Vikram Kumar

Vikram K. Kumar is an Indian film director who has worked on Telugu, Tamil, and Bollywood films. In 13 years, he has made only five films.

Career

Kumar graduated from Madras Christian College in Chennai. In April 1997 he joined director Priyadarshan, working on the Malayalam film Chandralekha as assistant director. They have worked together in Doli Saja Ke Rakhna and Hera Pheri. In 1998, he directed his debut non-feature film, Silent Scream, for which he won the National Film Award for Best Educational/Motivational/Instructional Film.

He made his debut in Tollywood with Ishtam, which introduced Shriya Saran in 2001. The film did badly at the Box Office, as a result of which Kumar went to Chennai, making three Tamil films by 2009. He then got noticed with 13B, a psychological horror film which starred R. Madhavan.

After the success of Yavarum Nalam, he considered making a sequel to the film with Madhavan, while he also announced a separate project titled Athirshtasaali with the actor, though neither of the projects materialised.

Stephen Hawking

Stephen William Hawking CH, CBE, FRS, FRSA (ⁱ/ˈstiːvən ˈhɔːkɪŋ/; born 8 January 1942) is an English theoretical physicist, cosmologist, author and Director of Research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology within the University of Cambridge. His scientific works include a collaboration with Roger Penrose on gravitational singularity theorems in the framework of general relativity, and the theoretical prediction that black holes emit radiation, often called Hawking radiation. Hawking was the first to set forth a theory of cosmology explained by a union of the general theory of relativity and quantum mechanics. He is a vigorous supporter of the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics.

He is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a lifetime member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, and a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the United States. Hawking was the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge between 1979 and 2009 and has achieved commercial success with works of popular science in which he discusses his own theories and cosmology in general; his book A Brief History of Time appeared on the British Sunday Times best-seller list for a record-breaking 237 weeks.

Mahesh Babu

Mahesh Babu (born Mahesh Ghattamaneni, 9 August 1975) is an Indian actor, producer, media personality and philanthropist known for his work in Telugu cinema. He owns the production house G. Mahesh Babu Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. The younger son of actor Krishna, Mahesh holds a bachelor's degree in commerce. At the age of four, he made his debut as a child artist in Needa (1979) and acted in eight other films as a child artist. He made his debut as a lead actor with Rajakumarudu (1999) and won the Nandi Award for Best Male Debut.

Mahesh received breakthrough with the films Murari (2001) and Okkadu (2003); the former fetched him his first Nandi Special Jury Award and the latter fetched him his first Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Telugu. The commercial successes of the films Athadu (2005) and Pokiri (2006) established him in the Telugu film industry. He later went on to act in other commercially successful films such as Dookudu (2011), Businessman (2012), Seethamma Vakitlo Sirimalle Chettu (2013) and Srimanthudu (2015). To date, he has won seven Nandi Awards, four Filmfare Awards, three CineMAA Awards, two South Indian International Movie Awards and one International Indian Film Academy Awards.