Ram Gopal Varma also known as RGV or Ramu is an Indian film director, screenwriter and producer. His work is predominantly in Bollywood and Telugu cinema. Varma has directed, written and produced films across multiple genres — psychological thrillers, underworld gang warfare, road movies, horrors, fictional films, politician-criminal nexus, experimental films, musicals, parallel cinema, and docudrama. Two of his films Siva (1989), and Satya (1998) were show cased among CNN-IBN's list of hundred best Indian films of all time. In 2005, Indiatimes Movies included Satya in its list of 25 Must See Bollywood Movies. The film marked the introduction of a new genre of film making, a variation of film noir that has been called Mumbai noir, of which Varma is the acknowledged master.

He directed path breaking film's like Siva (1989) and Kshana Kshanam (1991) for which he has garnered Andhra Pradesh state Nandi Awards for Best Direction. In 1999, He has garnered the National Film Award for scripting and producing Shool. In the same year He directed Prema Katha for which he received his third Nandi Award for Best Director. He garnered three Filmfare Awards and five Bollywood Movie Awards. In 2010, He received critical acclaim at the International film festival of Fribourg, Switzerland, where in, a retrospective of Mumbai noir, was staged by film critic, Edward Waintrop.

He gained recognition in Bollywood with the 1990 Hindi film, Shiva premiered at International Film Festival of India, and the 1991 supernatural thriller, Raat. In 1995 he directed another blockbuster Rangeela. He then directed Satya (1998), which won six Filmfare Awards, including the Critics Award for Best Film, and was show cased among the Indian panorama section, at the 1998 International Film Festival of India. Varma received the Bimal Roy memorial award for best direction for this film.

Satya, together with his 2002 film Company (which he directed, won three IIFA Awards, seven Filmfare Awards, and a Bollywood Movie Award for best direction, and was premiered at the 2004 Austin Film Festival) and the 2005 film D (which he produced), form an "Indian gangster trilogy". In 2006, he re-made a new version of Shiva, which was screened at the New York Asian Film Festival, where a retrospective featuring several of his previous movies was staged. Alongside Shiva, the festival screened his earlier successful films Company, Ek Hasina Thi, Ab Tak Chhappan and Sarkar. In 2008, he directed another blockbuster, Sarkar Raj, which was archived at the Academy of Motion Pictures library. In 2013, he directed a docudrama, The Attacks of 26/11 showcased to critical acclaim at the Berlin International Film Festival, in the Panorama as well as the Competition section.

Other acclaimed films at the box office, that Varma directed include Gaayam (1993), Anaganaga Oka Roju (1997), Kaun (1999), Jungle (2000), Bhoot (2003), Sarkar (2005), Phoonk (2008), Rakta Charitra (2010), and Katha Screenplay Darshakatvam Appalaraju (2011).

Biography

Sirasri – poet, lyricist and writer wrote a book in biographical tone on the interactions he had with Ram Gopal Varma with the title Vodka With Varma. Director Puri Jagannath launched the book in December 2012 at Aros Pub in Hyderabad.