ALL STARS AT ONE PLACE-RAVIKANTHKADIYALA: Shekar Kammula

Sekhar Kammula (Telugu: శేఖర్ కమ్ముల) is a critically acclaimed and commercially successful Telugu film director, writer and producer from the Telugu Film Industry.

Sekhar was schooled at St. Patrick's High School, Secunderabad.He completed his intermediate studies from St. Alphonsa's and graduated with a Bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering fromChaitanya Bharathi Institute of Technology affiliated to Osmania University, Hyderabad. He later went to the United States of America to pursue a Graduate degree in Computer Sciences at New Jersey. After a brief stint in the IT industry, he enrolled in the MFA program at Howard University, Washington, D.C.

Career

Sekhar 's first film was the so called "commercial formulas" in making his movies. Nevertheless, all his movies have been very well received and have been commercially successful at the box-office, making him one of the revolutionary directors of Telugu cinema. Dollar Dreams^[1] was a critical success, and won him the National Film Award for best debutant director. His second film, Anand, was huge hit in the year 2004. Dr. Dasari Narayana Rao, a prominent person in the Telugu film industry, declared Sekhar as "Hero of 2004". His next film, Godavari, was praised by critics, but was a moderate success. Happy Days, which was released in September 28, 2007, was declared a smash hit. Kammula's films pleasantly lack the omnipresent violence in Indian cinema and this makes family viewing possible. He avoids overdramatization, vulgarity and violence. He worked with Polaris before starting films, his brother is still associated with same firm. Sekhar's latest film LEADER (2010) released on 19 February 2010 after a gap of two years post his last blockbuster film Happy Days (2007). The film being a political drama, a genre shift from Sekhar, carried huge expectations starring Rana Daggubati, grandson of Dr. D. Ramanaidu. The film is a critically acclaimed success and is garnering huge collections thereby catapulting the director to fame.

Current Project

Sekhar Kammula is going to direct his first Hindi film which is a remake of Happy Days. The Hindi version will be produced by renowned film maker Shekhar Kapoor . The film will feature several new faces and Sekhar Kammula will start scouting for new faces in Mumbai and Pune, through the same process which he employed for the Telugu film .

Also he is working on a Telugu project Life is Beautiful with new stars and also is looking for new talent be it technical or non technical.

Personal life

Sekhar has one daughter and a son. His wife name is Srividya. He stays with his parents and leads a simple life. His father's name is Seshaiah Kammula.

Filmography

Year	Film	Credited as			Notes
Year	Film	Director	Writer	Producer	Notes
2000	Dollar Dreams	Yes	Yes	Yes
2004	Anand	Yes	Yes	Yes
2006	Godavari	Yes	Yes
2007	Happy Days	Yes	Yes	Yes
2008	Avakai Biryani			Yes
2010	Leader	Yes	Yes
Filming	Life is Beautiful	Yes	Yes	Yes