Ravi Babu

Ravi Babu Tammareddy
File:Ravi Babu Director.jpg
Born	Ravi babu . Tammareddy
Occupation	Actor, director, producer & writer
Years active	2000-present
Spouse(s)	Tanuja
Website	http://ravibabu.com/

Ravi Babu (Telugu రవి బాబు) is one of the Telugu film industry’s most successful and critically acclaimed directors and producers, with a versatile range of films spanning all genres. He has directed 12 films, produced 5 of them, acted in some of them and written all of them. As an actor, he has starred in over 75 films in varied roles as villain, comedian, comi-villain and garnered wide acclaim for his unique method of acting.

Early life

He is the son of veteran Telugu film actor Chalapathi Rao who is one of the most well-known actors in Telugu films and has acted in over 1200 films in a career span of 48 years. As a versatile actor, he has essayed many roles as a villain, comic villain, character actor.

Ravi Babu is the eldest of three siblings. His primary schooling was at Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan in Chennai and he later studied English Literature at the Presidency College, Chennai, also in Chennai. He graduated with an MBA from the Symbiosis International University, Pune. Ravi could have chosen a high-flying corporate job that would have given him all the perks a fresh MBA from a top university would get, but he gave that up to pursue his dream of film-making. So, he took an off-beat offer of working as a production assistant to ace advertising film-maker Rajiv Menon.

Career

Early career

As an assistant to Rajiv Menon he had to carry lenses, cameras and boxes. Within a few months, he was promoted as an assistant director and an assistant cameraman. Six months down the line he started handling shoots independently and within a year he quit Rajiv Menon Productions to get more academic training in the United States.

He enrolled in an advanced cinematography course at the Film and Television Workshops in Rockport, Maine, but quit shortly because he found the course too elementary. He was offered a job as a cameraman by the India Broadcasting Network in New York. On the job he picked up editing as a chief skill. Off the job he was shooting and editing whatever came his way. In a couple of years he had shot game shows, rock concerts, music videos and infomercials. Incidentally India Broadcasting Network went defunct. But his work caught the attention of some executives at Sony and they invited him to do a course at the Sony Institute in San Jose, California. After the course Ravi Babu did a short stint at TV Asia as ENG producer and also doubled up as cameraman and editor. His American sojourn drew to a close when he decided to go back to India, his vision set on Indian feature films.

His return to India took a dramatic turn and his plans of making movies took a back seat when legendary producer D. Ramanaidu and director E.V.V. Satyanarayana offered him films, for acting. Encouraged by his father Chalapathi Rao, Ravi Babu took the plunge into acting and a whole new career.

Acting in movies out of Hyderabad and Bangalore, Ravi Babu kept in touch with his primary passion of film making through advertising. He was directing television commercials for production house Autmncart. In the year 1999 he decided to have his own production house and started Flying Frogs, initially to produce television commercials but would later become a feature film production house.

Actor

When the calling came from Tollywood, film-makers casting Ravi Babu had no idea what his years of roughing it out in America made him out to be, nor did they have any inkling of his formidable educational and technical background in film-making. But when they finally cast him, they realised Ravi Babu was an actor moulded in sterner and multiple influences. His first films were Chala Bagundi directed by E.V.V. Satyanarayana and Sivayya produced by D. Ramanaidu where he played a main villain in both the movies, these were major blockbusters at the box office and offers started pouring in for Ravi Babu as the bad guy. He went on to act in more than 75 films till date with films like Murari, Anasuya (film), Yavarum Nalam, Dochay Swamy Ra Ra and Seethamma Vakitlo Sirimalle Chettu fetching critical acclaim.

Director, writer and producer

In 2002, being acclaimed as a good actor with a string of hits to his credit, Ravi Babu launched himself as a film-director that would showcase his prowess as a new-age film-maker.

The film that heralded the talent of Ravi Babu to Tollywood was Allari. Shot in 45 days on a bootstrapping budget, it brought in oodles of freshness and new imagery to Telugu Cinema. The film had a coming-of-age theme and a host of new faces for the cast, with his superior experience as an ad-film-maker, Ravi Babu created funny urban imagery with colourful visuals and commendable performances by many first-timers set to foot-tapping music by Paul J. The songs of the film were so trendy and appealing that even non -Telugu TV channels started airing them and for many it was the most exciting fun film in Telugu released in years – something that Tollywood never got used to in terms of both content and treatment.

