[1][2] Varma has directed films across multiple genres, including parallel cinema and docudrama noted for their gritty realism, technical finesse, and craft.

Starting his career as a civil engineer, he made an entry into Telugu cinema with the path-breaking crime thriller, Siva (1989) featured at the 13th IFFI' 90 Indian Panorama mainstream section, and has won Varma, the state Nandi Awards for Best direction, Best first film of a director, and the Filmfare Award for Best Film – Telugu.

[14][15][16] The first installment of the trilogy, Satya, was also listed in CNN-IBN's 100 greatest Indian films of all time, fetching Varma the "Bimal Roy Award" for Best Direction.

[17] Varma fetched the National Film Award for scripting and producing the political crime drama, Shool (1999) cited by "India Today" as the "Best Cop Movie" of the 90's.

[28]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.

[31][32] Satya and Company, in particular, were cited by British director Danny Boyle as influences on his Academy Award-winning film Slumdog Millionaire (2008), for their "slick, often mesmerizing portrayals of the Mumbai underworld", their display of "brutality and urban violence", and their gritty realism.

[33][34][35] In 2005, Varma directed the Godfatheresque-Sarkar, another super-hit thriller inspired by the life of Bal Thackeray and North Indian politics, which was screened to special mention at the New York Asian Film Festival, along with its sequel Sarkar Raj, which premiered at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival and the 9th IIFA World Premiere-Bangkok, and was archived at the Academy of Motion Pictures library.

[45][46][47] Varma's philosophy is influenced by Russian-American Novelist Ayn Rand, Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche and authors like James Hadley Chase and Frederick Forsyth, as well as by Mad magazine.

In 1999, he directed Kaun, a suspense thriller set entirely in one house and featuring only three actors, and Mast, a subversion of Hindi cinema's masala genre.

Bhoot became a major hit at the box office,[61] and Varma was nominated for the Filmfare Best Director Award for the film.

[32] In 2006, he re-made a new installment of Shiva, which was screened at the New York Asian Film Festival, where in a retrospective featuring Varma's experimental hits such as Company, Ek Hasina Thi, Ab Tak Chhappan, Sarkar, Contract, and Shabri was staged.

[66][67] A two-part bilingual Parallel cinema Rakta Charitra (2010), on the theme of South Indian politics, was based on the life of Paritala Ravindra, and Maddela Cheruvu Suri; the film received praise from critics.

It was a commercially successful film that gave Varma an opportunity to demonstrate his technical expertise and story telling skills.

[21][71] Varma introduced online auction based film distribution model for this venture, and tasted success.

[72] Varma's notable mainstream works in Hindi cinema include Daud (1997), Darna Zaroori Hai (2006), Nishabd (2007), Darling (2007), and Phoonk (2008).

Bollywood film makers such as Anurag Kashyap, Madhur Bhandarkar, Puri Jagannadh, E. Nivas, Prawaal Raman, Krishna Vamsi, and Vishram Sawant assisted Varma, before venturing into direction.

The show focuses on Varma's Point of View on social issues such as Education, Religion, Mythology, Children, Crime, Death, Anger, Godmen, Woman, Philosophy, Cinema etc.

In November 2015, Varma published his book Guns and Thighs: The Story of My Life, which discusses a wide range of subjects, from the influences and circumstances that drew him to cinematic techniques, his successful and unsuccessful films, his Hindi cinema idols, his live-in relationship with Suchitra Krishnamoorthi, his relationship with the media and the controversies dogging him, his philosophy of life, and Indian cinema.

[82] On this occasion, Varma said "I dedicated my book to Ayn Rand, Bruce Lee, Urmila Matondkar, Amitabh Bachchan, and a few gangsters.

[86] In January 2025, Varma was convicted by a Mumbai court in a cheque bounce case and sentenced to three months of simple imprisonment.

The case, originating 2018, was filed by a company named Shree, represented by Maheshchandra Mishra, under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act.