Raviraja Pinisetty is the name associated with the blockbusters like
Pedarayudu,
Chanti,
Yamudiki Mogudu,
etc. Though he made straight films like
Muthyamanta Muddu,
Yamapaasham,
Siripuram Chinnodu,
Jwala,
etc., people remember him mostly for the remakes which became bigger blockbusters than the original, sometimes so much that people forget they're remakes! No wonder he is called Raja of remakes. Here he goes down the memory lane for the benefit of Telugu Cinema lovers..
Sri: Can you tell us about your father Pinisetty Sriramamurthy
gaaru who was a celebrated film writer of yesteryears?
Raviraja:
My father was born in Beechpatnam village near Narsapuram. My paternal grandfather was a court clerk who constructed a temple in his village at that time, and my paternal grandmother died when my dad was still a kid, which led to second marriage of my grandfather. My father was the youngest kid, after three sisters, of his mother. One was married and was living at Katrenipadu and the other two were married and living at Palakollu then. My dad stayed in Katrenipadu for some time and then later moved to Palakollu. He studied only until fifth class and then took up tailoring, but he continued to read lot at the local library. He started a drama company called
Adarsha Natya Mandali and used to direct dramas that he wrote. Some of them even won awards back then, including
Palle Paduchu (later made as a movie by B.A. Subbarao
gaaru),
Kulam Leni Pilla, and
Aadadi (Though title suggests it's an woman-oriented subject, the beauty of the play is that it has no female character!). One of the best compliments for his plays he received was from writer D.V. Narasaraju
gaaru, who said, "The beauty of your plays should be credited to you totally, as you think in Telugu and write in Telugu.
meeru telugulO aalOchinchi telugudanam tOnE vraastaaru!" He knew Chalam as a part of his troupe for
Palle Paduchu, and thus made a film
Nithya Kalyanam-Paccha Thoranam introducing Chalam and Ramakrishna to Telugu filmdom. The film was an average fare, but L.V.Prasad
gaaru remade it in Hindi later as
Daadi Maa which became a big hit...
Sri: How did you enter the field?
Raviraja:
To be honest, I was not at all interested in the field,
anDii! I wanted to start some business after my graduation. Allu Aravind is a relative of mine. Thus, I went to the shooting of
Bantrothu Bharya with him once. That's where I met
guruvu gaaru (Dasari Narayana Rao) who enquired about me and asked me through Aravind if I could join with him as an assistant. (Dasari worked under Pinisetty before he became a director, so he calls Pinisetty as
guruvu gaaru). I was not really interested and dropped that topic, but we both met again at the premiere show of the film when he asked me again. I obliged and started as his assistant for the film
Devude Digi Vasthe... which was also produced by Geetha Arts.
Sri: I remember that film - it's the only film showing Jayaprada in swimsuit as far as I know. The film was also remade in Hindi with Sanjeev Kumar in the lead role.
Raviraja:
Right! I also worked for two more films with him,
Swargam-Narakam and
Jyothi Baney Jwala (Hindi remake of
Katakala Ruddrayya). I was unable to adjust to the atmosphere in the filmdom - so much of artificiality in the industry was suffocating to me and I left the field after that.
Sri: That's interesting! What happened next?
Raviraja:
Satya Reddy is a good friend of mine. He wanted to start a tobacco business in Guntur and I joined him. We also did very well in that, even exporting more than two crore rupees worth of tobacco, which is a very huge amount back then!
Sri: Do you mean to refer to the same Satya Reddy that directed films like
Daaku,
Dongalosthunnaru Jaagarttha!, and the brother of Dr. Mitra who was in PRP until recently?
Raviraja:
Yes, he is the one. Though the business was very successful, he was attracted to movies after couple of years and distributed films like
Burripalem Bullodu and some other films that went on to become hits. He thus started concentrating more on movies than on the business. After asking him several times to concentrate on the business, but in vain, we parted ways, but I had to make a career decision. Thus, I came back to movies after four years of successful business.
Sri: What was your comeback film?
Raviraja:
I joined
guruvu gaaru (Dasari) again for the film
Krishnarjunulu. While I was working for the film
Zakmi Sher (Hindi version of
Bobbili Puli), Jayakrishna
gaaru offered me
Veerabhadrudu (1984).
Sri: That's a remake, right?
Raviraja:
Yes, Jayakrishna
gaaru bought the rights of
Kozhi Koovudhu (1982) directed by Gangai Amaran (Ilayaraja's brother). Karthik played the role of Suresh, Madala Rangarao did Prabhu's role, Vijayashanti did the role of Vijji and Jyothi did the role of Silk Smitha in Telugu.
