Rao Ramesh & Priyadarshi Pullikonda Movies Together List — 3 Films

The shape of the work

The 2010s belonged to Mr. Majnu; the 2020s to A1 Express. Rao Ramesh acted in every film; Priyadarshi Pullikonda acted in all of them. Strictly Telugu cinema — they never crossed industries together.

Partnership facts

• Rao Ramesh and Priyadarshi first shared screen space in 'Mr. Majnu' (2019) because the director, Venky Atluri, specifically wanted a father-son duo that felt like real family. He cast them as on-screen father and son after seeing their natural rapport in a single audition reading.
• In 'A1 Express' (2021), Priyadarshi played the comic sidekick to Rao Ramesh's strict coach. The trick was that Rao Ramesh would deliver his lines deadpan, and Priyadarshi would improvise reactions on the spot — the director said they never needed a second take for their scenes together.
• During the shoot of 'First Rank Raju' (2019), Rao Ramesh and Priyadarshi discovered they both grew up in the same neighborhood in Visakhapatnam, just 20 years apart. They spent lunch breaks swapping stories about the same local tea stall and cinema theater.
• Priyadarshi said in a 2021 interview: 'Rao Ramesh garu is the only actor who can make me nervous before a scene. He sets such a high bar with his timing that I have to bring my A-game every single time.'
• Their father-son dynamic in 'Mr. Majnu' (2019) was so well-received that the film's writer-director Venky Atluri reused the same casting formula for his next film 'Tholi Prema' (2018) — but swapped the roles, making Rao Ramesh the strict father and casting a younger actor as the son.