Hemanth M. Rao

Hemanth M. Rao is an Indian film director and screenwriter who works in Kannada cinema. He rose to fame following the success of his directorial debut Godhi Banna Sadharana Mykattu (2016).^[2]

Hemanth M. Rao
Born	(1983-09-04) 4 September 1983 (age 41)[1] Bangalore, Karnataka, India
Nationality	Indian
Occupation	Filmmaker
Spouse	Devjani Haldar ​ (m. 2017)​

Career

After a brief stint in journalism, Rao ventured into the film industry in 2005.^[2] He began working as an assistant director to Girish Kasaravalli on Gulabi Talkies (2008). He then worked in a similar capacity with Jacob Varghese on Savari (2009) and Prithvi (2010).^[3]

He made his directorial debut in 2016 with Godhi Banna Sadharana Mykattu, a Kannada drama feature about a man searching for his missing father with Alzheimer’s, with a script that he co-wrote. that had Rakshit Shetty and Anant Nag playing the respective roles. The film, produced by Pushkar Films, was a box office success and received critical acclaim upon release. ^[2]

Under his banner Lost & Found Films, he co-produced Humble Politician Nograj—a political satire comedy inspired by The Campaign.^[4] The film was produced by Pushkar Films and Paramvah Studios and was released in January 2018.

Rao’s next writing venture was Andhadhun (2018), which was also his first venture into Hindi cinema. He co-wrote the script with Sriram Raghavan, Pooja Ladha Surti (who was also the editor of the film), Arijit Biswas, and Yogesh Chandekarand. The film also garnered tremendous praise and popularity, while also quickly garnering a cult following. They all collectively won a Filmfare Award and National Film Award for their screenplay.^[5]

His second directorial was Kavaludaari (2019), which was also the maiden production venture of Puneeth Rajkumar under production house, PRK Productions.^[6] Kavaludaari won Best Movie in "Kannada Cinema Competition" at 12th Bengaluru International Film Festival 2020^[7]

Rao continued to work in the thriller space with Maestro, which released in 2021. His next directorial, Sapta Sagaradaache Ello, is a romantic drama which he wrote a long time back. Owing to the expansive timeline of the screenplay, it was split into two parts: Side A and Side B. Side A released on 1 September 2023 to critical acclaim from both the critics and audience, alike. Side B was released on 17 November 2023.

Filmography

Year	Film	Credit as			Note	Ref.
		Director	Screenplay	Producer
2016	Godhi Banna Sadharana Mykattu	Yes	Yes	Yes	Co-produced with Pushkara Mallikarjunaiah	[2]
2018	Humble Politician Nograj	No	No	Yes	Co-produced with Pushkara Mallikarjunaiah, Rakshit Shetty
2018	Andhadhun	No	Yes	No	Hindi Film; National Film Award for Best Screenplay	[8]
2019	Kavaludaari	Yes	Yes	No		[9]
2020	Bheemasena Nalamaharaja	No	No	Yes	Released on OTT	[10]
2023	Sapta Saagaradaache Ello – Side A	Yes	Yes	No
	Sapta Saagaradaache Ello – Side B	Yes	Yes	No
2025	Agnyathavasi	No	No	Yes	co-produced with Prachura P P and Jayalakshmi	[11]
2026	666 Operation Dream Theater †	Yes	Yes	No
TBA	Bhairavana Kone Paata †	Yes	Yes	No	Delayed

Awards and nominations

Film	Award	Category	Result	Ref.
Godhi Banna Sadharana Mykattu	64th Filmfare Awards South	Best Film- Kannada	Nominated	[12]
		Best Director- Kannada	Nominated
	Raghavendra Chitravani Award 2017	Best Screenplay	Won	[13]
	Gollapudi Srinivas Award 2017	First Time Best Director	Won	[14]
	6th SIIMA Awards	Best Film	Nominated	[15]
		Best Debut Director	Won
Andhadhun	66th National Film Awards	Best Adapted Screenplay (jointly)	Won	[16]
	64th Filmfare Awards	Best Screenplay (jointly)	Won	[17][18]
	24th Star Screen Awards	Best Screenplay (jointly)	Won	[19][20]
	20th IIFA Awards	Best Screenplay (jointly)	Won	[21]
Kavaludaari	12th Bengaluru International Film Festival 2020	Best Film in Kannada Cinema	Won	[7]
	Critics’ Choice Film Awards 2020	Best Director	Nominated	[22]
		Best Writing	Nominated
	9th SIIMA Awards	Best Director	Nominated	[23]
Sapta Saagaradaache Ello	69th Filmfare Awards South	Best Director	Won	[24][25]