User:Raj Madiraju/sandbox

Raj Madiraju

Born	Paloncha, Khammam, Telangana, India Residence	Hyderabad, Telangana, India

Nationality	Indian

Occupation	Screenwriter Film Director Actor Producer Alma mater	Osmania University

Years active	1996 – present Awards	Nandi Awards

Raj Madiraju (Born Raja Sekhar Madiraju) is an Indian film writer, director, actor and producer. In a career spanning about 20 years, he predominantly worked in Telugu films. In the year 2011-12, he wrote and directed Rushi for which he won the Nandi Award for the best story from the state government of Andhra Pradesh. Early Life And Education Raj Madiraju is born as Raja Sekhar Madiraju, the middle of the three children of Vijayananda Madiraju and Seshukala Madiraju in New Paloncha, Khammam District of then Andhra Pradesh State. Vijayananda worked as an electrical engineer in the Kothagudem Thermal Power Station. As a young kid, Raj always dreamt of becoming a singer. The family moved to Hyderabad, the state capital in the year 1984 thanks to his father’s transfer and studied DECE from Govt. Polytechnic. He joined Grad IETE in 1990 but discontinued due to lack of focus. Did some odd marketing jobs, teaching jobs but its his passion for music and entertainment that prompted him join Hyderabad Film Talents’ Guild, a renowned music group in Hyderabad. He gave stage shows between 1992 and 1996. He joined Avanthi School Of Business Management, affiliated to Osmania University in 1995 to pursue Masters in Business Administration. Film Career 1994-95 was the year that Satellite Television started invading Indian homes. Raj gave some TV show ideas to famous producer KS Rama Rao and was involved in making pilot episodes while he grew attracted to the bigger, larger than life and more influential medium, Films. Especially films as a commercial art form. With the help of KS Rama Rao, he joined ace director Dasari Narayana Rao in 1996 even as he was in the midst of his management course. His final year project in 1997 was “How To Market A Movie” and was received with raised eyebrows by his professors. Assistant Director He worked for three years between 1996 and 1998 with Dasari Narayana Rao for seven films including Kalyana Praptirastu, Osey Ramulamma, Rowdy Durbar, Greek Veerudu, Sammakka Sarakka, Kante Kuthurne Kanali and Pichchodi Chethilo Raayi. He then joined Chiranjeevi’s unfinished Hollywood venture “Return of Abu – Thief Of Bagdad”in 1999 and worked with stalwarts like Richard Kline the cinematographer who received Lifetime Achievement by ASC, Giles Masters the Production Designer of Mummy, The Da Vinci Code etc, Douchan Gerci, the director, AR Rahman the academy award winning composer etc., supported by Hollywood crew, Panavision equipment and world class ideas at work. Director (2000 – 2010) Raj made his directorial debut in the year 2000 with Tharun starrer Uncle. Produced by star comedian AVS, the film was critically well acclaimed while AVS got a Nandi Jury Award for actor. The commercial failure of the film, however, forced Raj take an unintended sabbatical from feature films though he continued doing Commercials and Infomercials for top brands in town such as Apollo Hospitals, KIMS, ICICI, Regency group, Manikya Group, Aurora Group, GPREC, etc. He also helped some films rope in top brands like Fair & Lovely, Bru, Dinshaw’s, McDowell’s etc for In-film branding and associate brands in promotion. Punditz Consultants He established Punditz Consultants Pvt. Ltd in 2006 and did some path breaking TV shows like Punditz Job Show on MAA TV supported by ground events like Punditz Job Factor which were mentioned in the annual journal for new age ideas by Tata Strategic Management Group TSMG. Punditz designed and presented several In-company events like Company Idol, Fashion Week etc which later have become regulars to those companies. Punditz had served companies like Microsoft, Aegis BPO, HSBC etc. During the period of ten years, Raj has written many stories in different genres that can be produced into films. Return To Films Raj Madiraju had this vision of producing films on a regular basis in a corporate style both in terms of funding and work ethics. Thru different studies, he formulated a platform that would enable Infrastructure Holders, Investors and Production teams. Over the years, Raj has got in touch with scores of young talent that are industry-ready. He took the idea to Ramesh Prasad, Head of Prasad Group who gave his consent to support with the huge infrastructure they have at their command. He started pitching the idea to investors. Raj meanwhile narrated the story idea of Rushi to Ramesh Prasad which he instantly agreed to produce. This was Raj’s first film in ten years and Prasad Productions’ first in twenty years. Released in 2012, Rushi went on to win accolades and acclaim in critical circles, toured several film festivals, won awards. Raj won Nandi for the best story while Prasads won special jury award for the film. Raj also won best director at Dada Saheb Phalke film festival. The film was officially selected by Marbella International Film Festival, Spain, Riverside International Film Festival, Jaipur International Film Festival and Dadasaheb Phalke Film Festival, Greater Noida. Early 2014, Raj and Ramesh Prasad liked Marathi hit Timepass immensely and bought the remake rights for Telugu version. Preproduction works began in the second half of 2014 and production took off in 2015. Titled Andhra Pori, the movie casted Aakash Puri, son of popular director Puri Jagannath and Ulka Gupta, Jhansi Ki Rani fame. The movie released on 5th June 2015 and was received well by the audiences. Raj took off with his next, a bilingual techno thriller Aithe 2.0/Pirates 1.0 in 2016. The film is produced by Vijaya Rama Raju and Hemanth Reddy Vallapureddy. The film is in the post production phase. The film is officially selected for screening into LA Cinefest, Barcelona Planet Film Festival and Calcutta International Cult Film Festival. While it booked a Semi-Final berth in LA Cinefest, It won outstanding achievement award in CICFF. Montages Cinema In 2016, Raj has moved further with his idea of a platform for Filmmaking on a regular basis. He established Montages Cinema and started developing project ideas. Montages has acquired the rights to produce the lives of Capt. Saurabh Kalia and Investigative Journalist Josy Joseph into feature films. Apart from them, Montages is in the process of developing story ideas to scripts while paralelly making inroads into the idea of building a talent bank. Actor Raj has played cameos in films like Osey Ramulamma, Uncle and Andhra Pori but Nandini Reddy’s Kalyana Vaibhogame has introduced him as a full time actor in which he played the father of Naga Shaurya. The film did well and opened up opportunities to Raj as an actor. Raj made significant appearances in films like Appatlo Okadundevadu, Raja Meeru Keka, Jawan etc. Personal Life Raj Madiraju has married Mythily in the year 1997 and they have one girl child. Filmography Film	Year	Director	Writer	Actor 	Remarks Uncle	2000	Yes	Yes	Yes (Cameo) Rushi	2010	Yes	Yes		Won Nandi Award for best story

Won Best Director award at Dadasaheb Phalke Fil Festival Andhra Pori	2015	Yes	Yes	Yes (Cameo)	Remake of Timepass Aithe 2.0 Yes	Yes	Yes (Cameo)	Yet to be released Pirates 1.0		Yes	Yes	Yes (Cameo)	Hindi version of Aithe 2.0 Won Outstanding achievement Award at CICFF Kalyana Vaibhogame	2016			Yes Appatlo Okadundevadu	2016			Yes Raja Meeru Keka	2017			Yes Jawan	2017			Yes