Tharun Bhascker

Tharun Bhascker Dhaassyam (born 5 November 1988) is an Indian film director, actor and screenwriter who works in Telugu cinema. He directed the romantic comedy Pelli Choopulu (2016), which won him the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Telugu and Best Screenplay – Dialogues.^[2] He later directed Ee Nagaraniki Emaindhi (2018), and made his acting debut in a lead role with Meeku Maathrame Cheptha (2019).

Tharun Bhascker
Bhascker at Cinivaram 2017
Born	Tharun Bhascker Dhaassyam (1988-11-05) 5 November 1988 (age 36) Madras (present-day Chennai), Tamil Nadu, India[1]
Alma mater	Swami Vivekananda Institute of Technology New York Film Academy
Occupations	Film director writer actor television presenter
Years active	2012–present
Spouse	Latha Naidu

Early life

Tharun Bhascker was born on 5 November 1988 in Madras (now Chennai) and was raised in Hyderabad.^[3][4] His father hailed from Warangal, Telangana, while his mother is from Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh.^[1] Bhasckar studied at Hyderabad Public School, and Swami Vivekananda Institute of Technology.^[5][6] He later graduated from New York Film Academy.^[7]

His father, Uday Bhaskar, died in 2015.^[8] His mother, Geetha Bhaskar,^[9] made her acting debut in Sekhar Kammula's Fidaa (2017).^[10]

Film career

Bhascker started his career directing short films such as Anukokunda, and Sainma. Anukokunda was screened at the Cannes Film Festival.^[11]

His first full length directorial feature film was Pelli Choopulu (2016).^[12][13] The film received National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Telugu, and Bhasckar won Best Screenplay for Dialogues. The film was remade in Hindi as Mitron (2018), in Malayalam as Vijay Superum Pournamiyum (2019), and in Tamil as Oh Manapenne.

In 2018, Bhasckar made his acting debut with the role of Singeetham Srinivasa Rao in the biopic Mahanati. His second directorial is the buddy comedy film Ee Nagaraniki Emaindhi (2018). Later in the year, he wrote the screenplay for the ZEE5 web series, B. Tech.^[14]

In 2019, Bhaskar played the lead role in Meeku Maathrame Cheptha.^[15]

Keedaa Cola, directed by Tharun Bhascker, was released on 3 November 2023.^[16]

Personal life

Bhasckar is married to Latha Naidu. She is a production and costume designer for films and advertisements. She worked for films such as Pelli Choopulu, Ee Nagaraniki Emaindi and U Turn.^[17]

Filmography

Bhascker at an interview in 2018

Film

Key

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

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Notes
2016	Pelli Choopulu	Yes	Yes	National Film Award for Best Screenplay
2018	Ee Nagaraniki Emaindi	Yes	Yes
2019	Meeku Maathrame Cheptha	No	Dialogues
2021	Pitta Kathalu	Yes	Yes	Netflix anthology film; Ramula segment[18]
2022	Oke Oka Jeevitham	No	Dialogues	[19]
	Ori Devuda	No	Dialogues	[20]
2023	Keedaa Cola	Yes	Yes	[21]

As actor

Acting roles

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2018	Mahanati	Singeetam Srinivasa Rao
	Sammohanam	Himself	Cameo appearance
2019	Falaknuma Das	Saidulu
	Meeku Maathrame Cheptha	Rakesh
2020	Middle Class Melodies	AE	Cameo appearance
2021	Skylab	Scientist	Cameo appearance
2022	Sita Ramam	Balaji
2023	Das Ka Dhamki	Blue Jaguar guy
	Hostel Boys	Editor	Telugu version
	Keedaa Cola	Bhakta Naidu
	Mangalavaaram	Cameo appearance in song
2024	Masthu Shades Unnai Raa	Veer Das

Short films

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Notes
2008	Wake up	Yes	Yes
	HELP	Yes	Yes
	My India	Yes	Yes
2009	We Can-Blind Cricket	Yes	Yes
	The Artist's Poem	Yes	Yes
2010	HPS.wmv	Yes	Yes
2011	Highderabad	Yes	Yes
	This day-Catharsis	Yes	Yes
	24 frames-Telugu version	Yes	Yes
	The Method	Yes	Yes
	Minutes to midnight	Yes	Yes
	Serendipity	Yes	Yes	By Team
	Kaala Ghoda	Yes	Yes
	The Journey	Yes	Yes
2012	Junun	Yes	Yes
	Anukokunda	Yes	Yes
2015	Sainma	Yes	Yes
2018	Maa	No	Dialogues	Telugu version

As voice actor

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2023	Chinna	Venkatesh	Dubbed in Telugu for Baalaji S. U. in Chithha
2024	Gorre Puranam	Gorre/Sheep	Voice role only

Television

Year	Title	Role	Network	Notes
2018	B. Tech		ZEE5	Writer[22]
2020	Neeku Maathrame Cheptha	Host	ETV Plus	[23]
2023	Anger Tales	Rajeev	Disney+ Hotstar	Episode: Food Festival[24]
	Dhootha	Bhupati Varma Avudhuri	Amazon Prime Video

Discography

Year	Film	Song	Music	Co-artists	Notes
2021	Cinema Bandi	"Cinema Teesinam"	Varun Reddy	Roll Rida	also lyrics

Awards and nominations

Film	Award	Ceremony	Category	Result	Ref.
Pelli Choopulu	National Film Awards	2017	National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Telugu	Won	[25][26]
			Best Screenplay for Dialogues	Won
	Filmfare Awards South	2017	Best Director	Nominated	[27]
	South Indian International Movie Awards	2017	Best Debut Director (Telugu)	Won	[28]
	Santosham Film Awards	2017	Best Debut Director	Won