14 NRIs Who Left Their Promising Careers And Ventured Into Tollywood

Anu Emmanuel got introduced to South Indian audience with the Malayali movie ‘Action Hero Biju’. Telugu audience know her from the Nani starrer ‘Majnu’. Though she belongs to Malayali ethnicity, she was born and brought up in Chicago, Illinois, USA. She made her screen debut in 2011 as a child artist in the Malayalam film ‘Swapna Sanchari’ where she played the daughter of Jayaram and Samvrutha Sunil.

We know Aasheeka from the movie ‘Kick’(2009), she played the role of Ileana’s sister. Previously she has acted in a Hollywood movie titled as 'Guiana 1838' in 2004. Though she is of Indian Sindhi origin she has settled in New York. She has done her acting course in Film Institute of New York and entered into Tollywood industry. Presently she is settled in Mumbai trying her luck in Bollywood and South Indian film industries.

Vimala Raman entered in Telugu industry with ‘Evaraina Epudaina’ in 2009. Vimala is basically is an NRI based in Australia. She is the proud winner of ‘Miss India Australia 2004’ and she also won the ‘Miss India Worldwide - Beautiful Face’ in 2005. Later she moved to India and debuted in the film industry by acting in the Tamil movie ‘Poi’ in 2005. Later she acted in all the movie industries across South India and Bollywood.

Richa Gangopadhyay debuted in Tollywood with the movie 'Leader' in 2010. She is one of NRI heroines in South Indian cinema. Though she was born in New Delhi, her family moved to Detroit, USA because of her mother’s job. Her mother Paula Gangopadhyay was nominated for Director of Education at The Henry Ford Museum by Obama. Richa started modelling in the USA and won 2007 Miss India USA title. In 2008 she moved to India and worked in few commercials before she appeared in Telugu flick ‘Leader’.    

Adivi Sesh debuted in Tollywood as an actor, director, and writer with the film ‘Karma: Do you believe?’ in 2010. His role in ‘Panja’ as Munna had negative shade and brought  him into the limelight of Tollywood. But his roles in ‘Kshanam’ and ‘Baahubali: The Beginning’ brought him good recognition in Tollywood. Though he was born in Hyderabad, he grew up in the US. After his studies in the US, he returned to India to continue his passion in the film industry.

Kishore aka Vennela Kishore is one of the most sought after comedians in the industry. He was born in Nizamabad, Telangana. But after his studies, he went to the USA and settled as a software Quality engineer. After few years of his work in USA, he returned to India and pursued his acting passion. He got his first chance in the movie titled ‘Vennela’ in 2005, which later became his moniker.

Varun shot to fame with his debut movie ‘Happy Days’ which was directed by Sekhar Kammula. Varun Sandesh is basically from Rayagada, Orissa. But later his family stayed in Hyderabad for 4 years before settling in USA. Varun finished his studies in Bridgewater, New Jersey before returning to India to join the film industry.

Tollywood audience know Priya Anand from the movie ‘Leader’. She was born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu but moved to the USA to pursue her studies. After her studies in the US, she returned to India to continue her passion in the acting field. She has debuted in the Tamil industry with ‘Vaamanan’ in 2009. She debuted in Telugu with Rana starrer ‘Leader’ in 2009. After that, she acted in several Telugu and Hindi films also.

Radha Krishna Jagarlamudi aka Krish is a well-known director in Tollywood he works mostly with the action adventure genre. Krish after finishing his Bachelor of Pharmacy in India moved to New Jersey to do his Masters. After his masters in the US he continued working there for some time. During this time he met Rajeev Reddy who later produced his movies. Krish started writing stories in 2002. In 2007 he returned to India to follow his passion of filmmaking. In 2008 he released his directorial debut ‘Gamyam’.

Deva Kaushik Katta is known as the Indian American filmmaker. He made his entry into Telugu cinema with romantic comedy entertainer ‘Vennela’ in 2005. Before that, he made a short film and a documentary. Deva was born in Kadapa, AP but he did his education in Chennai. After completing his mechanical engineering he moved to the USA to pursue his higher studies. He has settled in the USA working as a full-time engineer in the automobile industry. While working, he pursued his passion for filmmaking and made his entry into Tollywood.  He is a legal citizen of America.

Srinivas is a multi-talented personality. He is a writer, actor, producer, screenplay writer and a Television presenter. Srinivas was a mechanical engineer who did his specialization on Finite Element Analysis at the University of North Dakota. After that, he worked in Princeton Plasma Laboratories, Princeton USA. After few years of his professional career as an engineer, he moved to the cine field. He made his Tollywood debut with ‘Ashta Chamma’ which was an adaption of Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Importance of Being Ernest’.

Sekhar Kammula is known for delivering feel good youthful entertainers. He has won several state and national awards for his exceptional direction skills. Sekhar is another NRI who left his IT career in New Jersey and came to India to pursue his passion for filmmaking. Though he debuted as a director with 'Dollar Dreams' in 2000, he got his break after his second movie 'Anand' in 2004.

Praveen Sattaru is a director, screenwriter, and a producer. He was born in Vizag and holds an MS Degree in chip designing. He worked for 10 years as a SAP consultant at IBM company in USA. In 2010 he came back to India and made his first Telugu movie ‘LBW: Life Before Wedding’. His 2014 movie ‘Chandamam Kathalu’ was critically acclaimed and won several awards.

Director Raj Pippalla debuted in Tollywood with Sumanth starrer ‘Boni’ (2009). Raj hails from Bhimavaram but did his M.Tech Computer Science in the US and settled there. After few years of his work in the corporate sector, he returned to India and started making films. Later he directed films like ‘D For Dopidi’ 2013 and ‘Bangaru Kodi Petta’(2014).