Star Interviews
Interview : Producer Midde Rama Rao
By Sri
Aug 27, 2008 - 12:21:29 PM

Midde Rama Rao

Midde Ramarao is a producer who has to his credit fifteen films, with more than half of them went on to become blockbusters! Padahaarella Vayasu, Pandandi Jeevitam, Goonda, Ramarajyamlo Bheemaraju, etc. were all produced by him. I spoke to him almost an year and a half back to write TC's Movie Retrospect article on Padahaarella Vayasu . When I called him recently again, he immediately recognized me and was happy to talk about various things. An interview came out of the chat, and is presented here exclusively to our visitors.

Sri: How did you steer yourself into filmdom?

Midde Ramarao: Basically, I am from Gokavaram, 30 kilometers away from Rajahmundry. I wanted to do something pertaining to films since my early childhood! After discontinuing my graduation, I ventured in 'contracts' business and constructed a touring theatre named Sushma in our village. After ten years as an exhibitor, I joined hands with my brothers-in-law, who were also exhibitors, and we planned to work on making films. Initially, we dubbed a couple of films like Kondaveeti Veerudu (Malayanati Mangai in Tamil, starring Gemini Ganesan and Vijayasree), Kaksha-Siksha (Ingapottan Sottu, Tamil film starring Jayashankar), and Prachanda Veerudu (from Kannada, originally titled Bahadur Gandu and starring Rajkumar and Jayanthi). The first film was an average fare but the two that followed were super hits. And that success made me consider doing a film in Telugu...

Sri: You said you paid the highest remake rights at that time for Padahaarella Vayasu?

Midde Ramarao: Yes, at that time, the average price for remake rights for a film was not more than Rs. 40,000 but for the film Padahaarella Vayasu, I paid Rs.1,25,000 - triple the normal prices as you can see!

Sri: How could you get through to K. Raghavendra Rao gaaru for your first film? He was in the league of big directors already, with the film Adavi Ramudu at that time!

Midde Ramarao: Though Adavi Ramudu is a super duper hit, he was not really busy with films at that time. He was supposed to do another project for Satya Chitra banner that produced the film Adavi Ramudu, but it didn't work out. He liked the film Padunaaru Vayadinile and was waiting for someone to get the remake rights. When we got the rights, he readily agreed to do the film for us, when we offered him the same.

Sri: Can you disclose the remunerations for the hero and heroine?
Midde Ramarao: We paid Rs. 30,000 to Sridevi, though she asked for Rs.50,000. Chandramohan got Rs.15,000 though he asked Rs.17,000, which was his then-current remuneration. Mohan Babu was paid Rs.10,000.

Sri: Is it true that Rajnikant wanted to repeat his role in Telugu too, for the same remuneration? 
Midde Ramarao: Rajnikant was eager to do the role, but he did not have enough market in Telugu at that time. It's one of the biggest mistakes I have done, I think now, as Rajni is one of the best people in the world who never forget those that helped him in his initial days! ...As the film Swargam-Narakam was a big hit in Telugu, Mohan Babu got established as an artiste for roles with negative shades in Telugu. Thus, we chose him instead of Rajni for the Telugu version.

Sri: What was the production cost in Telugu? How much was your profit?
Midde Ramarao:  The film was wrapped up in 10.5 lakh rupees. We made a table profit of six lakh rupees, not including the Nizam rights. We made 20 lakh rupees in the Nizam area alone! It was a sensational hit, indeed! ...Raghavendra Rao had a special screening for NTR, so as to impress the latter and book him for the film Vetagadu...

Sri: After delivering such a sensational hit at the first go, what happened with the film Nindu Noorellu?

Midde Ramarao: Nindu Noorellu is a different story to talk about. Writer Satyanand saw a film in the Goa Film Festival and liked the story very much. He narrated the story to Raghavendra Rao, who also liked it and promised to get NTR in the role of Lord Krishna in the end. I felt excited and agreed to do the film though I had doubts about the story as the lead pair would both be weeping through out the film! But, due to reasons unknown, NTR's getup of Lord Krishna didn't work out and they shot that part on photo-frames of Gods instead. When the film was released on November 14, it was declared a disaster - I lost around 12 lakh rupees on the film!

Sri: What happened between Nindu Noorellu (1979) and Pandanti Jeevitam (released on January 01, 1981)?

Midde Ramarao: Our film industry goes with success - people will not look at you the same way when you have a success and when you have a flop. ...This is a generalized statement, I admit, and there are a few exceptions! I wanted to do another film with Raghavendra Rao gaaru after Nindu Noorellu, but he was not ready to do one. Atluri Purnachandra Rao had Raghavendra Rao's dates at that time, and he asked Raghavendra Rao to make a film for me as I was in trouble, but he just kept on postponing for different reasons. Purnachandra Rao gaaru also recommended Suryanarayana Raju (Krishnam Raju's brother, and Prabhas's father) who had Raghavendra Rao's dates for a film. But Raghavendra Rao had not really showed any interest but he just kept postponing without committing positively or otherwise. Purnachandra Rao gaaru was also upset with his attitude, and he asked Tatineni Rama Rao gaaru, his partner at that time, to help me out, and he agreed. That was how Pandanti Jeevitam happened.

