SS Rajamouli, the famous Tollywood director, had actually started off as a writer for films. It was while
performing this job as a writer that he decided that he wants to be a director; the reason being that he
was quite unhappy with manner in which his writings were executed. He wanted to direct his own films
in order to bring out what he envisaged as a writer. So he became an assistant to Mr Gangaraju on Little
Soldiers. Directing movies came a little later, when he was selected by Raghavendra Rao for making ads
on social awareness for Andhra Pradesh’s government. After that he directed a TV serial followed by
his first film Student No. 1 which became a very successful. The success continued with his second film
Himadri. He has already directed a host of blockbusters like Eega, Magadheera and Vikramarkudu.
However, even today, he is uncomfortable working with stars. He feels that with big stars he will have
to follow the pattern of those stars because he will have a lot of expectations. So he will not be able to
enjoy making the film as he will have to made adjustments according to the star. This is the reason why
he works within his small world. His father tells him that he would have done better if he worked with
stars or directed Hindi films.
Born in Karnataka, he shifted to Andhra Pradesh and later to Chennai. He came from a poor but a
huge joint family. As a kid, he loved to tell stories. He would twist the stories of Amar Chitra Katha and
present it in an interesting manner. He was a good student till 10th standard and an average one after
that. Once, when his father asked him what he wanted to do in life, he replied that he wants to become
a director because he wanted to escape from the eyes of his father. But the reverse happened and his
father fixed him as an apprentice under an editor. Later he became his father’s assistant for writing
stories.
Not only does Rajamouli make love stories in reel life, in real life also he married for love. His wife is
his cousin MM Kreem’s wife’s sister. When he proposed her, she was a divorcee but that did not deter
him. In a lighter vein, he says that he was clever in choosing her as she is the one who handles all critical
situations, takes care of the family and finances ad he is able to devote himself to writing and making his
films.
A lesser known aspect of Rajamouli is that he is pro-capitalism as he believes that wealth, if acquired in a
legal way, benefits the society under you, directly or indirectly.
