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Raj & DK

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Raj & DK
Raj (left) and DK in 2019
Born
Raj Nidimoru
Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, India
Krishna Dasarakothapalli
Chittoor, Andhra Pradesh, India
Alma materSri Venkateswara University College of Engineering
Occupations
  • Directors
  • screenwriters
  • producers
Years active2003–present

Raj Nidimoru and Krishna D.K., collectively known as Raj & DK, are an Indian filmmaker duo. They are best known for their work, specifically as creators, directors, writers, and producers of the Amazon Prime Video Hindi-language thriller series The Family Man (2019–present), Farzi (2023–present), Guns and Gulaabs (2023).

They have also directed the films 99 (2009), Shor in the City (2011), Go Goa Gone (2013), Happy Ending (2014) and A Gentleman (2017), and written the film Stree (2018).

Early life

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Raj Nidimoru and Krishna D.K. were born and brought up in Tirupati and Chittoor, Andhra Pradesh, respectively, into Telugu families.[1] They both graduated from SVU College of Engineering, where they met each other. After graduation, they emigrated to the United States to pursue a career in software engineering.[1]

Career

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Raj & DK's worked on the short Shaadi.com (2002) before working on the English-language feature film Flavors (2003) about Indian immigrants.[2] Their first Hindi feature film, 99, was an original crime-comic-thriller-historical-fiction set in Mumbai and Delhi. The New York Times called it "funny, inventive, refreshing"; Box Office magazine (USA) acclaimed that the film "sets new standards in Hindi cinema!"; and a number of Indian publications gave it four star reviews.[3][4] Rediff.com gave the film 4 stars and told the viewers that "they will leave the theater laughing and entertained".[5] Indiatimes gave it 3.5 stars.[6]

Their next, Shor in the City, was the acclaimed Hindi film of the year. It has received glowing reviews from across media publications. The film was made at a micro-budget, making it profitable even before the film's release. The film was also selected to various high-profile film festivals across the world.[7] Nikhat Kazmi of The Times of India awarded it four stars out of five and stated "With a zany screenplay (Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK), excellent cinematography by Tushar Kanti Ray and peppy music by Sachin-Jigar, Shor in the City is another breaking-norm film from Ekta Kapoor".[8] Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama gave it three and a half stars and wrote "Shor in the City belongs to one of those rare categories of movies with sensibilities that would not only entice the festival crowd and the cinema literate, but also lure the ardent moviegoer".[9] Aniruddha Guha of the Daily News and Analysis gave it three stars and said "Shor in the City is the kind of reassuring film you yearn to watch amid, well, what 'Bollywood' has to offer every week. Also, it articulates something you have only probably thought before – 'Karma IS a bitch.'"[10] Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN awarded three and a half stars saying "A delicious mix of quirky humor, gruesome violence, and surprising sensitivity, Shor in the City works on the strength of its smart script and consistent performances from its ensemble cast".[11] Rediff awarded the film four stars and said "Raj-Krishna's Shor in the City robotically registers itself in Indian cinema's history".[12] Anupama Chopra of NDTV gave the movie four stars and wrote "Shor in the City is a terrific film. It’s surprising and disturbing and has a vein of rich, dark humor coursing through it".[13] Shubhra Gupta of the Indian Express gave it a three star rating and commented "What makes Shor in the City an instant clutter-breaker is its darkly comic treatment. It makes you smile because its humour comes from within. It’s not grafted. And it’s got heart : we feel for the characters".[14] Tushar Joshi of MiD DAY gave it a four star rating and wrote "Loaded with humor, sarcasm and wit. That truly is the beauty of the makers who succeed in arresting you with their tales. The spectacular climax is easily one of the best written in recent times".[15] Karan Anshuman of Mumbai Mirror gave it a four star rating, saying "Three stories, eleven days, myriad layers, believable characters, fine performances, spirited direction, taut script, momentary explosions of originality".[16]

