Neelakanta | |
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Born | G. Neelakanta Reddy[1] Kadapa, Andhra Pradesh, India |
Alma mater | Loyola College, Vijayawada |
Occupation(s) | Director, Screen Writer |
Neelakanta is an Indian film director and screenwriter who works predominantly in Telugu films director. He has received the National Award in the screenwriting for the feature Show.[2] He won two National Film Awards & three Nandi Awards.[3]
Neelakanta is a native of Kadapa, Andhra Pradesh.[1] He studied at Loyola Public School and Loyola College in Vijayawada. Since his school days, Neelakanta has had a deep love for film direction and film making which is what drove him to Chennai after his graduation.
Neelakanta always wanted to make films which eloquently depicted the psychological study of characters for the off-beat[4] his passion materialised with Show[5] followed by Missamma. He received two national awards, one for Best Screenplay and the other for the Best Feature Film in Telugu for Show while state Nandi Award in the screenplay department for the latter.
He then made Sada Mee Sevalo, with Shriya Saran and Venu Thottempudi in lead roles,[6] and later made a psychological thriller, Nandanavanam 120km. Both these films did not do well at the box office. Despite its commercial failure, Nanadanavanam got him huge critical acclaim.[7] These were followed by Mr.Medhavi. with Genelia and Raja in the lead roles. This film, produced by RamaRao Bodduluri, proved to be an above-average grosser. He also wrote dialogues for a Telugu remake of the Hindi hit A Wednesday!, entitled Eeenadu. In 2011, Neelakanta directed Virodhi, featuring Meka Srikanth and Kamalinee Mukherjee. Neelakanta secured the best dialogue writer award in the year 2011 for this film. In 2013 he directed Chammak Challo, which gathered bad reviews for both the director and the film.[8][9]
In 2018, he directed the Malayalam film Zam Zam starring Manjima Mohan. The film is an official remake of the Hindi film Queen.
Year | Film | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1994 | Priyanka | Screenplay, direction | Tamil film; Remake of Hindi film Damini – Lightning |
2002 | Show | Screenplay, direction | Winner - two National Film Awards |
2003 | Missamma | Screenplay, direction | Winner - Four Nandi Awards |
2005 | Sadaa Mee Sevalo | Screenplay, direction | |
2006 | Nandanavanam 120km | Screenplay, direction | |
2008 | Mr. Medhavi | Direction | |
2009 | Eeenadu | Dialogues | |
2011 | Virodhi | Screenplay, direction | Screened at International Film Festival of India – 2011
|
2013 | Chammak Challo | Direction | |
2014 | Maaya[11] | Screenplay, direction | [12] |
2023 | Circle | Direction | |
TBA | Zam Zam | Direction | Malayalam film; Remake of Hindi film Queen |