Siva

Ram Gopal Varma's first film and a turning point in Telugu cinema. Siva, newly arrived at his college, works out that the violence on campus is not organised by students at all but by outsiders who use them. As soon as he starts asking, the threats begin, and the choice sharpens: keep quiet and finish his degree, or stand in their way. Varma based the script on what he had seen as an engineering student in Vijayawada, and the film's interest lies less in heroism than in crowd psychology and in how young people get used. Nagarjuna and Amala lead, with music by Ilaiyaraaja. It became the highest grossing Telugu film of its time, won three Nandi Awards and was remade in Hindi in 1990.