Several years later, they came back with Go Goa Gone, which was a clutter-breaking film that introduced to India the first of its kind of a genre-bending film - a stoner/slacker comedy combined with horror and comedy. It became a cult film, especially among the younger audience.[17][18] [19]

In 2021, they started subsidiary of their production company, D2R Indie to produce indie films.[20] The first project produced under the banner was the 2021 Telugu film Cinema Bandi by debutant director Praveen Kandregula.[21] It received positive response from critics and audience. LetsOTT cited the film as "an utterly delectable, charming, that rises a toast to the magic of cinema". Another reviewer writing to NTV, stated "Cinema Bandi toys with themes like hope and redemption. While the premise is heart-warming, the treatment could have been way better".[22] Ramnath Nandini of Scroll.in wrote that "the [film] has a winning set-up, oodles of heart and snarky humour, which compensate for the unstructured and rambling narrative and simplistic approach".[23] Gautaman Bhaskaran of News18 agave a rating of 2.5/5 and wrote that "Cinema Bandi has a very interesting message about how video cameras have afforded splendid opportunities for especially short moviemakers, the film appears rather raw".[24] Hindustan Times's Haricharan Pudipeddi said that the film is rooted in reality and it brims with the kind of energy we rarely witness in mainstream cinema.[25]

They have also signed for the Indian segment of Citadel by Russo Brothers whose production is expected to begin in 2022.[26] More recently, they signed a multi-year deal with Netflix.[27][28]

Filmography

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Film

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Year Title Functioned as Language Notes
Directors Writers Producers
2003 Flavors Yes Yes Yes English
2009 99 Yes Yes No Hindi
2010 Inkosaari No Yes No Telugu
2011 Shor In The City Yes Yes No Hindi
2013 Go Goa Gone Yes Yes No
D for Dopidi No No Yes Telugu
2014 Happy Ending Yes Yes No Hindi
2017 A Gentleman Yes Yes No
2018 Stree No Yes Yes Best Film (Star Screen Awards)
2020 Unpaused Yes Yes Yes Anthology film - Segment: "Glitch"
2021 Cinema Bandi No No Yes Telugu Jury Special Mention Award at 53rd IFFI

Television

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Year Title Functioned as Language Platform
Creators Directors Writers Producers
2019–present The Family Man Yes Yes Yes Yes Hindi Amazon Prime Video
2023–present Farzi Yes Yes Yes Yes
Guns & Gulaabs Yes Yes Yes Yes Netflix
2024 Citadel: Honey Bunny No Yes Yes Yes Amazon Prime Video
Gulkanda Tales † Yes No Yes Yes
— Rakt Bramhānd: The Bloody Kingdom† Yes No Yes Yes Netflix

Short films

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Year Title Language Ref.
2002 Shaadi.com English [2]
2008 Shor Hindi [29]

Awards

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Filmfare OTT Awards
  • Best Series (Critics) - The Family Man[30]
  • Best Director (Critics) - Raj & DK (The Family Man)[30]
  • Best Dialogues (Critics) - Raj & DK, Suman Kumar, Sumit Arora (The Family Man)[30]
Star Screen Awards

