Sipayi - As Director

As Director

Ravichandran shot to instant fame when Premaloka, which he produced, directed, and starred in, became one of the landmark films in Kannada film history. It was made with a budget of a crore rupees, the most expensive Kannada film in its time. It starred Juhi Chawla as the female lead. Also Vishnuvardhan, Ambarish, Tiger Prabhakar and other superstars of that period played guest role in the movie.

Premaloka also established Hamsalekha, who would teamed up with Ravichandran for a long period and gave consistently popular music for the next 10 years.

Premaloka broke several records and defined much of Ravichandran's later film making. It set the stage for lavish productions in the Kannada film industry, and inspired a generation of directors. Ravichandran is generally credited with introducing a culture of producing big-budget films in Kannada.

Ravichandran initially acted in and directed movies produced by his own banner, Eswari Productions. After Premaloka, he accepted acting offers from other producers. He has worked with directors of the Kannada film industry such as S. V. Rajendra Singh Babu and D. Rajendra Babu.

His association with director D. Rajendra Babu has resulted in several hits including Naanu Nanna Hendthi, Annayya, Ramachaari, Yaare Neenu Cheluve and Sriramachandra. However all these films were remakes.

He has also remade a few hit Telugu and Bollywood movies in Kannada.

Ravichandran is close friends with producer Rockline Venkatesh, with whom he worked on Yaare Neenu Cheluve, Nanu Nanna Hendthiru, Preethsod Thappa and Ondagona Baa.

Ravichandran is known to be a perfectionist and artists recall him re-shooting a single scene or sequence until it was perfect. He is known to have shot entire sequences again after the first cuts of the movie failed to satisfy him. However, after a lean patch in the late 1990s, Ravichandran is said to have made amends to this and churned out quickies.