The Income Tax Department conducted raids on Tuesday at the offices and homes of producers Dil Raju, Ravi Shankar Yalamanchili, and Naveen Yerneni in Hyderabad. These producers have recently backed Game Changer, Sankranthiki Vasthunam and Pushpa 2: The Rule.
Sources state that raids were conducted at eight different locations in Hyderabad, including the homes and offices of these producers and an online portal. Raju, whose real name is Velamkucha Venkata Ramana Reddy, is a prominent producer and distributor in the Telugu film industry. He owns Sri Venkateswara Creations. The state government recently appointed him chairman of the Telangana Film Development Corporation. Ravi and Naveen own Mythri Movie Makers and are also prominent in the film industry.
These raids follow the success of Venkatesh-starrer Sankranthiki Vasthunam for Raju and the Allu Arjun-starrer Pushpa 2: The Rule for Ravi and Naveen. Raju also recently produced the Ram Charan-starrer Game Changer, which got a lukewarm response. All three films were released recently, with Pushpa 2: The Rule and Game Changer mounted on massive budgets. Sources state the raids were conducted for suspected tax evasion but further details are awaited. The IT department is yet to release a statement regarding the same.
According to Sacnilk, Pushpa 2: The Rule earned ₹1228.25 crore net in India and ₹1734.65 crore worldwide since its release on December 5. Game Changer earned ₹125.4 crore net in India and ₹179.55 crore worldwide since its release on January 10. Sankranthiki Vastunam made around ₹122.78 crore net in India since its release on January 14.
Raju’s SVC minted money in the early 2000s when he began branching out into production with films like Dil, Arya and Bommarillu. In 2023 he produced the Vijay-starrer Varisu and co-produced Samantha Ruth Prabhu-starrer Shaakunthalam. In 2024 he produced the Vijay Deverakonda-starrer The Family Star and Game Changer. Sankranthiki Vasthunam was released in 2025.
As for Ravi and Naveen’s Mythri, they began producing with the 2015 film Srimanthudu and the 2016 film Janatha Garage. They’ve seen backed films like Rangasthalam, Dear Comrade, Gang Leader, Mathu Vadalara, and more. After Pushpa 2: The Rise, they’re producing Ajith Kumar-starrer Good Bad Ugly, Sunny Deol-starrer Jaat, Pawan Kalyan-starrer Ustaad Bhagat Singh and Rishab Shetty-starrer Jai Hanuman.
