Sampath Raj & Vennela Kishore Movies Together List — 6 Films

The shape of the work

The 2010s belonged to Run Raja Run; the 2020s to Itlu Maredumilli Prajaneekam. Sampath Raj acted in every film; Vennela Kishore acted in all of them.

Partnership facts

• Sampath Raj and Vennela Kishore first shared screen space in Run Raja Run (2014) because the director, Sujeeth, specifically wanted two actors who could deliver deadpan comedy without overacting. He cast them as a cop and a conman who never actually meet in the film — their scenes were shot separately and edited together.
• In Soggade Chinni Nayana (2016), Vennela Kishore improvised a whole scene where his character keeps mispronouncing Sampath Raj's character's name. Sampath Raj, instead of reacting, stayed completely still — letting Kishore's stammering comedy land. That bit became a meme in Telugu households.
• Their pairing in Bheeshma (2020) directly inspired the comedy track in the 2022 film Dhamaka. The writers admitted they wanted a similar 'straight man vs. chaotic sidekick' dynamic, but couldn't get both actors together again.
• On the sets of Rarandoi Veduka Chudham (2017), Sampath Raj and Vennela Kishore shared a room during the outdoor shoot in Araku. They reportedly stayed up every night watching old comedy films on a laptop — and would rehearse their lines the next morning in the same deadpan tone they'd just watched.
• Vennela Kishore once said in an interview: 'Sampath Raj is the only actor who can make me laugh without moving his face. I have to work twice as hard to match his stillness.'
• In Itlu Maredumilli Prajaneekam (2022), their only film where they play friends instead of adversaries, Sampath Raj deliberately slowed down his dialogue delivery by half a beat in every scene with Kishore. He said it was to let Kishore's reactions breathe — the result was their most natural on-screen rhythm yet.