Management Team
With over 200 years of combined management and media experience, the AISFM management team brings to its students the best that a school has to offer.
NAGARJUNA AKKINENI
First, with world-class infrastructure. The 22 acres of Annapurna Studios, with shooting floors, sets, and post-production facilities form the campus of the Annapurna International School of Film + Media. We are also building another 1 lakh square feet of classroom and teaching space.
Second, with top education professionals. We searched India, and the world, and found a team to manage the school to the standards of the world’s best universities.
And finally, with an open, inclusive and transparent operation, run as a non-profit entity.
We have not created this initiative for ourselves. We have created it for the entire media industry, for India. This inclusive approach excites us, because it means that you and anyone you know can join us as partners in the great cause of education and the exciting world of media. And it excites us because Annapurna Studios, like every other production company in India, struggles to hire trained, professional staff.
We need actors. We need writers. We need production and technical staff for both film and television. We are dramatically scaling up our business, with new ventures and new productions. We have the space. We have the facilities and equipment. We need to find trained talent.
We believe that the Annapurna International School of Film + Media provides the talent pipeline that Annapurna and the industry needs.
Amala Akkineni
Amala completed her education from Kalakshetra College of Fine Arts, Chennai. She toured extensively with the Kalakshetra Dance Troupe both in India and abroad, under the leadership of Rukmini Devi Arundale, before joining films. Her career in Indian cinema (1985 – 1992) had her complete 50 films as leading lady in five Indian languages (Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi).
She was awarded the ‘Nari Shakti Puraskaar’ (2016) by President Pranab Mukherjee on the occasion of International Women’s Day in New Delhi at Rashtrapati Bhavan on March 8th 2017.
Amala has worked for over the last two decades in South India through various non-governmental and governmental organizations in animal welfare, wildlife protection, child welfare, rural women’s empowerment, HIV awareness and for the protection of the environment.
Amala Akkineni is the co-founder and chairperson of Blue Cross of Hyderabad, a registered non-profit animal welfare organization working for the welfare of animals in Hyderabad and extending support to other groups in the states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
As a film personality, she constantly brings into focus social and environmental issues through media interactions, speaking at public forums in both rural and urban communities, at educational institutions, and on popular television shows, to increase understanding and motivate social change.
In the last couple of years Amala returned to films, playing roles in Telugu and Hindi films and has recently completed a Tamil tele-series ‘Uyirmei’ for Zee Tamil. Her substantial background in films and television and her social commitment, led her to be appointed as Director, Annapurna International School for Film and Media. In this new role, Amala seeks to fulfil Dr. A.N.R’s dream to guide future generations on a skilled and educated path for professions in Film, Media & Animation.
BALA RAJASEKHARUNI
Bala has an M.FA. in Screenwriting from the University of California-Riverside, an M.A. in Theater & Cinema from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an M.A. in Theater Arts from the Hyderabad Central University.
For the past 19 years, in the United States, Bala taught in Film & Theater Departments, conducted workshops in various educational settings such as special schools and correctional facilities. As a film professional, Bala has written/produced/directed award winning English language films, held numerous crew positions such as Casting Director, Script Consultant, Actor Trainer, Executive Producer & Co-producer. Bala consults for foreign writers, directors and producers who want to start their careers in Hollywood. Bala founded 160-H Productions-Hollywood, and has been running it successfully since 2001.
Bala divides his time between USA and India, actively undertaking production endeavors and teaching.
NAMIREDDY KRUPAKAR REDDY
Commander Krupakar heads and ensures smooth functioning of Operations, Media & IT, HR, Production, Marketing and Finance. He oversees implementation of AISFM’s operational policies, rules, initiatives and goals.
He brings the efficiency of business and helps AISFM execute long-term and short-term plans and directives by implementing judgement, vision, management and leadership, apart from ensuring smooth running of day-to-day responsibilities, strategic planning activities and other functions.
Coming from an Armed Forces background the Retired Commander has 21 years of experience in the Indian Navy and has held key positions as Captain of Guided Missile Naval Warship, Joint Director of Naval Operations at Naval Headquarters amongst many other posts. He was awarded Chief of the Naval Staff Commendation in 2002 in recognition of exceptional diving operations undertaken. A commendable fact unknown to many is that he was in the first batch of deep sea divers in the Indian Navy and has trained up to a depth of 155 meters!
Prior to joining us here at AISFM, he has worked for four years at Reliance Industries in the Oil & Gas sector as Vice President.
SEETA KUCHI
A Masters in Business Administration, Seeta Kuchi has over two decades of experience in Human Resources.
She has been part of reputed institutions such as ISB, Reliance Media Works, Satyam BPO and Annapurna Studios Pvt. Ltd. A dynamic, highly organized, and independent professional, Ms. Seeta’s areas of expertise include secretarial and organization development, operations management, event management, HR department start-up, policies & processes and employee relations with emphasis on employee welfare, grievance and counselling.
Ms. Seeta has worked as Management Assistant to the highest-level administrators in various organizations. In the course of her work she has interacted with both internal and external executives as well as consultants, to coordinate a variety of complex executive meetings.
She has handled a wide range of administrative and executive support related tasks independently and with great alacrity. Her extensive experience in event planning and co-ordination has seen the success of many cultural events, seminars and workshops.
RAVINDRA
Ravindra, is an MBA in HR from Symbiosis International University. He comes with 17 years’ experience as being into professional HR.
He has been associated with Satyam, Oracle , SW Technologies and Apollo group as a Senior VP HR.
He is a certified NHRM member.
He is an advisor to many start-up companies and is an HR trainer. He is also a certified Business English trainer from international certification company , STAR
A Strategic and innovative HR professional who translates business vision into HR initiatives that improve performance, profitability, growth, and employee engagement.
He believes in empowering leaders who support companies and top executives with a unique perspective and comes with an appreciation that human capital is every organization’s greatest asset.
Genuine influencer who thrives on tough challenges and translates visions and strategies into actionable, value-added goals.