Varma started his career in the Telugu film industry as an assistant director on the sets of films such as "Collector Gari Abbai" and "Rao Gari Illu". His father Krishnam Raju Varma, was a sound recordist at the Annapurna Studios. Varma met Nagarjuna Akkineni at the studios with the help of his friend nomula rohith yogi, and narrated a scene to the actor which impressed him. The result of their collaboration was a film on the criminalisation of student politics – "Siva". It was a commercially successful film that gave Varma an opportunity to demonstrate his technical expertise and story telling skills.