Harish Shankar

31 Mar, 1979 | Dharmapuri, Andhra Pradesh

Director/Producer/Actor

Biography

Harish Shankar is a renowned Indian film director and screenwriter who primarily works in Telugu cinema. He made his directorial debut with " Shock " in 2006, produced by Ram Gopal Varma .  Harish Shankar was born in Karimnagar to a Telugu Brahmin family and spent his childhood in BHEL, Hyderabad. Throughout his early teen years, he acted in numerous stage dramas across Andhra Pradesh (present-day Andhra Pradesh and Telangana), conducted by the drama companies 'Seeta Nilayam' and 'Lalitha Kala Mandiram.' In the following years, he worked on backstage writing, learning various aspects of writing such as dialogues, modulation, diction, and dialect. Early Career In his pursuit to join the world of cinema, Harish worked as an assistant director for the film "Ninne Istapaddanu," produced by S. Gopal Reddy. During this time, he befriended Kona Venkat, another popular writer of this generation. He then worked as an associate director for the film "Veede," which introduced him to Raviteja. Impressed with his work, Raviteja offered to act in Harish's directorial debut. The film, "Shock," featuring Raviteja and Jyothika in lead roles, was a commercial disaster. His subsequent projects were both shelved midway. Mainstream Breakthrough Raviteja gave Harish his second chance as a director with " Mirapakay ." This film was both a commercial and critical success, winning many accolades. Harish's next directorial venture, " Gabbar Singh ," starring Pawan Kalyan , was a blockbuster and emerged as the highest-grossing Telugu film of its time, later surpassed by "Attarintiki Daredi," also starring Pawan Kalyan. His following film, "Ramayya Vasthavayya," starring Jr. NTR, did average business at the box office amid high expectations. Harish's next project, "Subramanyam For Sale," featuring Sai Dharam Tej, was a decent hit. His subsequent film, " DJ (Duvvada Jagannadham) ," produced by Dil Raju and starring Allu Arjun and Pooja Hegde, received negative reviews initially but went on to become Allu Arjun's highest opener with a four-day collection of 75 crores, making it a commercial hit. In 2019, Harish collaborated with Varun Tej for the remake of the Tamil movie "Jigarthanda," titled "Gaddalakonda Ganesh" in Telugu. In 2024, Harish reunited with his favorite actor Ravi Teja for the mass commercial film " Mr. Bachchan ."