Meet Telugu Cinema VFX Expert Yugandhar Tamradeedi to attend the Oscar Academy in 2025

Visual Effects Supervisor Yugandhar Tamaradeedi, who has worked in Telugu films Rathestalam, Ala VakunthpuramuluAnd DevaraMotion Picture is included in the Arts and Sciences Academy. He is the only one from the Telugu film industry in the class of 534 new global members of this year, including Kamal Haasan, Ayushman Khurrana and filmmaker Payal Kapadia.

With this lifetime membership, Yugandhar gets to vote for the Oscar and participate in the events going to the awards every year. “Any person from the academy reached me at the end of last year,” he says. “He examined the background and finalized everything in six months.”

Yugandhar, who has spent 26 years in the world of animation and VFX, is clearly remembered by one of his early films – clearly – clearly – Prince (1999), which was the beginning of Mahesh Babu. “The film had only two VFX shots. One had cut Mahesh with an apple with a sword – and that the apple was completely VFX. It was a big thing then.”

Yugandhar’s love for creative work began quickly, and with his father’s encouragement, he captured animation in the mid -90s. “I started learning 3D software and started working on computers, which was not common at the time,” they say.

Yugandhar Tamaradeidi remembers how Ammoreu (1995) raised interest in “special influence” at a time when VFX was rare and laborious in Indian cinema. The film reels were to be scanned and teams were to coordinate with studios in other cities-a expensive and time-taking process.

In the early 2000s, Hyderabad saw a steady growth in animation and visual effects, bouncing in the last decade as a large-up performance, which adopted a bigger story from life. “Today, films demand a detailed, state -of -the -art VFX,” says Yugandhar.

A glimpse of the shot of NTR Junior from ‘Devra’ before VFX. Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Environment created with the use of the same shot post VFX. Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Before choosing a film, he listens to the story’s statement to gauge the director’s vision and identify the scope for VFX. “We assess the balance between complexity, budget, deadline and live action and effects,” they explain. His role includes action choreographers, cinematographers, production designers and VFX studios. Comprehensive storyboards are performed as part of pre-production workflow.

Yugandhar co-established the Pixeloid Studios in 2005 and was its managing director till 2013, followed by a term in DQ Entertainment. He now works independently under the VFX Nation, takes two to three films annually and collaborated with the studios all over India and abroad. “Working Solo lets me choose the right teams for the job, not just a studio expertise.”

Academy highlighted his work Rathestalam And Ala Vakunthpuramulu – Both examples of “invisible” VFX. In RathestalamFor example, a scene showing the Ram Charan Cycling on the rough area was actually shot with him on a stable bike, in which the atmosphere was completely created through VFX. “The road was bumpy and it would be difficult to ensure smooth camera movements, so we opted for visual effects.”

Ala Vakunthpuramulu More than 400 VFX shots, action sequences and background wire removal are shown, and Yugandhar says it was a fairly simple film to work.

Recently, Yugandhar is proud of his work Daku MaharajAnd Devra – Part OneWhich coordinated over 3,000 VFX shots and 10 to 15 studios. He credits the concerned directors for his clarity and plan, Bobby Koli and Koratala Shiva and Cinematography and Action Choreography teams. “Containers and underwater scenes were filmed earlier DevaraGiving more time to VFX teams, “he notes.