Kona Venkat's name associated with many successful movies like Dhee, Dubai Seenu, Ready, Satya, Amma, Nanna, O Tamil Ammayi to name a few. But, only a few people know that he's also a producer, director, and enterprenuer. Though I spoke to him at the time of Shock for a brief period, I was not in touch with him after that. When I heard that he was in the USA for the shooting of Chintakayala Ravi, I called him up and we had a long chat. Here are the excerpts from it for our readers:
Sri: A routine question first, but people like to know more about celebrities' personal lives. So, tell me about your background first.
Kona Venkat: Firstly, I am not a celebrity (laughs)! ...Most of my schooling was done in and around Vizag and Amalapuram, as my father is a Deputy superintendent of Police. Later, I came and joined my grandfather in Hyderabad. I completed my MBA in Pune and came back to Hyderabad...
Sri: Tell me about your grandfather, Kona Prabhakar Rao gaaru. I am trying for his film Drohi for quite a long time!
Kona Venkat: Me too (laughs)! Actually, I was fortunate enough to see the movie in Maheshwari theater. When Maheshwari- Parameshwari theaters were first built, my grandfather was in the State Cabinet. So, he arranged for a special screening of that movie for Cabinet members. I saw that movie sometime around 1982, I think. Later, the print was lost somewhere and we are unable to trace it even now. I have been searching for that movie for a long time, without any luck yet! Taata gaaru (Kona Prabhakar Rao) not only acted in a couple of films but also produced a film called Mangalasutram. He introduced Nagabhushanam gaaru to the industry. Later, as you know, he came into politics and became an MLA three times from Bapatla constituency and also worked as a Minister and then became the Governor of Maharastra and later worked as Governor of Sikkim too...
Sri: Another routine question here: Are you in the field because of him?
Kona Venkat: No, I was interested in films from my college days! Ram Gopal Verma's brother is my classmate, and that's how I was well-acquainted with films during my college.
Sri: Okay, let's get back to your story. What did you do after MBA?
Kona Venkat: (Smiles) I did lots of stuff. As my father passed away in service, I got a job in the Police Department. I got bored there and I joined in Civil Supplies Office, and then to the Secretariat where I worked as a PA to a Cabinet Minister for some time. Then, I quit the job and started an import and export business. I then started CCTV for the first time in India. ...Once I went to buy a television and there I saw that all the TVs are showing the same clipping played by a single video player.
That gave me an idea and talked with the Railway authorites and installed the first TV announcement system in the Secunderabad Railway Station, and I repeated it in Nagpur Railway Station too. That became a big hit, so much that they started bidding for tenders from the second year onwards, and I still got the contract the first two years! Soon, though, I got bored of it and wanted to do something different.
Dronamraju Satyanarayana gaaru is my uncle. For his election campign, I used to tour with Naresh and Dharamavarapu Subrahmanyam. While on the tour once, Dharmavarapu said a story and I liked it and promised to produce it. As I was close to Ramu, I went and informed him the same. He heard the story but he had doubts about the execution of the film, and he did not want me to take the risk completely and offered partnership to do the project. I declined it and went ahead with the project. The film was a disaster from the word "Go". It is Thoka Leni Pitta - it flopped so badly I need to sell both my cars to clear off the debts.
Sri: After this disaster also, what made you get into films?
Kona Venkat: It was Ramu who dragged me into this. As I did some work for Money, he dragged me into the films.
Sri: Money? I thought it was Siva Nageswara Rao's film! What have you got to do with it?
Kona Venkat: (laughs) I think very few are aware about this part of the story behind the scenes. Ramu usually shows all his films before release to his friends and asks for their opinion. Similarly, he showed me Money, and it was ...not what the audience finally saw! This version did not have Khan Dada, Kota Srinivasa Rao's song, etc.. Also, there was no scene to establish that Jayasudha is a neighbour of the heroes.
I felt the film was very flat and also said that there was no connection of neighbours. So, Ramu and I sat together and made changes, included Khan Data and Kota Srinivasa Rao, and the song. I also worked for Anaganagaa Oka Roju after Krissnavamsi left the film. Verma kept in mind all this and asked me to come participate in the story discussions of Satya along with Anurag Kasyap and Saurab Shukla.
Sri: Helping with script is one thing, but writing lyrics for that film...
Kona Venkat: (Laughs) True! Actually, Sastry gaaru is the permanent lyricst for Ramu for all his film in Telugu. For Satya too, Sastry gaaru wrote all the songs except the poola poola vaana... and peg-u meeda peg-u koTTu!.... gOli maar... song was originally written by Gulzar gaaru in Hindi. Sastry gaaru wrote the Telugu version but Ramu somehow felt something missing in that lyric and asked me to write it, and I obliged. Sasty gaaru was upset first, but after hearing the song, he was really happy and hugged me!
