Harish Shankar

Harish Shankar (born 31 March 1979) is a film director and screenwriter who works in Telugu cinema. He is one of the successful directors introduced by Ravi Teja.

Harish Shankar was born in Karimnagar to a Telugu Brahmin family. He spent his childhood in BHEL, Hyderabad. Throughout his early teen years, he used to act in many stage dramas across Andhra Pradesh (present day Andhra Pradesh and Telangana) conducted by the Drama Companies 'Seeta Nilayam' and 'Lalitha kala Mandiram'. In the next few years, he worked more on backstage writing, where he learned various aspects of writing such as dialogues, modulation, diction, and dialect.

Early career

In his pursuit to join the world of cinema, he worked as an assistant director for the film Ninne Isthapaddanu, produced by S Gopal Reddy. This is where he befriended Kona Venkat, another popular writer of this generation. He worked as an associate director for his next film Veede, which also introduced him to Raviteja. Impressed with his work, it was Raviteja who offered to act in Harish's debut directional venture. The flick, Shock, with Raviteja and Jyothika in the lead roles, was a commercial disaster. His next projects announced were both shelved in the midway.

Mainstream breakthrough

It was Raviteja again who offered him his second chance as a director with Mirapakay. Mirapakay was both a commercial and critical hit, winning many accolades for the former. His next directional venture Gabbar Singh, which portrayed Pawan Kalyan in the lead role, was a blockbuster and in turn emerged as the highest-grossing Telugu film of the time, now only surpassed by Attarintiki Daredi, also starring Pawan Kalyan. His next film, Ramayya Vasthavayya, with Jr.Ntr in the lead role, turned out to do average business at the box office amid huge expectations. His next project was titled as Subramanyam For Sale with Sai Dharam Tej. Harish Shankar is currently directing Allu Arjun in his next film produced by Dil Raju under Sri Venkateswara Creations.