Merlapaka Gandhi


Merlapaka Gandhi is an Indian film director and screenwriter who works primarily in Telugu cinema. In 2013, he made his directorial debut with Venkatadri Express. In 2016, he directed Express Raja which opened to positive critical reception and was a commercial success. His last release was Krishnarjuna Yudham starring Nani.

Early life

He was born in the village of Vedulla Cheruvu in the Telugu-speaking Rayalaseema region of South India. His father Merlapaka Murali was a prominent Telugu language novelist and a contemporary of author Yandamuri Veerendranath. Merlapaka was initially given the name 'Che Guevara' because his father was fond of Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara. Murali then changed his son's legal given name to 'Gandhi' in honor of independence activist Mahatma Gandhi when he was five years old, as the fellow townspeople found it difficult to pronounce his birth name. He studied in Tirupati till his tenth standard. Merlapaka then moved to Allagadda to complete his B. Tech. degree.

Film career

Merlapaka wanted to become a film director since the 10th standard. After his engineering course, he convinced his father to let him join a Cinematography course at the L. V. Prasad film institute in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Although, he eventually pursued a direction course there. Later on, he started writing stories and directed a short film. Having received a good response upon its release online, he then started developing the script for Venkatadri Express which was his debut film as a director.

Filmography