R. Raghuraj

R. Raghuraj is an Indian film director and screenwriter, who has worked on Kannada, Tamil, and Telugu-language films. After beginning his career in Tamil films, Raghuraj has experienced more success in Telugu and Kannada films.

Career After beginning his career as a photo journalist, Raghuraj apprenticed as an editor with B. Lenin, before receiving an opportunity from producer K. T. Kunjumon to direct his first feature film, Sakthi (1997). The film, featuring Vineeth and Yuvarani in the lead roles, received negative reviews and performed poorly at the box office. Raghuraj then took a sabbatical before re-emerging with the Telugu film, Kalusukovalani (2002), which became a box office success. This prompted Raghuraj to remake the film as Ice (2003) in Tamil, with newcomer Ashok and Priyanka Trivedi in the lead roles. Comparatively, the Tamil version did not perform as well and critics noted that the film "makes viewers feel restless". In 2004, Raghuraj briefly worked on a project titled Jockey with Prashanth, Laila and Malavika in the lead roles, but the film was later stalled.

In 2009, Raghuraj revealed that he was working on a trilogy of vigilante films and that Appavi would be the first of the three. Prior to release, the film was reported in the media for producing India's largest flag for a sequence, at 1115 feet. The film eventually had a delayed release in 2011. Raghuraj then moved to make films in the Kannada film industry, and has worked on four projects including Boss (2011) and Namaste Madam (2014).

Filmography Year Film Language Notes 1997 Sakthi Tamil 2002 Kalusukovalani Telugu 2003 Ice Tamil 2011 Boss Kannada 2011 Rama Rama Raghurama 2011 Appavi Tamil 2013 Sidila Mari Kannada 2014 Namaste Madam 2016 Supari Surya 2019 4 Letters Telugu Also editor