the National Award of Tollywood director? – iittm.in".

External links

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