References

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  1. ^ a b "Interview with Raj and DK about Stree Manu by Bala Tirumalasetty - Telugu cinema directors". www.idlebrain.com. Retrieved 11 February 2021.
  2. ^ a b Bala Subramanyam. "Interview with Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK". Idle Brain.com. Retrieved 6 January 2010.
  3. ^ "99 is a very funny film". Rediff. 18 May 2009.
  4. ^ Saltz, Rachel (14 May 2009). "Bollywood Without the Song and Dance". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
  5. ^ Chhabra, Aseem. "99 is a very funny film". Movies.rediff.com. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  6. ^ "99: Movie Review". The Times of India. 14 May 2009. Archived from the original on 18 May 2009. Retrieved 16 May 2009.
  7. ^ "Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK: People had trust issues with us initially". The Times of India. Retrieved 13 March 2018.
  8. ^ Kazmi, Nikhat (28 April 2011). "Shor in the City Movie Review". The Times of India. Retrieved 8 May 2011.
  9. ^ Adarsh, Taran (25 April 2011). "Shor in the City: Movie Review". Bollywood Hungama. Archived from the original on 2 February 2009. Retrieved 8 May 2011.
  10. ^ Guha, Aniruddha (29 April 2011). "Shor in the City is funny and engrossing". Daily News and Analysis. Retrieved 8 May 2011.
  11. ^ Masand, Rajeev (6 May 2011). "Masand: 'Shor in ...' is surprisingly enjoyable". IBN Live. Archived from the original on 2 May 2011. Retrieved 8 May 2011.
  12. ^ Pathak, Ankur (28 April 2011). "Review: Shor In The City is brilliant stuff!". Rediff. Retrieved 8 May 2011.
  13. ^ Chopra, Anupama (29 April 2011). "Review: Shor In The City". NDTV. Archived from the original on 21 September 2012. Retrieved 8 May 2011.
  14. ^ Gupta, Shubhra (29 April 2011). "Shor in the City". The Indian Express. Retrieved 8 May 2011.
  15. ^ Joshi, Tushar (30 April 2011). "Shor in the City – Movie Review". MiD DAY. Retrieved 20 May 2011.
  16. ^ Anshuman, Karan (30 April 2011). "Shor in the City Review". Mumbai Mirror. Archived from the original on 13 May 2011. Retrieved 20 May 2011.
  17. ^ "Go Goa Gone is our kind of film: Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK". India Today. 10 May 2013. Retrieved 13 March 2018.
  18. ^ "With D2R Films (Sorted by Popularity Ascending)". IMDb. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
  19. ^ "Raj Nidimoru Krishna DK working on two micro-series". The Week. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
  20. ^ "Cinema Bandi Trailer: Everyone Is a Filmmaker at Heart". TheQuint. 30 April 2021. Retrieved 30 April 2021.
  21. ^ "Cinema Bandi trailer: Raj and DK present an innocent take on filmmaking". The Indian Express. 30 April 2021. Retrieved 30 April 2021.
  22. ^ Codingest. "Review: Cinema Bandi". NTV Telugu. Retrieved 14 May 2021.[permanent dead link]
  23. ^ Ramnath, Nandini (14 May 2021). "'Cinema Bandi' review: A rollicking and rambling ode to the magic of the movies". Scroll.in. Retrieved 14 May 2021.
  24. ^ "Cinema Bandi Movie Review: Honest Effort to Explore an Autorickshaw Driver's Passion for Filmmaking". www.news18.com. 14 May 2021. Retrieved 14 May 2021.
  25. ^ "Cinema Bandi movie review: Slice-of-life drama about the joy and pain of making films". Hindustan Times. 14 May 2021. Retrieved 14 May 2021.
  26. ^ Ramachandran, Narman (28 June 2021). "Russo Brothers' Amazon Multi-Series 'Citadel' India Details Revealed, 'The Family Man' Season 2 Unpacked (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved 14 September 2021.
  27. ^ PTI (9 April 2022). "Raj and DK wrap up shoot of Netflix series 'Guns & Gulaabs'". ThePrint. Retrieved 29 August 2022.
  28. ^ "Rajkummar Rao wraps 'Guns and Gulaabs'". The Times of India. 9 April 2022. Retrieved 29 August 2022.
  29. ^ "Raj and DK interview - Telugu Cinema interview - Telugu film directors". www.idlebrain.com.
  30. ^ a b c "Filmfare OTT Awards 2020: 'Paatal Lok', 'The Family Man' Win Big". TheQuint. 20 December 2020. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
  31. ^ "Star Screen Awards 2018 full list of winners: Stree, Raazi and Badhaai Ho win laurels". The New Indian Express. 18 December 2018. Retrieved 14 December 2020.
  32. ^ "The Family Man Season 2 Review". Xappie. Retrieved 4 June 2021.
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