Director, writer and actor · Telugu cinema
Srinu Vaitla
Srinu Vaitla movies: 18 Telugu films on file (17 as director, 14 as writer, 2 as actor), 1999–2024. Earliest on file: Nee Kosam (1999). Latest release: Viswam (11 October 2024).
- Films on file
- 18 (17 as director, 14 as writer, 2 as actor)
- Years on file
- 1999–2024
- Born
- 24 September 1966 · September birthdays (Wikidata)
- Selected films on file
- Aagadu, Dookudu, Amar Akbar Anthony
- Record
- Q7586467 on Wikidata
Srinu Vaitla (born 24 September 1972) is an Indian film director and screenwriter who works in Telugu cinema, best known for action comedies. His films from Sontham onward are widely referenced in Telugu popular culture, and several have gained cult status for their comic scenes and characters. He has won five Nandi Awards, three of them for Best Screenplay Writer, and the Filmfare Award for Best Director – Telugu.
Early life
Vaitla was born in Kandulapalem, near Ramachandrapuram in the former East Godavari district, and completed his intermediate education in Kakinada, often watching films instead of attending college. Inspired by Mani Ratnam and Vamsy, he boarded the Bokaro Express to Madras in 1989 to try his luck in films.
Early films
His debut, the romantic film Nee Kosam (1999), starring Ravi Teja in his first lead, won Nandi Awards for Best Feature Film, Best First Film of a Director and Best Screenplay Writer. He gained wider recognition with the romantic drama Anandam (2001).
Action comedies
He then shifted to comedy and action comedy with Sontham (2002), Venky (2004) and Dubai Seenu (2007), both with Ravi Teja, Dhee (2007), which won him another screenplay Nandi, Ready (2008) and King (2008).
Collaborators
Since Venky he has often worked with the writers Kona Venkat and Gopi Mohan.
Dookudu and later
Dookudu (2011) brought him the Filmfare, CineMAA, SIIMA and Times of India awards for Best Director and a third Nandi for screenplay. He followed it with Baadshah (2013). He also appeared as an actor in Rainbow (2008).
Career on file
Srinu Vaitla has 18 Telugu films on file at Tollywood Desk, dated from 1999 to 2024: 17 films as director, 14 films as writer and two films as actor. The earliest of them is Nee Kosam (1999), and the most recent release is Viswam (2024). Measured by how many Wikipedia language editions cover them, the best-known titles here are Aagadu (2014), Dookudu (2011) and Amar Akbar Anthony (2018). Other recent releases on file are Mister (2017), Bruce Lee - The Fighter (2015) and Baadshah (2013).
In the films Srinu Vaitla directed, Brahmanandam appears most often (ten films), ahead of M. S. Narayana (5) and Nassar (4). Music on six of them is by Devi Sri Prasad, with S. Thaman (5) and Mani Sharma (2) next. Across these films the credits on file name 9 music directors and 80 other credited actors.
Runtime is on file for 18 of them; they average 154 minutes, and the longest is Dookudu at 175 minutes. Four of them have a streaming (OTT) release noted on the site. By decade the list splits into 1990s (1), 2000s (8), 2010s (8) and 2020s (1).
Figures come from the films on file at Tollywood Desk and change as records are added.