# V. Vijayendra Prasad

Koduri Viswa Vijayendra Prasad (born 27 May 1942) is an Indian screenwriter and film director who predominantly works in Telugu cinema. He also worked in a few Hindi, Kannada, and Tamil films. With a career spanning across nearly three decades, his filmography consists of over 25 films as a screenwriter. He is considered to be one of the most successful film writers in India and only screenwriter who has had a hand in several of the biggest movies of Indian cinema. He has frequently collaborated with his son, director S. S. Rajamouli, to deliver some of the highest-grossing Indian films of all time.
His notable work as a writer includes films like Bobbili Simham (1994), Magadheera (2009), Eega (2012), the Baahubali series, RRR (2022), Bajrangi Bhaijaan (2015), Manikarnika (2019) and Mersal (2017). In 2011, he directed the Telugu film Rajanna, which won the Nandi Award for Best Feature Film. In 2016, he won the Filmfare Award for Best Story for the film Bajrangi Bhaijaan. His upcoming films include 1770, Sita: The Incarnation, Aparaajitha Ayodhya, Pawan Putra Bhaijaan, and Vikramarkudu 2.
On 6 July 2022, President of India Ram Nath Kovind nominated him as a member of Rajya Sabha, the upper house of Indian Parliament.

## Early life

Koduri Viswa Vijayendra Prasad was born on 27 May 1942 in a Telugu family, in Kovvur near Rajahmundry, Andhra Pradesh. He studied at Sir C.R. Reddy College in Eluru.
Prasad's family had lands in Kovvur which were lost when the railways lines went most through them. Then, Prasad moved to Karnataka from Kovvur in 1968. He, along with his elder brother K. V. Sivashankar, bought seven acres of paddy fields in Hirekotikal village of Manvi Taluk in Raichur district. Their family moved back to Kovvur in 1977. He also ventured into various businesses which ended up as losses.

## Career

His brother Siva Shakthi Datta's passion for films made Vijayendra Prasad and his family to shift to Madras. Datta assisted a couple of directors for some time and started a film titled Pillanagrovi which was stopped midway due to financial reasons. As his brother was already in the film industry, Prasad started assisting his brother.
Prasad got introduced to K. Raghavendra Rao through Samatha Arts' Mukherjee who was a friend of his. Raghavendra Rao started giving him and Datta small assignments. They got their first break with Janaki Ramudu (1988) which became successful at the box office.
Next, he wrote the film Bangaru Kutumbam (1994) which won the Nandi Award for Best Film. His next film was Bobbili Simham (1994) which was commercially successful and earned Prasad recognition as a screenwriter. He later provided the story for Samarasimha Reddy (1999) which became one of the biggest hits of the time in Telugu cinema.

## Personal life

Prasad is married with Raja nandini. They have two children—a daughter who now lives in Australia and a son S. S. Rajamouli, a filmmaker. Prasad is uncle to music composers M. M. Keeravani, M. M. Srilekha, and Kalyani Malik.
Prasad dropped ‘K’ from his name, K. V. Vijayendra Prasad as he felt it was an indicator of his caste. He cited Hindu epics Mahabharata and Ramayana as a source of his inspiration. He cites 1957 Telugu film Mayabazar, as his all time favourite film. He also cited the screenwriting duo Salim–Javed (Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar) as a major inspiration on his work, especially their screenplay for Sholay (1975), among other films. On July 6, 2022, Indian government nominated Prasad to the Rajya Sabha.

## Awards
### Nandi Awards

Nandi Award for Best Feature Film – Rajanna

### Filmfare Awards 2016

Best Story – Bajrangi Bhaijaan

### Sony Guild Awards 2016

Best Story – Bajrangi Bhaijaan

### The Iconic Trade Achiever of the Year

The Iconic Trade Achiever of the Year – 2015 Award from Indywood Film Market

## Filmography
### Films

All films in Telugu unless otherwise noted.

#### Director

| Film | Year |
| 1996 | Ardhangi |
| 2006 | Sri Krishna 2006 |
| 2011 | Rajanna |
| 2017 | Srivalli |

#### Writer

| Year | Title | Writer | Notes |
| 1988 | Janaki Ramudu | Story | |
| 1994 | Bangaru Kutumbam | Story | |
| 1994 | Bobbili Simham | Story | |
| 1995 | Gharana Bullodu | Yes | |
| 1995 | Aalu Magalu | Yes | |
| 1996 | Sarada Bullodu | Story, dialogues | |
| 1996 | Appaji | Story | Kannada film |
| 1998 | Kurubana Rani | Screenplay | Kannada film |
| 1998 | Rana | Yes | |
* Samarasimha Reddy (1999)
* Okkadu Chalu (2000)
* Simhadri (2003)
* Sye (2004)
* Vijayendra Varma (2004)
* Naa Alludu (2005)
* Chatrapathi (2005)
* Pandu Ranga Vittala (2006) (Kannada)
* Vikramarkudu (2006)
* Yamadonga (2007)
* Mitrudu (2009)
* Magadheera (2009)
* Baahubali: The Beginning (2015)
* Bajrangi Bhaijaan (2015) (Hindi)
* Jaguar (2016) (Kannada & Telugu)
* Baahubali 2: The Conclusion (2017)
* Mersal (2017) (Tamil) (co-written screenplay)
* Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi (2019) (Hindi)
* Thalaivi (2021) (Tamil and Hindi)
* RRR (2022)
* Sita: The Incarnation (TBA) (Hindi)
* Aparaajitha Ayodhya (TBA)
* Pawan Putra Bhaijaan (TBA) (Hindi)

### Television

* Aarambh (Star Plus)