From his musical family to his string of accolades: Check out these lesser-known facts about the legendary filmmaker SS Rajamouli

Rajamouli's early life

Koduri Srisaila Sri Rajamouli was born on October 10, 1973, into a middle-class Telugu family to V. Vijayendra Prasad and Raja Nandini in Amareshwara Camp, a village close to Manvi in the Raichur district of what is now the state of Karnataka. In 2011, Vijayendra Prasad directed the Telugu film Rajanna and won the Nandi Award for Best Feature Film. He even won the Filmfare Award for Best Story for the film Bajrangi Bhaijaan starring Salman Khan and Kareena Kapoor Khan in lead roles.

Rajamouli's extended family and industry connections

All of Rajamouli's films have had music composed by his cousin, M. M. Keeravani. Musicians Kalyani Malik and M. M. Srilekha, two of his other relatives, are also composers. One of his cousins, S. S. Kanchi is a playwright and actor best known for playing Ambhujanabham in the sitcom Amrutham. He has also worked as a script doctor with Rajamouli on many of his movies.

Rajamouli's entry into the industry

During the first six months of his film career, Rajamouli assisted the seasoned film editor Kotagiri Venkateswara Rao. After that, he spent six years helping his father, Vijayendra Prasad. He subsequently relocated from Chennai to Hyderabad and began working with Gunnam Gangaraju, who taught him about the practical side of filmmaking.

Rajamouli's direction of ad films

He later directed ads with social messages under the direction of K. Raghavendra Rao. Additionally, he produced some ads for the Telugu Desam Party.

Rajamouli's television debut

Rajamouli spent 1.5 years working as the director of Raghavendra Rao's Telugu TV series Santhi Nivasam, which aired on ETV.

Rajamouli's directorial debut and breakthrough

He made his feature film directorial debut in 2001 with Student No. 1. The writing, direction, and production of the movie were all handled by K. Raghavendra Rao. The coming-of-age romance action movie Student No. 1 was the second movie in which Jr. NTR played the main character. Jr. NTR and Rajamouli later worked together on three more movies.

Rajamouli's ascent to becoming a pan-Indian personality

Among the top five biggest-grossing movies in India to date are three of Rajamouli’s films: Baahubali: The Beginning (2015), Baahubali 2: The Conclusion (2017), and RRR (2022). At the time of their release, these three movies were also the most expensive Indian movies ever produced.

Rajamouli's accolades

He has won numerous honours, including five Nandi Awards, three National Film Awards, and four Filmfare Awards South. He received the Padma Shri in 2016 for his contributions to the art world, India's fourth highest civilian honour.

Rajamouli cutting across boundaries

Rahjamouli is credited with starting the pan-Indian film movement through his Baahubali venture, in which a movie is simultaneously released in several Indian languages and designed to appeal to audiences across the nation by bridging linguistic and cultural divides.

Rajamouli's personal life

In 2001, Rajamouli married Rama Rajamouli, his cousin Keeravani's sister-in-law. Rama has created costumes for numerous of his films. Rajamouli has even adopted Rama's son from her previous marriage, Karthikeya and the couple also has a daughter who was adopted.