Raja & Chandra Siddhartha Movies Together List — 4 Films

The shape of the work

The 2000s account for 75% of everything they made together. The 2000s belonged to Aa Naluguru; the 2010s to NTR Kathanayakudu. Never on the same side of the camera — Raja actor, Chandra Siddhartha director, across all 4 films. Strictly Telugu cinema — they never crossed industries together.

Partnership facts

• Chandra Siddhartha was a first-time director when he cast Raja in Appudappudu (2003). The film was a low-budget experiment — no one expected it to launch a long collaboration.
• On Idi Sangathi (2008), Siddhartha gave Raja the freedom to rewrite his own dialogues in Telangana slang. Raja’s natural comic timing turned a small role into the film’s most quoted performance.
• Their third film together, NTR Kathanayakudu (2019), was a massive hit despite a 4.9 IMDb rating. It directly revived interest in biographical films in Telugu cinema — paving the way for projects like Balakrishna’s own later biopics.
• Raja and Siddhartha stayed close friends between films. Siddhartha once said Raja was the only actor who would show up to his house unannounced just to discuss a scene — even when they weren't working together.
• "Raja is the kind of actor who makes a director look good. He doesn't just act — he builds the character from the ground up." — Chandra Siddhartha, in a 2019 interview about NTR Kathanayakudu.