Penmetsa Ram Gopal Varma, is an Indian film director, screenwriter and producer, known for his works in Telugu, Hindi, and Kannada language films, in addition to television. Varma directed films across multiple genres, including parallel cinema and docudrama noted for their gritty realism, technical finesse, and craft. Regarded as one of the pioneers of new age Indian cinema, Varma received the National Film Award for scripting the political crime drama,
Shool (1999).
In 2004, he was featured in the BBC World series
Bollywood Bosses. In 2006, Grady Hendrix of Film Comment, published by the Film Society of Lincoln Center cited Varma as "Bombay’s Most Successful Maverick" for his works on experimental films.