Teja (Film Director)

Teja (Film Director) Biography

Teja is a well-established and ace film director associated with Telugu cinema. He is a cinematographer turned director who has also worked in Bollywood. He made his film debut in the year 2000 with the super hit film – Chitram, which is regarded as a path breaking film of Indian cinema. He went on to direct many huge hits of Tollywood mainly - Nuvvu Nenu, Jayam and Nijam, starting a new ‘Teja’ era in Tollywood cinema. He has been credited to introducing more than a thousand actors and technicians, with actors - Uday Kiran, Nitin, Kajal Agarwal, Navdeep and Sunil need special mention. He also gave break to many music directors and singers to the industry including Anup Rubens of Manam fame. He has received numerous awards including Nandi and Filmfare for his direction skills.

Teja’s full name is Dharma Teja, born in Chennai in 1966. His father is a Tokyo-based industrialist and the illustrious Teja family has been one among the richest families in the 1960s. Young Teja used to regularly travel between Chennai and Tokyo. But some unhappy incidents took place in his life where his rich life was changed to rages. At the age of 7, his parents died due to some unknown reasons. Later his family estate was split among the members and he was taken care of by his uncle. However following their physical abuse and mental tortures, he left the home at a younger age. He slept on road pavements and did odd jobs to earn a living. He also joined a night class while worked during day time. He withstood many traumatic incidents in his life including being chased by gay police men and his sister left at an orphanage by his uncles.

Teja was willing to do any type of jobs and joined film industry as a lighting assistant. He worked in sound department and later to camera section. He worked under Ravikant Nagaich, and W.B. Rao and later started doing documentaries for National Geographic Channel. He created good friendly relationships in the filmy circle and impressed with Teja's ideology, Ram Gopal Varma took his as his assistant when he directed his first film ‘Siva’. Thus began a long relationship between RGV and Teja and he worked under RGV throughout 1990s till Rangeela. His innovative poster designs and filming of the major action sequences gained him great popularity.

Teja debuted as cinematographer in 1992 with Raat, which earned him the first cinematographer award. Aamir Khan starrer Baazi was his debut Bollywood work as a cinematographer, and since then he worked with Aamir in many movies of 1990s. Rakshak, Tere Mere Sapne, Vishwavidhaata, Sangursh, Ghulam, Jis Desh Mein Ganga Rehta Hain, Krodh and Krishna were some of his Bollywood projects later. He made his magical debut as a film director in 2000 and there was no turning back after that. Hora Hori was his latest release.

Published: N/A

Updated: February 03, 2016