Sudhakar Reddy Yakkanti

Some Lesser Known Facts About Sudhakar Reddy Yakkanti

• He grew up in a modest environment in Andhra Pradesh.

• From childhood he was drawn to cinema and frequenting went to local theaters and got the exposure to Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam films, which gained his interest in visual storytelling.

• He began his film work as assistant director of photography under Ajayan Vincent in 1999, on films like Rajakumarudu (1999) and Yamajathakudu (1999).

• He has predominantly worked in the Hindi, Telugu, and Marathi cinema.

• Later, when in Hyderabad, he visited film clubs and watched international cinema, which further shaped his aesthetic sensibilities.

• In 1999, Reddy made his foray into cinema as an assistant cinematographer under Ajayan Vincent.

• In 2018 he directed the Marathi feature film Naal, for which he fetched the National Film Award for Best First Film of a Director.

  

• Reddy’s script for short film Ek Aakash (2003) was selected by UNESCO and funded by them. The film received the National Film Award and a Special Jury Award.

  

• Ek Aakash has also garnered various international accolades such as Best Youth and Children’s film at the Association for International Broadcasting, Special Mention at International Film Festival for Young and Children, Argentina, and was featured at Four Art Film Fest, Slovakia.

• In 2023, Sudhakar Reddy Yakkanti made the sequel to his directorial debut film, Naal 2, where he served as the director, writer, producer, and cinematographer. The film went on to win the National Film Award for Best Children’s Film (2024), and the child actors received Best Child Artist awards.

• He cites influences among cinematographers such as Subrata Mitra and Sven Nykvist.