In the Hindu epic Mahābhārata, Ekalavya (Sanskrit: एकलव्य, éklavya) is a young prince of the Nishadha, a confederation of jungle tribes in Ancient India, who aspires to study archery in the gurukul of Dronacharya. He is son of Vyatraj Harinyadhanu. His father was a soldier in the army of King of Magadha. The kingdom of Magadha was ruled by Jarasandha at that time. The relations between Magadha and the Kingdom of Hastinapura were not friendly. After being rejected by Drona on account of his not being of Kshatriya lineage, Eklavya embarks upon a program of self-study in the presence of a clay image of Drona. He achieves a level of skill superior to that of Arjuna, Drona's favorite and most accomplished pupil. Drona eventually comes to know this and asks Eklavya for his introduction. Eklavya tells him about himself and his family. Drona feels this mighty warrior will become a force with the enemy kingdom of Magadha. Drona gets worried and demands that Eklavya turn over his right thumb as gurudakshina. The loyal Ekalavya cripples himself, thereby ruining his abilities as an archer.

Sriram Raghavan (born 1963) is an Indian film director and screen writer. He is notable for producing a 45-minute documentary on Indian serial killer Raman Raghav and 2004 Hindi feature film Ek Hasina Thi produced by Ram Gopal Varma, starring Urmila Matondkar and Saif Ali Khan. His second feature film was 2007's Johnny Gaddar and his third film was Karthik Calling Karthik . His latest film Agent Vinod, starring Saif Ali Khan, released on March 23 and went to mixed reviews by critics and decent Box Office collections 2012.^{[dated info]}

Raghavan was born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu in a Tamil Brahmin family to a botanist father and a movie-loving mother. He grew up in Pune, where he also did his schooling.

He studied at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune.. Rajkumar Hirani, one of his batchmates,edited his diploma film , The Eight Column Affair, which went on win National Film Award in 1987.

He started his career before joining the FTII for Stardust, but left since he wasn't interested in it. Post his FTII studies, he made a documentary Raman Raghav, with Raghuvir Yadav. Later, he met Ram Gopal Varma, who liked his work in Raman Raghav, and signed him up for the film Ek Hasina Thi, a dark thriller starring Saif Ali Khan and Urmila Matondkar.