Rao earned a master's degree in mass communication and film studies from
University of Hyderabad before venturing to make music videos with Vinay Sapru. The two directed "Kaanta Laga" and "Chadhti Jawani", which went on to become successful and also controversial in the early 2000s. The videos also earned numerous awards. The duo then made their debut as film directors with the 2005 film
Lucky: No Time for Love. According to a review by Manish Gajjar for
BBC Shropshire Bollywood, the film has slow parts and some untranslated Russian dialogue, but is "a film well worth seeing," including due to the performance by
Salman Khan and music by
Adnan Sami. In a review for
India Today, Anupama Chopra describes the film as "ambitious," with "languorously lovely shots of the snowy wasteland, St Petersburg and Russian religious iconography", but pans the second part of the film and describes the cameo by
Mithun Chakraborty as "annoying." She next co-directed the 2015 film
I Love NY with Sapru. A review by Roktim Rajpal in
News18 described "The basic storyline is quite clichéd and has a ‘seen it before’ feel about it. As such, the film doesn’t really offer anything new or fresh". In
India Times, Kunal Guha wrote "While it's good to notice that Sunny Deol's face hasn't aged a day beyond 35, it's upsetting to see that his performance hasn't either. Kangana is her chirpy, squeaky self”. Rao then co-directed the 2016 film
Sanam Teri Kasam with Sapru. A review by Shubhra Gupta in
The Indian Express praised the acting by
Mawra Hocane but overall panned the film. In
The Hindu, Namrata Joshi writes that the film is "tailor-made" to fail the
Bechdel test, and suggests "Go with a boxful of tissues if you cry easily at the movies." Rao also co-directed the 2023 film
Yaariyan 2 with Sapru. A review by Vinamra Mathur in
Firstpost reflected on some of their past work together, comparing this film less favorably, but notes 25 million views of the trailer on
YouTube. A review on
Rediff by Deepa Gahlot describes the film as "a collection of music videos with a bare minimum plot to glue them together." A
Bollywood Hungama review describes the direction by Rao and Sapru as "creative" and states they are "known for adding a lot even to their ordinary shots." Rao and Sapru have directed more than 100 music videos over more than twenty years, including for
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan,
Lata Mangeshkar,
Asha Bhonsle,
Arijit Singh,
Neha Kakkar and
Jubin Nautiyal. They have also worked with the company T-Series, owned by
Bhushan Kumar, to direct music videos. ==Filmography==