Sukumar is an Indian film director, producer, and screenwriter who predominantly works in Telugu cinema. Born in Mattaparru near Razole, East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh, Sukumar worked as a mathematics and physics lecturer at the Aditya Junior college, Kakinada for nearly six years before pursuing a career in films. He began working as a writer and assisted Mohan and V. V. Vinayak.
Sukumar made his directorial debut with Arya in 2004, whose success catapulted him to stardom. Sukumar won the Filmfare Award for Best Director – Telugu and Nandi Award for Best Screenplay Writer for his work in Arya. His other notable films include Jagadam (2007), Arya 2 (2009), 100% Love (2011), 1: Nenokkadine (2014), and Nannaku Prematho (2016). Sukumar is known for his complex, multi-layered screenplays which earned him the reputation of being an intelligent screenwriter. He is also known for infusing grey shades in the character sketches of the protagonists in his films.
Under the banner Sukumar Writings, he made his debut as a film producer with Kumari 21F (2015), whose story and screenplay were penned by him. He received the K. V. Reddy Memorial award for his contributions to Telugu cinema in the year 2014. In 2016, he hinted a possible retirement from directing films.
Debut and breakthrough: 2004-2011
Sukumar began working on the script of his directorial debut Arya (2004) in Vishakhapatnam before joining the sets of Vinayak's Dil. Its producer Dil Raju assured that he would produce the film if Dil becomes a commercial success. Sukumar chose to narrate the story of a boy who confess his love to a girl right in the beginning, opposed to films like Darr (1993), Kabhie Haan Kabhie Naa (1994), and Kaadhal Kondein (2003) where the protagonist's love/obsession for the female lead is revealed towards the end, as he found that idea an "obsolete" one. Raju was impressed with Sukumar's script and Allu Arjun was selected as its protagonist after considering Ravi Teja, Nithin, and Prabhas. Anuradha Mehta and Siva Balaji were chosen for the other two lead roles. R. Rathnavelu and Devi Sri Prasad were chosen as the film's director of photography and music director respectively; they both collaborated with Sukumar in many of his future projects. Arya was commercially successful; it grossed ₹160 million on a budget of ₹40 million. The success of Arya catapulted Sukumar into stardom overnight. He earned the Filmfare Award for Best Director – Telugu at the 52nd Filmfare Awards South ceremony, and the Best Screenplay Writer award at the annual Nandi Awards ceremony.
Sukumar then began working on the script of Jagadam (2007), a crime film starring Ram Pothineni and Isha Sahni. Unlike Arya, Jagadam focused more on violence and in an interview with South Scope, Sukumar called the film an "act of bravado", adding that he "made it with an innocent passion", without thinking about the audience's response.Jagadam received mixed reviews and was a commercial failure. While Sify called the film a "not so much a plot-driven film" albeit praising the work of its technical crew, Rediff called it a "good effort".He then wrote and directed Arya 2 (2009), which was promoted as the namesake sequel of his debut Arya. It featured Allu Arjun, Kajal Aggarwal, and Navdeep in the lead roles and narrated the story of Arya, a psychotic orphan whose love for his friend Ajay and his colleague Geetha is never reciprocated. Sify called it Sukumar's "another celluloid misadventure" after Jagadam and stated that he "fails both as a writer and director as his plotline is confusing and his hero's characterization is negative". However, Arya 2 became one of the few successful Telugu films of the year, and was praised for its style quotient and music. Sukumar received a nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Director – Telugu at the 57th Filmfare Awards South ceremony, but lost it to S. S. Rajamouli for Magadheera. Rajamouli stated that he regards Sukumar as the best of the lot after watching Arya 2, which was Sukumar's "most precious and sweetest thing I have heard about myself".
After a gap of two years, Sukumar's next directorial 100% Love (2011) was released. Sukumar envisioned the film's concept 15 years ago, which dealt with the simple conflicts couples face and the way they solve them, and made changes based on the technological and behavioural developments of the students in the colleges. 100% Love featured Naga Chaitanya and Tamannaah in the lead roles and was produced by Allu Aravind and Bunny Vasu. 100% Love was commercially successful; it received the Best Home-viewing Feature Film award at the annual Nandi Awards ceremony. Sukumar earned another nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Director – Telugu at the 59th Filmfare Awards South, and a nomination for the Best Director – Telugu at the 1st South Indian International Movie Awards.
(This is his official number)