Reception

Allari had a novel structure, a romantic plot and characters that felt real life and next-door. Ravi Babu not only completed the film well in time before the release on 10 May 2002, but also unleashed marketing on a never-before-scale creating buzz about the film amongst youth. He co-produced the film and it was Suresh Films who distributed it. The film created a sensation at the box office and raked in money for the producers and fame for Ravi Babu as a new-age director of films that are metro-sexual and urban in outlook. Of course, the stars and debutants in the film also reaped lifetime fame. Many of them have become stars in their own right and some of them still use Allari as their first name. For example, Allari Naresh is what actor Naresh, now a superstar comedy actor is better known as, thanks to the debut film directed by Ravi Babu. Both the critics and pundits of the Telugu Film Industry opine that the Telugu Film Industry has seen a milestone post-release of Allari. The film reflected a growing need of connecting with the youngsters with imaginative plots, crisper story-telling and state-of-the-art technical narration. Contrary to the prevalent norm, Ravi Babu shot the film entirely on 35 mm which created a new experience for Telugu film-goer getting saturated with full-scope films.Many film-goers and trade pundits clearly felt the impact of Ravi Babu’s Allari was so phenomenal that the films are now distinctly divided as films before Allari and films after Allari because of Ravi Babu’s discipline of making films with a tight schedule, fresh starcast, taut narrative and shorter duration. The sensational debut for Ravi Babu meant that he would now be less available as an actor. He started work on Ammayilu Abbayilu with more mature actors like Sonu Sood, Dharmavarapu Subramanyam, and technicians like Chakri, Marthand K. Venkatesh and fresh faces as boys and girls. The film turned out to be a musical success at the box-office making producers make a beeline for Ravi Babu who had caught the pulse of making films that connect with the young audiences. Ammayilu Abbayilu was released on 30 January 2003 and was hailed as another modern youthful entertainer which pulled the plug on current fads in romance. If Allari was a maiden effort with few faultlines, Ravi Babu’s second film made his craftsmanship stand out with maturity in dealing with an array of lead artistes and technicians and deftness in handling complex emotions. The film was lauded for the depth in characterization of youth fraught with physical and psychological insecurities and narrated with humour. Soggadu is Ravi Babu’s third film starring the ruling romantic pair of the day Tarun and late Aarthi Agarwal. Leading producer Suresh Babu came forward to produce the film which brought in bigger budgets. Already having gained a reputation for being dogmatic about casting, Ravi Babu had had a run in with the producer. The film struck a chord with audience of all ages and got acclaimed as another urban classic with superb technical values and hit music by Chakri. The film’s trailer became a sensation before the release and woke up everybody to the potential of high quality movie trailers. Almost all the film-makers post- Soggadu have got their act together in making attractive teasers and trailers like this movie. The film got good reviews in Tollywood but received mixed success at the box-office. While Telugu audiences were not fully receptive to the comprehensive fare handed out by Ravi Babu in this adventure-rom-com classic, Soggadu was later re-made into Hindi by Rajkumar Santoshi as Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani. It is a tribute to Ravi Babu that his films are now finding takers from bigger film-makers outside of Tollywood. The Hindi version of this movie worked out well at the box-office while the telugu version bought the critical acclaim and recognition to the director.

In 2006, Ravi Babu made Party a film that revolved around ambitious corporate executives who are dreaming up billion-dollar silicon valley ventures that will become the next Microsoft and Google. Party" was Ravi Babu’s sarcastic take on what goes on in billion-dollar software companies with an eye on Nasdaq-listing and multi-billion-dollar market caps. The whole film was a clean comedy fare with an attempt to capture corporate warfare that was ushered in by IT chieftains of the new millennium. The film’s release coincided with the rise of India as the new IT hub and got well-received at the multiplexes gearing up for the new cybergeeks. The film got huge mileage and fame for the iconic star comedian Brahmanandam. The film also established Ravi Babu as a sensible director who listens to the feedback on the ground and makes films in sync with the changing times. In the four years since he debuted in 2004, he had already made four films that reflected the changing tastes of the audiences. With a name that can pull in the audiences, Ravi Babu was getting ready for bigger challenges.

