Director, writer and actor · Telugu cinema
V. V. Vinayak
V. V. Vinayak movies: 17 Telugu films on file (16 as director, 14 as writer, 4 as actor), 2002–2018. Earliest on file: Aadi (2002). Latest release: Inttelligent (9 February 2018).
- Films on file
- 17 (16 as director, 14 as writer, 4 as actor)
- Years on file
- 2002–2018
- Born
- 9 October 1974 · October birthdays (Wikidata)
- Record
- Q7906291 on Wikidata
V. V. Vinayak (Gandrothu Veera Venkata Vinayaka Rao, born 9 October 1974) is an Indian film director and screenwriter in Telugu cinema. He is known for action dramas and action comedies. Since his debut with Aadi (2002), he has directed a string of commercial successes, including Tagore, Naayak and Khaidi No. 150.
Early life
Vinayak was born in Chagallu, Andhra Pradesh. His family owned a cinema hall, which sparked his interest in films early on. He finished his intermediate education while living with his aunt in the nearby village of Dommeru, the home village of director E. V. V. Satyanarayana. After his studies, he persuaded his father to let him try a career in cinema.
Assistant director
Vinayak began as an assistant director to E. V. V. Satyanarayana on Abbayigaru (1993). He then worked with director Sagar, starting with Amma Donga (1995), and went on to collaborate with him on six films. He also assisted Kranthi Kumar on Paadutha Theeyaga (1998) and 9 Nelalu (2000), and S. V. Krishna Reddy on Sakutumba Saparivara Sametam (2000).
Debut and early success
His first film as director, Aadi (2002), was a major commercial success and won him the Nandi Award for Best First Film of a Director. In 2003 he had two more hits, Dil and Tagore. Tagore set box-office records and, according to the source, became the second highest-grossing Telugu film of its time.
Later films
Vinayak’s later successes include Bunny (2005), Lakshmi (2006), Krishna (2008) and Adhurs (2010). For Krishna he received a Santhosham award for Best Commercial Director. In 2013 he directed Naayak, an action comedy-drama he co-wrote with Akula Siva, in which Ram Charan plays a dual role opposite Kajal Aggarwal and Amala Paul. It was shot mainly in Hyderabad and Kolkata, with songs filmed in Dubai, Iceland and Slovenia. He followed it with Khaidi No. 150 (2017).
Other work
Also in 2013, Vinayak directed a short film promoting organ donation.
Career on file
V. V. Vinayak has 17 Telugu films on file at Tollywood Desk, dated from 2002 to 2018: 16 films as director, 14 films as writer and four films as actor. The earliest of them is Aadi (2002), and the most recent release is Inttelligent (2018). Measured by how many Wikipedia language editions cover them, the best-known titles here are Badrinadh (2011), Yogi (2007) and Bunny (2005). Other recent releases on file are Khaidi No. 150 (2017), Akhil (2015) and Alludu Seenu (2014).
Chiranjeevi and Brahmanandam are the most frequent co-stars, each sharing two films with V. V. Vinayak. In the films V. V. Vinayak directed, Brahmanandam appears most often (seven films), ahead of Prakash Raj (6) and Nayanthara (3). Devi Sri Prasad and Mani Sharma each scored four of them, more than any other music director; next are Chakri (2) and Ramana Gogula (2). Across these films the credits on file name 8 music directors and 58 other credited actors.
Runtime is on file for 14 of them; they average 151 minutes, and the longest is Tagore at 175 minutes. Two of them have a streaming (OTT) release noted on the site. By decade the list splits into 2000s (10) and 2010s (7).
Figures come from the films on file at Tollywood Desk and change as records are added.