Deva Katta

Deva Katta is an Indian American film director and screenwriter who works in Telugu cinema. He directed cult classic Telugu movies such as Vennela (2005), Prasthanam (2010), Autonagar Surya (2014), and Republic (2021). In 2010, Prasthanam was showcased in the Indian Panorama section at the International Film Festival of India.^[2] The film also won two Filmfare awards including Filmfare South Critics Award for Best Film and Nandi Award for Best Feature Film in 2010.^[3]

Deva Katta (right), being felicitated at IFFI (2016)

Deva Katta
Katta at IFFI (2010)
Born	May 24[1] Eluru, Andhra Pradesh
Alma mater	Wayne State University
Occupations	Film director producer screenwriter
Years active	1999–present

Early life

Deva Katta was born in Eluru, Andhra Pradesh. His father, Niranjan Naidu Katta, hails from Kadapa, while his mother hails from Tirupathi, Andhra Pradesh. He moved to Chennai in 1985.^[4] He holds a Master of Science degree in mechanical engineering from Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan.^[5] He worked as a vehicle crashworthiness expert at General Motors. He is a naturalized American citizen.^[3]

Career

He graduated from film school before making a television serial about Indian students in the United States shot from 1999 to 2000 titled Valasa.^[6] He shorten the serial into a film in 2003; however, it was not released.^[7] He then made his feature film debut with the romantic comedy flick Vennela on the same topic while additionally including a love story.^[4]

In 2015, Katta teamed up with actor Vishnu Manchu for the film Dynamite, a remake of the Tamil film Arima Nambi (2014), and Katta's only remake till date. Katta, however, said that he shot the film for only nine days and walked out due to creative differences.^[8] Katta was credited as the film's director nonetheless.^[9]

In one of his interviews, he mentioned that Prasthanam, Autonagar Surya, and Republic are part of his quadrilogy of the society which show the perspective of a Politician (Legislative), Common Man (Voter), and Bureaucrat (Executive) on society. He is currently working on the final part of the quadrilogy which will show the perspective of a Judicial (Judiciary) on society.^[10]

Filmography

Key

†	Denotes film or TV productions that have not yet been released

Feature films

List of films directed and written by Katta

Year	Title	Language	Notes	Ref.
2005	Vennela	Telugu	credited as Deva Kaushik Katta
2010	Prasthanam		International Film Festival of India Nandi Award for Best Feature Film (Bronze) Filmfare Critics Award for Best Telugu Film
2014	Autonagar Surya
2015	Dynamite
2019	Prassthanam	Hindi	Remake of Prasthanam
2021	Republic	Telugu		[11]

Television

List of web series directed and written

Year	Title	Director	Screenwriter	Producer	Notes
2025	Mayasabha †	Yes	Yes	Yes	Post Production

Short films

List of short films directed and written by Katta

Year	Title	Language	Notes	Ref.
	The People Mover	English	Released in film festivals; also actor	[12][13]
2015	Dying to Be Me	English

Acting roles

• D for Dopidi (2013) as A.C.P. Krishnamachari