Stars : Star Interviews : Interview : Producer Midde Rama Rao

Midde Rama Rao

Sri: N.B. Chakravarthy's Nippu Laanti Manishi on your banner was a disaster too, I think...

Midde Ramarao: The film was a remake too, and it didn't suit the hero Nandamuri Balakrishna. That was why it failed, I believe.

Sri: How did your remake of Mithun Chakraborty's Pyaar Jhuktaa Nahi (as Pacchani Kaapuram) happen? The original Hindi film gave a fresh breath of life to Mithun's sagging career then!

Midde Ramarao: We actually had dates of Krishna and Sridevi and we shot two songs on them, but we didn't have any story! Being a good friend of mine, Purnachandra Rao gaaru, who had the rights of Pyar Jhuktaa Nahi, gave the story to me. The film was a the last super hit on my banner! Krishna was paid eight lakh rupees, while Sridevi was paid five lakh rupees as a remuneration for this film. The director Tatineni Rama Rao was also paid five lakh rupees. The film was a silver jubilee hit on our banner. It was made under 75 lakh rupees then, and I made a profit of 25 lakhs on this film.

Sri: What went wrong with films that you made after Pacchani Kaapuram?

Midde Ramarao: Gundamma Gaari Krishnulu with Rajendra Prasad and Subhalekha Sudhakar under the direction of Relangi Narasimha Rao was an average fare. Maa Oori Magaadu went overboard in budget and thus flopped eventually. The film was delayed because of Satyanarayana - We had the dates of Krishna and Sridevi, but Satyanarayana was too busy to accommodate dates for combination scenes. He even cancelled the dates a couple of times and everything went haywire, taking the film's production costs up to 90 lakh rupees, and I was able to sell it for 76 lakh rupees! Bad luck followed us with Jhansi Rani and Attaku Koduku-Maamaku Alludu.

Sri: Do you mean to say that two flops made you lose all your money?

Midde Ramarao: No, I started a factory with the help of IMDB. After the initial release of loan installment, they held further release of money during production stage, which made things out of control and we ended up in a debt of more than three crore rupees! I was forced to sell off my house in Chennai... (The house was planned by Amarnath Reddy, brother-in-law of T. Subbirami Reddy, who also designed Raghavendra Kalyana Mandapam and Chiranjeevi's house in Chennai).

Sri: Did you have plans to get back to production?

Midde Ramarao: We planned a movie with Venu and Arti Agarwal called Cell Phone, but it didn't work out.

Sri: How are your children doing?

Midde Ramarao: My son maintains a cable network near Draksharamam. Both my daughters are married and settled. I am living in a rental house in Hyderabad.