After a brief stint as a site engineer for Krishna Oberoi hotel in Hyderabad, he put his dreams on the back burner and decided to go to Nigeria to make some money. It was at this moment that he visited a video rental library in Hyderabad. He loved the idea and decided to start one of his own at Ameerpet in Hyderabad, through which he slowly developed connections with the film world. Without being successful as a fourth assistant director in B. Gopal's film "Collector Gari Abbai", Varma has worked as a Assistant Director in "Rao Gari Illu" , produced by Annapurna Studios and then landed with the offer of film direction, with the 1989 Telugu film (produced by Annapurna Studios , "Siva".