Gunasekhar

Before venturing into mainstream film direction, Gunasekar worked as an associate director to D. V. Narsaraju, Kranthi Kumar, and Ram Gopal Varma.^[6] Gunasekhar made his directorial debut with the socio-political Lathi (1992), for which he received the state Nandi Award for Best First Film of a Director.

He directed the super-hit romance film, Sogasu Chooda Tharamaa (1995), which received the Nandi Award for Best Feature Film. In 1997, Gunasekhar directed the mythological film Ramayanam, which won the National Film Award for Best Children's Film and was screened at the International Children's Film Festival of India.^[2][3]

His next film was the action thriller Choodalani Vundi (1998), which introduced the DTS sound to the Telugu screen and was a box-office hit.^[7] The film was later remade into Hindi as, Calcutta Mail. He then directed the political thriller, Manoharam (2000), which again bagged the Nandi Award for Best Story, and the Nandi Award for Best Feature Film.

His 2003 action drama, Okkadu, starring Mahesh Babu and Bhumika Chawla, was a huge critical and commercial success, becoming the highest-grossing Telugu film of that year and was remade into various Indian languages; it catapulted Mahesh Babu to superstardom.^[4][5] He reunited with Mahesh Babu and Prakash Raj in the 2004 action drama film, Arjun, which released to mixed reviews upon release and ended up becoming an average grosser. It was screened at the International Film Festival of India, in the mainstream section.^[8]

He reunited with them again in the 2006 action drama, Sainikudu, produced by C. Aswini Dutt. It opened to mixed-to-negative reviews upon release and became a huge commercial disaster. He collaborated with Allu Arjun in the 2010 romantic thriller, Varudu, produced by D. V. V. Danayya. It opened to negative reviews upon release and like Sainikudu, became a huge commercial disaster. He collaborated with Ravi Teja in the 2012 action drama, Nippu, produced by Y. V. S. Chowdary. Like Sainikudu and Varudu, it opened to widespread criticism and was a huge commercial disaster.

His 2015 historical film, Rudhramadevi, starring Anushka Shetty, Rana Daggubati, and Allu Arjun and produced by himself, opened to mixed reviews upon release. Despite that, it managed to became an average grosser owing to the stardom of Anushka and Allu Arjun.^[9][10][11] His last venture was the mythological romantic drama film Shaakuntalam, which released on 14 April 2023 to highly negative reviews and became a huge commercial failure.^[12]

Gunasekhar is married to Ragini, and the couple have two daughters, Neelima and Yukhta.^[13]