Ram Gopal Verma

Ram Gopal Varma రాం గోపాల్ వర్మ
Varma in September 2012
Born	Penmetsa Ram Gopal Varma (1962-04-07) 7 April 1962 (age 54) Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, India
Nationality	Indian
Other names	RGV
Alma mater	V.R. Siddhartha Engineering College, Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh
Occupation	Director and Producer
Years active	1989–present
Spouse(s)	Ratna Varma
Children	Revathi Varma (Daughter)
Relatives	Madhu Mantena (cousin)

Ram Gopal Varma is an Indian film director, screenwriter, playback singer, and producer, known for his works in Telugu cinema and Bollywood. He directed films across multiple genres, including parallel cinema and docudrama noted for their gritty realism, technical finesse, and craft. In 1999, he has garnered the National Film Award for scripting, political drama, Shool - "For unveiling the complete collapse of the socio-political system. A very effective portrayal of the determined fight of a single citizen in the centre of a facade of democracy", as cited by the Jury. In 2004, He was featured in the BBC World series Bollywood Bosses.

In 2006, Grady Hendrix of Film Comment, published by the Film Society of Lincoln Center, New York City cited Varma as "Bombay’s Most Successful Maverick" for his works on experimental films. Varma is regarded as the fountain head of new age Indian cinema. Widely known for presenting the Indian Political Trilogy, and the Indian Gangster Trilogy, film critic Rajeev Masand has labeled the series as one of the "most influential movies of Hindi cinema. The first installment of the trilogy, Satya, was also listed in CNN-IBN's 100 greatest Indian films of all time. Varma's recent avant-garde works include hits such as the alternate history, Rakta Charitra (2010), the dramatized re-enactment of 2008 Mumbai attacks in The Attacks of 26/11 (2013), a horror fiction, Ice Cream shot with Flowcam Technology (2014), a slasher film, Anukshanam (2014), Killing Veerappan (2016), a documentary drama, and Veerappan (2016) a biographical "based on true events".