Vikram Kumar

Kumar graduated from Madras Christian College in Chennai. In April 1997 he joined director Priyadarshan, working on the Malayalam film Chandralekha as assistant director. He also worked under Priyadarshan in Doli Saja Ke Rakhna and Hera Pheri. In 1998, he directed his debut non-feature film, Silent Scream, for which he won the National Film Award for Best Educational/Motivational/Instructional Film.

He made his debut in Tollywood with Ishtam, which introduced Shriya Saran in 2001.He then directed 13B, a psychological horror film which starred R. Madhavan which was a hit in both Hindi and Tamil.

After the success of Yavarum Nalam, he considered making a sequel to the film with Madhavan, while he also announced a separate project titled Athirshtasaali with the actor, though neither of the projects materialised.

Then it took almost two years to complete Ishq. In 2014, he directedManam, for which he received the Filmfare Award for Best Director - Telugu. In 2016, he directed science fiction thriller 24 which was critically and commercially successful. In 2017, he re-launched Akhil Akkineni with Hello due to the dud of actor's debut film.

National Film Awards

• National Film Award for Best Educational/Motivational/Instructional Film (director) Silent Scream (1998)

Filmfare Awards South

• Filmfare Award for Best Director - Telugu -Manam (2014)