In 2007, he makes his most audacious film till date with a female lead, Bhumika Chawla. Titled Anasuya, the film is a suspense-crime thriller with a plot that had impeccable screenplay and an engaging story line of a lady journalist who is following the trail of a macabre serial killer who is stealing body organs of his victims. The film was produced by Ravi Babu himself and created a hysterical sensation at the box-office as audiences lapped it up in droves, in repeated viewing. The film got remade in Kannada and Malayalam. Ravi Babu earned his spurs as a native ace director with an eye on gripping narration, arresting screenplay and dramatic finish, sound in technical values and experimentation. The film also established Bhumika Chawla’s acting prowess and made her a leading female protagonist. With this film, Ravi Babu had established himself as a star director-producer who can turn any tale into a watchable film. He had proved that he had no set biases in movie-making and plot-selection and can make films in any genre that strike gold at the box-office.

In 2009, Ravi Babu found another golden-age producer Ramoji Rao Ushakiran Movies who was ready to back him in a neat family-based romantic entertainer – Nachavule. Ramoji Rao, himself believed in giving newcomers a chance in his films. He broke in a new romantic pair –Tanish and Maadhavi Latha with this film. Ravi Babu had always enjoyed working with newcomers, so it was a perfect situation for producer and director. The film picked up three Nandi Awards and established Ravi Babu as a dependable director who can adjust to the tastes of any audience and any producer with class. Ravi Babu’s dialogues and Marthand K. Venkatesh’s editing along with debutant music director "Sekhar Chandra"’s hit songs made Nachavule a cult classic among the youth and a memorable film for Ramoji Rao in many, many years. Not to be pigeon-holed as a director with a set genre, 2009 saw the release of another super thriller Amaravathi by Ravi Babu in which he returns to the genre of crime and suspense with Bhumika Chawla, Sneha and Taraka Ratna in one of his most spine-chilling roles ever. Shot without any songs, the movie had background score by Sekhar Chandra which elevated the film’s narration to a new level. It had a hair-raising plot of a serial killer who severed babies from the wombs of mothers about to deliver and put Tarakaratna at his surprising villainous best. It won him that year’s Nandi award for the best performance in a villainous role and brought Ravi Babu rave reviews for another thriller with a bagful of surprises.

In 2010, Ravi Babu directed Manasara, an enchanting love story set against the backdrop of Kerala with a unique blend of action based on the ancient martial art of Kerala called Kalaripayattu. The film had legendary writers Parachuri brothers pen dialogues for the first time in a Ravi Babu film and had screenplay by another legend Satyanand. While the lead pair is young, Ravi Babu picked an actor whose passion for martial arts is all too well-known – Bhanu Chander. The film is also revelatory of the influence of martial arts gurus like Bruce Lee on Ravi Babu which shaped his earlier years. A new producer Prakash Babu Kadiyala produced the film set in the sylvan surroundings of Kerala. For the shooting of the film, Ravi Babu made at least four to five trips to Kerala to identify the best martial artists there. He masterfully blended the landscapes of Kerala to portray a beautiful love story with a canvass that befits the ancient martial art of Kalaripayattu. It is singularly the best martial film ever made in India and won the Nandi award for best stunt choreography. The film underpinned the talent of Ravi Babu to intermix different genres of films into one single frame. Shot in 90 days, the film created a moving cinematic experience for film lovers.

In 2011, Ravi Babu made another college-oriented entertainer – Nuvvila, produced again by Ramoji Rao which released on 3 November 2011. The film introduced Yami Gowtham, a top Bollywood model and a bevy of youngsters in roles that largely reflected the dilemmas of modern-age youth. The film had screenplay by Satyanand and a complex array of characters representing the young who were torn between feelings of love and anger, conflict between career choices of self and those chosen by their parents and so on. There was a message in the film of what youth should dwell upon instead of wasting their time and that went well with the audiences. The film also had special appearances by all the ruling music directors of Tollywood - MM Keeravani, Koti, Chakri, RP Patnaik and Kalyani Malik. Hit music and a witty, humorous narrative made the film an interesting watch.