Sri: Vijayashanti was not originally in the film, I believe...?

Midde Ramarao: True, Jayamala (wife of late Kannada Prabhakar, who did films like Rudrakaali and Marana Mrudungam in Telugu) was our initial choice. After we completed the shooting, distributor Harikrishna of Lakshmi Chitra saw the film and suggested us to change the heroine, as he didn't like Jayamala any bit and recommended Vijayashanti for the role. Vijayashanti did only one film before that - Kilaadi Krishnulu - in Telugu, but she was not a known name. With this film, she became a known face to everyone. The film was super duper hit and we made good profits on the film. The film's budget was about 25 lakh rupees back then!

Sri: And, Prema Murthulu (released on April 21, 1982) with Sobhan Babu kept your success going, I guess.
Midde Ramarao: Yeah, Prema Murthulu was also a very big hit. Radha and Lakshmi acted opposite Sobhan, and the film was directed by A. Kodandarami Reddy. Sobhan gaaru was paid four lakh rupees, while Lakshmi was paid 2.5 lakh rupees and Radha, a newcomer then, was paid less than one lakh rupees at that time. This film was also completed with a budget less than 25 lakh rupees and brought us good profits too!

Sri: How was working with Chiranjeevi for Palletoori Monagaadu (1983)?
Midde Ramarao: Palletoori Monagaadu was a remake of a Tamil film, directed by S.A. Chandrasekhar (current Tamil star Vijay's father and director of hit films such as Devanthakudu, Chattaniki Kallu Levu with Chiranjeevi). The villain gets killed by his own sidekick in the Tamil version. I didn't like it and asked the director to change it to the hero killing the villain instead, which he reluctantly agreed to! The film went on to became a super hit. Chiranjeevi's remuneration at that time is 1.25 lakh rupees, and the film itself was completed below 20 lakh rupees...

Sri: Wasn't your film Ramarajyamlo Bheemaraju (released on July 28, 1983) based on a novel by 'Vasundhara' (pen name for Jonnalagadda Ramalakshmi and her husband) that was published in the Vijaya magazine?
Midde Ramarao: True, and the film was also a super hit. Krishna was paid five lakh rupees and Sridevi was paid half of that amount at that time. The film in fact marked one of our big commercial successes.

Sri: What were the remunerations and budget for Goonda (1984) like?

Midde Ramarao: The film was completed in 20 lakh rupees, and it was sold for 28 lakh rupees for the first run and made 11 lakh rupees of profit in the second run. (Rights are sold to theaters once in five years.) As you can see, I made good profits out of this film too. Chiranjeevi and Radha were paid equally for this film - 2.5 lakh rupees each!

Sri: How come the hero and heroine were paid the same amount?!

Midde Ramarao: Radha was at her peak then, and Chiranjeevi preferred Radha to be his heroine. Thus, we had to pay more than her regular remuneration to get her dates for our film.

Sri: You worked with Chiranjeevi and also with the Sridevi for different films. How come you didn't try to bring them together in one film?

Midde Ramarao: Actually, I tried to make the combination work. Sridevi was not interested in doing a film with Chiranjeevi initially - she always avoided it! She finally agreed to do a film with Chiranjeevi and the shooting was started too. After the first schedule, the film was stalled and no one knows what happened!

Sri: Goonda was a bigger hit than Palletoori Monagaadu, and both these were hits anyway! But, you also never made a film with Chiranjeevi after these two films!

Midde Ramarao: Chiranjeevi became too big for my budget, and his attitude changed too! He was simply not the same person that I worked with for films like Palletoori Monagaadu or Goonda. He became a star and it showed, and I felt it would be safe for me to keep a distance.

Sri: You introduced P.Sarath as a director with the Chaadasthapu Mogudu. Tell us more about it.

Midde Ramarao: Chaadasthapu Mogudu was based on a novel by Suryadevara Rammohan Rao. The film was an average grosser. We made a little profit on the film.

Sri: You seemed to have tasted success with novel-based films such as Ramarajyamlo Bheemaraju and Chaadastapu Mogudu. How come other such films like Sampoorna Premayanam and Jhansi Rani flop, though the original novels behind these films were by popular writers?

Midde Ramarao: It is hard to adopt novels of popular writers like Malladi Venkata Krishnamurthy or Yandamuri Veerendranath. The problem is that people already know the suspense elements of these stories before they even come to the theaters, since the novelists are popular and hence the novels are popular too. Another minus point is that new directors were unable to handle the scripts properly (Sampoorna Premayanam was directed by N.B. Chakravarthy, based on Yandamuri Veerendranath's novel by the same name, while Jhansi Rani was directed by Satyanand, based on Malladi Venkata Krishnamurthy's novel Mister 'V'.)

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.

Photo Courtesty : Siva Mallela

Interview: Sri Atluri
Edited by: NaChaKi