Trivikram Srinivas

Akella Naga Srinivasa Sarma (born 7 November 1971), known professionally as Trivikram Srinivas, is an Indian film director and screenwriter known for his work in Telugu cinema. Recognised for his witty dialogues, humour, and philosophical themes, he is one of the highest-paid directors in Indian cinema. He has received six Nandi Awards for Best Dialogue Writer and two Filmfare Awards for Best Director. In 2015, he received the BN Reddy National Award for his contributions to Indian cinema.

A university gold medalist with a master's degree in nuclear physics, Trivikram began his career as a screenwriter before transitioning to directing. He is popularly referred to as "Maatala Maantrikudu" , and "Guruji" by Telugu audiences.R

In 2000, Trivikram wrote the dialogues for Nuvve Kavali, which won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Telugu. His other writing credits include Swayamvaram (1999), Chirunavvutho (2000), Nuvvu Naaku Nachav (2001), Manmadhudu (2002), and Malliswari (2004). He made his directorial debut with Nuvve Nuvve (2002), which won the Nandi Award for Best Feature Film (Silver). His notable directorial works include Athadu (2005), Jalsa (2008), Khaleja (2010), Julayi (2012), Attarintiki Daredi (2013), S/O Satyamurthy (2015), A Aa (2016), Aravinda Sametha Veera Raghava (2018), and Ala Vaikuntapuramulo (2020).

Early life Trivikram Srinivas was born as Akella Naga Srinivasa Sharma into a Telugu Brahmin family, in Bhimavaram, Andhra Pradesh. 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 was impractical, considering his financial situation, which was such that even buying a ticket to travel from Bhimavaram to Hyderabad, the hub of the Telugu film industry, was itself a big task.

Trivikram then started to work as a high school teacher in Bhimavaram, teaching math, physics, and chemistry.

Career Early beginnings Srinivas met writer Kommanapalli Ganapathi Rao, and on his suggestion, published his short story "Road" in Andhra Jyothi, a leading Telugu newspaper. For the first time he uses his pen name "Trivikram" for the credit later it becomes popular through that name. It was his first and only story published so far. Rao liked his writing and assured him of work in the film Merupu (1996) but expressed that the producer would not 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 a faraway 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 Trivikram 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? (1996). Prasad narrated the story but said the entire script was complete except for the climax and asked Trivikram to come up with his own version of the climax. He then wrote and narrated it. Posani Krishna Murali, one of the established writers, who happened to be present there, was impressed with Trivikram's writing. However, they later lost contact with each other.

Other projects

After the success of Swayamvaram and Nuvve Kavali (2000), Trivikram went on to write the story and dialogues for Chirunavvutho (2000), Nuvvu Naaku Nachav (2001), Manmadhudu (2002), Malliswari (2004), and Jai Chiranjeeva (2005). He also wrote dialogues for the Telugu film Vasu (2002).

Trivikram even penned the lyrics for a song in the film Oka Raju Oka Rani (2003), and sang a portion of the song "Computers-u Arts-u Science-u" in his directorial debut Nuvve Nuvve (2002).

2002–2010: Directorial debut and breakthrough

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 another of his works as writer, Nuvvu Naaku Nachav, in late 2001. Nuvve Nuvve released in 2002, marking Trivikram's directorial debut. Although the film received critical acclaim and became successful at the box office, Trivikram was not completely happy with it and felt that the writer in him dominated the director in that film. Next, he directed Attarintiki Daredi (2013), starring Pawan Kalyan, Samantha, and Pranitha Subhash. Despite the film's pirated version, which has up to 90 minutes of the film being put up online a few days before its official release, the film became an industry hit. Attarinitki Daredi received positive reviews from critics according to International Business Times India, who called the film a "perfect family entertainer" in their review roundup.

Trivikram then directed S/O Satyamurthy (2015), starring Allu Arjun and Samantha. The film was released on 9 April 2015 to a general positive response. On a 40 crore ($6.23 million) budget, S/O Satyamurthy earned a distributor share of 51.9 crore ($8.1 million) and grossed 90.5 crore ($14.1 million). His romance film A Aa (2016) starring Nithiin and Samantha became above average.

2018–present: Career fluctuations 2018 was a mixed bag for Trivikram, as his Agnyaathavaasi starring Pawan Kalyan, Keerthy Suresh, and Anu Emmanuel was a disaster at the box-office, while his Aravinda Sametha Veera Raghava starring NTR Jr. and Pooja Hegde became a hit, collecting 95.2 crore distributor share worldwide. His 2020 film Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo (2020), starring Allu Arjun and Pooja Hegde, became the fourteenth-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.

His next projects were Bheemla Nayak (2022) and Bro (2023), remakes for which he wrote the screenplay and dialogues, starring Pawan Kalyan alongside Rana Daggubati and Sai Dharam Tej respectively. His next directorial feature was the Mahesh Babu-starrer Guntur Kaaram (2024), marking their third collaboration. It received negative reviews from critics and was a box office failure.

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 a café called "Try Luck" and discuss about opportunities in films. Interestingly, they all started getting noticed in film industry only after the café went out of business. Patnaik came to Hyderabad to prepare for civil services and became Trivikram and Sunil's roommate for many days. Gunasekhar also stayed with them as their roommate during his struggling days. As of 2016, Trivikram maintains the room in the Punjagutta neighborhood as a memory by paying rent.

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

In 2002, Trivikram married Sai Soujanya, niece of Telugu lyricist, Sirivennela Seetharama Sastry. The couple has two children. In early 2005, The Hindu compared Trivikram favourably with filmmaker Shankar.

Other roles

Awards Nandi Awards

Filmfare Awards South

South Indian International Movie Awards

Santosham Film Awards Allu Ramalingaiah Memorial Award