In 2012, Ravi Babu made another out of the box film with Avunu (Yes!). It was a spooky thriller where an unseen ghostly presence loomed large over the heroine Poorna (Junior Asin). The film itself has an improbable origin. It seems Ravi Babu was chatting with the heroine Yamini Gautham (from "Nuvvila") who gave a scary account of some invisible "force" at her home in Mumbai. That conversation with Yami got Ravi Babu thinking. The result was "Avunu", the most successful ghost based film of the decade in Tollywood. Audience loved the film for the novelty in experience seldom seen in "spirit" films which are mostly shot in night-time. In "Avunu", most of the film was shot in broad daylight and the camera also gets its maximum exposure in the sun, making the film a riveting watch. It’s the story of a newly wed couple moving into an apartment occupied by an evil spirit that lusts for the female lead "Poorna". Prior to the release, the promos of an elephant strangling the heroine created a sensation. It once again showcased the creativity of the director in using impactful visuals that intrigue the audience and create the right buzz for the movie. The film was produced and directed by Ravi Babu himself – and went on to become one of the top grossers of the year in that genre. Once again, there were no songs in the film but the film became a big hit with remake rights going up for the Hindi version and the Tamil version. Made on a budget of Rs.45 lakhs, the film grossed multiple times its budget. The film is testimony to the versatile range of Ravi Babu that he is at home with supernatural thrillers as much as crime and romantic entertainers. The Hindi version has attracted the likes of stars like Anushka Sharma with PVP Films buying the rights of the Hindi version. If the starcast is right, Ravi Babu has said he will direct the Hindi version of "Avunu".

In 2014, Ravi Babu teamed up with Allari Naresh to create a comic story "Laddu Babu". It shows Naresh as a morbidly obese youth with a tender heart. Ravi Babu had a team of international prosthetic artists work on Naresh’s super fat look. The film won critical acclaim but got mixed response at the box office. Being very different than a standard slapstick Naresh film turned out to be the film’s undoing.

In 2015, Ravi Babu returned with a sequel to Avunu titled Avunu 2. Once again the visuals of a two headed elephant disrobing a girl caught the imagination of the audience. The film opened to thrice the size of the first part and the audience who loved the first part lapped it up in style. The franchise value was maintained with a decent run at the box office and the debate on which of the two parts was better continues. But nevertheless Avunu 2 was a technical marvel

Advertising career

Ravi Babu wrote and directed a well structured advertising campaign with famous actress Tamannah. The campaign was a runaway hit and successive campaigns shot by Ravi Babu played a huge role in doubling and tripling the sales volume of Celkon phones every year after that. Ravi Babu also created an advertising campaign for Chandrababu Naidu, the erstwhile Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh for the last election. The campaign was designed with stunning black and white visuals with a hint of yellow and clever satire built into the messages. The brilliant campaign played a big role in bringing the Telugu Desam party back to power in the 2014 general election.

Personal life

Ravi Babu is married to Tanuja, a school teacher. They have two kids and currently live in Hyderabad.

Filmography

As A Director

No	Year	Film	Actors	Language	Awards
1	2002	Allari	Allari Naresh, Swetha Agrawal, Nilambari	Telugu
2	2003	Ammayilu Abbayilu	Vijay, Mohit, Sonu Sood, Devina	Telugu
3	2005	Soggadu	Tarun , Arti Agarwal	Telugu
4	2006	Party	Allari Naresh, Shashank, Madhu Sharma, Brahmanandam	Telugu
5	2007	Anasuya	Abbas, Bhoomika Chawla, Nikitha, Ravi Babu	Telugu
6	2008	Nachavule	Tanish, Maadhavi Latha, Kasi Vishwanath	Telugu	Nandi Award for Best Supporting Actress - Raksha, Nandi Award for Best Female Playback Singer - Geetha Madhuri, Nandi Award for Best Female Dubbing Artist - R Haritha
7	2009	Amaravathi	Sneha, Bhumika Chawla, Sindhura Gadde, Taraka Ratna	Telugu	2009 - Nandi Award for Best Villain - Taraka Ratna, Nandi Award for Best Cinematographer - Sudhakar Reddy
8	2010	Manasara	Sri Divya, Bhanu Chander, George Vincent, Ramaraju	Telugu
9	2011	Nuvvila	Havish, Ajay, Yami Gautam, Vijay Sai, Prasad Barve	Telugu
10	2012	Avunu	Harshvardhan Rane, Poorna, Ravi Babu	Telugu
11	2014	Laddu Babu	Allari Naresh, Bhumika Chawla, Poorna, Kota Srinivasa Rao	Telugu
12	2015	Avunu 2	Harshvardhan Rane, Poorna, Ravi Babu, Sanjana	Telugu

