Early Life And Rise To Fame Of Director Teja.. Enthamandiki Telusu

[CKRAVI]

Teja was born on 22 February 1966 in Madras, Tamil Nadu, to Jasti Balaram Krishna and Jasti Rani. His father was an industrialist, based primarily in Tokyo, Japan. Teja used to often travel between Tokyo and Madras.

The Teja family was considered the richest in the Tamil Nadu state in the 1960s.^[7]

 

When Teja was aged seven, for reasons unknown, both his parents died. His relatives split the family estate and properties among themselves and he was forced to move in with his aunt and uncle. According to Teja, his aunt and uncle mentally and psychically abused him and forcefully made him do labour work.^[8] Teja in a Maa TV interview recalled, being beaten with a belt night after night, and his aunt cursing that she should've gotten a higher share in his father's estate for taking him in.

 

Teja unable to bear the harassment, ran away from home. He slept on road pavements, and did any and all sorts of odd jobs for survival, such as truck and car wash, rickshaw pulling, and also the illegal frying and sale of marijuana.^[9] Teja joked that he used to work for All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) party in Chennai, and used to black mark any Hindi text found either on billboards, posters or on walls, and later it was the Hindi film industry that would become his life.

 

Teja enrolled himself in a government night school in Central Madras, and worked during the day to feed himself.^[10] Teja in many interviews recollected many traumatic events in his childhood, including being chased by gay police men, his sister being left at an orphanage by their uncle, him sleeping in rains on road pavements, and others.

 

1980s[edit]

Teja doing any work he could get, ended up working in Tamil film shoots as a lighting assistant.^[12] According to Teja the only reason he joined the film industry was because they served free breakfast and lunch at shoots, and he didn't have to worry about sleeping hungry at night.

 

Teja in only a year worked his way up. After working in lighting and sound departments he moved into the camera department and worked under Ravikant Nagaich, and W.B. Rao. He then took up assignments for documentaries presented in National Geographic Channel.^[13]

 

Teja started growing popular among film personalities, after shoots and during breaks he used to tell his gang of friends short stories and movie ideas, one of whom was Ram Gopal Varma, 'Ramu' impressed with Teja's ideology, took Teja along with him to work on the latter's directorial debut Shiva.^[14] Teja was hired as the first assistant director for the film, he also designed posters and handled the publicity. Teja's innovative poster designs gained him great popularity. The use of silhouettes and colouring the film's title in blood red raised eyebrows. He also played a pivotal role in the filming of the major action sequences of the film, those including the extremely famous cycle chain scene and others.

 

Teja later collaborated with Ram Gopal Varma on Kshana Kshanam, Rangeela, Raat, Raatri, Drohi, Antham, Gaayam, Money, Govinda Govinda, and Rangeela^[15]

1990s: Cinematography[edit]

Teja debuted as cinematographer in 1992 with Raat, for which he won Nandi Award for best cinematography.^[16] He worked as cinematographer for all of the following Ram Gopal Varma films. Aamir Khan, impressed seeing Teja's work gave him his next big break and employed him as the cinematographer for Baazi. Following which Teja had many simultaneous and back to back releases including Teerpu, The Don, Jis Desh Mein Ganga Rehta Hain, Krodh, Krishna, Shsahtra, Rakshak, Tere Mere Sapne,Vishwavidhaata.^[17]

 

 

 

Teja in 1994, shooting for Ghulam

Teja became an industry sensation when he shot a night scene in Sydney airport with only two torch lights, along with assistant Sameer Reddy for Tere Mere Sapne. Teja was considered one of India's best cinematographers in the 90s along with P. C. Sreeram and Santosh Sivan. He garnered twenty nine awards for Best Cinematography.^[18]

 

 

 

 

 

Teja later ventured into exhibition and distribution. He bought some cinemas including the Ramatalkies located in the centre of Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. Ramatalkies is prime property and is valued over rupees two hundred crores. The junction in which it is located was renamed Ramatalkies junction.The orange Hanuman flag flies on top all of Teja's theatres.^[31]

 

 

Teja working in a construction site.

Teja also set up Chitram movies distribution offices in Hyderabad and Vizag. He distributed films such as Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Spider-Man 2, Spider-Man 3, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift and many others in Nizam and other districts.^[32]

 

 

 

[zoloto]

kudos to Teja man

 

[Rendu]

Androllla kutra

Tdp olla chillarism

[CKRAVI]

Androllla kutra

Tdp olla chillarism

 

adi universal truth.. no one can change it.. sadly ee vishayam lo varthinchadu  :3D_Smiles_38:

[chandra916]

Genre change chesthe bagunnu

[aragorn]

openheart with rk chusee nolu andarikee telusu

[aragorn]

Genre change chesthe bagunnu

 

ur wish came true uncle, he is doen with romantic dramas anta next is sci fi thriller anta jeevi interivew lo chepedu

[kakatiya]

His parents are richest in chennai at that time.

[Rendu]

adi universal truth.. no one can change it.. sadly ee vishayam lo varthinchadu :3D_Smiles_38:

Abba Abba

What a gp

[missionxp]

GP

[CKRAVI]

His parents are richest in chennai at that time.

aina kuda he had to struggle so hard

[4Vikram]

gp

[ParmQ]

adi universal truth.. no one can change it.. sadly ee vishayam lo varthinchadu  :3D_Smiles_38:

 

Gattiga try chey..

[lazybugger]

awesome. Madras bidda. ekkadunna keka untaadu obviously.

[ParmQ]

awesome. Madras bidda. ekkadunna keka untaadu obviously.

 

Narsi?