The film city is the brainchild of media tycoon and film producer Ramoji Rao, who wanted to build a studio similar to the ones in Hollywood.[1] On procuring the land, he signed art director Nitish Roy to design the complex. According to an executive, the builders kept the land, which at that time consisted of jungles and mountainous terrain, intact, without removing one tree or mountain. It was built in Hyderabad in 1996 in the outskirts of the city in Abdullahpurmet.[10] Maa Naannaku Pelli (1997) was the first film shot in the studio.[11]

The studio has sets such as forests, gardens, hotels, a railway station, an airport, apartment blocks, mansions and workshops etc.[7] There is a central kitchen for the various film units shooting at any given point of time. The film city also has 6 hotels inside it, 47 sound stages and permanent sets ranging from railway stations to temples.[6] The film city has about 1,200 employees, and 8,000 agents.[7] The film city also handles about 400-500 films per annum in various Indian languages. On any given day, it has the capacity to facilitate 15 shoots.[7] Vintage buses and AC Coach are available to travel inside Ramoji Film City.