As actor

1. Savithri (2016)
2. Tanu nenu (2015 film) (2015)
3. Dohchay (2015)
4. Avunu 2 (2015)
5. Alludu Seenu (2014)
6. Nagna Satyam (2014)
7. Prema Oka Maikam (2013)
8. Anthaka Mundu Aa Tarvatha (2013)
9. Swamy Ra Ra
10. Seethamma Vakitlo Sirimalle Chettu (2013)
11. Gundello Godari
12. Avunu (2012)
13. Racha (2012)
14. Manasara (2010)
15. Prathiroju
16. Amaravathi (2009)
17. Padhamoodu (2009)
18. Yavarum Nalam (2009) (Tamil)
19. Nachav Alludu
20. Brahmanandam Drama Company (2008)
21. Kalidasu (2008)
22. Anasuya (2007)
23. Party (2006)
24. Naani (2004)
25. Nenunnanu
26. Ammayilu Abbayilu (2003)
27. Murari (2001)
28. Chala Bagundi
29. Neti Gandhi
30. Mavidakulu
31. Habba (1999) (Kannada)
32. Durgada Huli (1998) (Kannada)
33. Tholi Prema (1998)
34. Chala Bagundi

Influences

As a self-confessed movie buff, Ravi Babu admits to four major influences in his life. A viewing of David Fincher’s film Seven in New York made him realize how much he wanted to make movies. David Fincher’s films take place somewhere beyond our edge – but recognisably extend into our nightmares creating plots based on such diverse subjects as film noir, science fiction, contemporary phenomena with an ability to cross over from one to another. His films were never dull, and always had a technical correctness about them. Ravi Babu’s imagery has the influence of the robustness of a Fincher’s mastery over the medium.

The second influence was Sylvester Stallone – the biggest movie star of our times. A creative powerhouse who has built multiple franchises like "Rocky", "Rambo", "Expendables" and continued to expand on them to remain ever-relevant. Ravi Babu worships Stallone for his sheer ability to come back stronger every time he failed. After the debacle of the film Party, Ravi Babu was staring at the grim prospect of unemployment for a while. But he came back with a bang with the cult-hit film Anasuya.

Ravi Babu is an avid gymmer and works out six days a week. When he entered the industry with 18 inch biceps every hero wanted him as the villain in their films. Ravi dedicates his workout ethic to Arnold Schwarzenegger and the film Conan the Barbarian. It was seeing Arnold in Conan that made Ravi Babu join a gym.

Bruce Lee, another influence Ravi Babu swears by, is the greatest of martial arts exponents who has influenced generations of film-makers to make films based on martial arts. This influence made Ravi Babu make the film Manasara based on the mother of all martial arts, Kalaripayittu.

Box-Office

No	Year	Film	Distribution	Budget (In Rupees)	Box Office (In Rupees)
1	2002	Allari	Suresh Productions	8.4 Million	50 Million
2	2003	Ammayilu Abbayilu		2.25 Million	3 Million
3	2005	Soggadu	Suresh Productions	3 Million	5.1 Million
4	2006	Party		12.5 Million	10 Million
5	2007	Anasuya	Suresh Productions	19 Million	60 Million
6	2008	Nachavule	Mayuri	27.5 Million	75 Million
7	2009	Amaravathi		20 Million	25 Million
8	2010	Manasaara		7.5 Million	50 Million
9	2011	Nuvvila	Mayuri	30 Million	60 Million
10	2012	Avunu	Suresh Productions	10 Million	50 Million
11	2014	Laddu Babu		90 Million	75 Million
12	2015	Avunu Part 2	Suresh Productions	12.5 Million	60 Million

External links

• Ravi Babu at IMDb