Star Interviews
'Sravanthi' Ravi Kishore - Interview
By Sri
Jul 1, 2008 - 4:23:02 AM

Ace producer Ravikishore's banner, "Sravanthi", is so popular that people recognize him as 'Sravanthi' Ravikishore though that's not his actual surname. 28 films in 22 years without compromising on one's morals and values is an achievement in itself - all his films can be watched anyday with the whole family. I caught up with him on the early hours of Monday to have a brief chitchat, but ended up discussing a whole lot of topics. Presented here is a brief version of our conversation, exclusive for TC readers.

Sri: What made you turn a producer when you were a chartered accountant by profession?

Ravikishore: Because of friends like Vemuri Satyanarayana, Thammudu Satyam, and Saibaba, I thought of producing films. Initially when I started, I just thought of doing it as a pure business, but once the film was completed, I was bound by the Cinema. The people I worked with became so close to me ...and it became a passion after that. The film was a big success - it was nothing but Ladies Tailor (1986).

Sri: Is it a remake of a Marathi film?

Ravikishore: No, actually they bought the rights of and they remade it! Our basic plot was to make a film around beliefs in astrology, etc. So this was shaped thus and then it was Bharani's idea to call the mole as jamajaccha in order to make it not vulgar (laughs)!

Sri: I thought someone approached to make it in Hindi too. How come it didn't work out?

Ravikishore: It was made recently, but it flopped. That's because of the nativity factor that was not considered rightly. It was probably for the same reason that the Tamil version (dubbed by G.V. Films, Mani Ratnam's brother's banner) was an average fare too!

Sri: What made you take up dubbing films into Telugu, after doing a straight film first?!

Ravikishore: I am a great fan of Balu Mahendra and Mani Ratnam, and both their films are good! So, I dubbed Rettai Vaal Kuruvi (1987) and dubbed it in Telugu as Rendu Thokala Pitta. The film, released in Sudarshan 35 mm, was a success. Later, I dubbed Nayagan as Nayakudu and released in Sandhya 35 mm. Both these films made good profits to me as well as the distributors. Then, we dubbed Pushpak and released it at the same time. All these film are good hits and the banner became popular because of that.

Sri: I know your banner was named after Malladi Venkata Krishnamurthy's novel that you liked very much. Did you ever think of making it a film? Did you meet Malladi ever?

Ravikishore: Yes, I did meet Malladi gaaru long after we started making movies. The film may not work out in the current trend. It could be made as a TV serial, but I do not have that much patience. As a producer, I always wanted 100 percent of my involvement with the project. If I cannot dedicae myself completely to it, I'd rather not make them.

Sri: What went wrong with Maharshi? Hearsay was that you gave publicity that it is the real love story of Vamsy but later contradicted the statement...

Ravikishore:That's absolutely wrong! Vamsy gaaru has nothing to do with the story. The story was developed by Bharani gaaru and us. It's based on the Hollywood film City Killer. The original star cast we planned were Revathi, Karthik, and Rajendra Prasad, and we even paid them the advance remunerations. Later, we did with Shanti Priya, Raghava, and Krishna Bhagawan. One reason for the film's fate was wrong casting. The songs were good hits, though!

Sri: Even Manasulo Maata flopped because of wrong casting, I guess!

Ravikishore: True. Even today, I feel that it's one of the good films that flopped due to wrong casting. The film's initial talk was very good, but suddenly after two weeks, the film got a flop talk. ...I lost 1.5 crores on that project!

Sri: After Maharshi and Sree Kanakamahalakshmi Recording Dance Troupe, you did a remake Varasudocchaadu with Venkatesh, Suhasini, and Sridurga a.k.a Mala Sree...

Ravikishore: Mala Sree was not a big name at that time. It was after going to Kannada that she became Mala Sree. Varasudocchaadu was a remake of a Tamil film, and was a decent hit in Telugu too. We just took the main theme and changed a lot in the original script. The introduction song of Mohan Babu, Columbus, etc. and the song on Sridurga and Sandhya were not in the original.

Sri: Though the film was a decent hit, I felt that Suhasini was a miscast in the film.

Ravikishore: Actually, Radha was supposed to that role. She even attended the muhurtam of the film. But, she got busy and was not able to adjust dates that we required, as our shooting was mostly in outdoor locations. Thus, Suhasini replaced Radha in the last minute.

Sri: After the dubbed film Sister Nandini that had good songs by Ilayaraja, your another dubbed film Chal Chal Gurram didn't run, I think!

Ravikishore: That film was a disaster, yeah! That is the first film of Mammootty that was dubbed into Telugu. It's a children's film but didn't even recover the print costs!

Sri: What went wrong with Chirutapululu a.k.a Jaitra Yatra?

Ravikishore: The film didn't do well because the hero runs into the forest instead of facing the situation. eppuDaitE hero samasyani edurkOkunDaa aDavullOki paaripOyaaDO appuDE cinema kooDaa aDavullOki veLLipOyindi!

Sri: What made you to choose S.P.B. for Jaitra Yatra, while Ilayaraja was your permanent music director until then?

Ravikishore: Actually, Uppalati also wanted Ilayaraja gaaru for the film. But Raja gaaru refused to work due to personal reasons. He actually took the advance for the film, but when he got to know that a debutant director was doing the film, he refused to work as he was upset with Ramu earlier for Shiva, as Ramu took Keeravani for the next film in spite of Shiva's super duper success. I requested him to do the BGM at least, but he declined. ...S.P.B. also did a very good job as the music director. The songs ennelammaa..., parugu teeyani..., okkaTai vacchaayi enDaa vaana... were good hit songs.

Sri: What went wrong with Rowdy Mogudu starring Mohan Babu?

Ravikishore: (Laughs) Everything! The film was a such a disaster tha I was almost bankrupt at that time. Only good thing I remember about that film had good music by Keeravani gaaru. I can say my second innings started with Balaramakrishnulu, a remake of Cheran Pandyan (Tamil). The film was a good hit. So, to bring Vamsy back ino direction, we made Lingababu Love Story. Shirts for that film were specially designed by artist Jayadev, based on the scene. Though the film has good comedy, it didn't work out for Vamsy or to us. The film was a flop.

Sri: I think your next two films - Maavichiguru and Egire Paavuramaa! - are good hits. While Maavichiguru is a free-make of Premabhishekam, Egire Paavuramaa! was a remake from Malayalam.

Ravikishore: (laughs) I agree it is a freemake, but we took only one single point and developed a heart-touching story in Maavichiguru. Egire Paavuramaa! was also a big hit though it was a remake; we made a lot of changes to suit our nativity.

Sri: I remember you conducted competitions in making brinjal curry to promote Egire Paavuramaa!

Ravikishore: (Laughs) The song aahaa, Emi ruchi!... became quite popular and we thought of the competitions! When we announced the competition, we got more than 7500 applications in a week, just in Shanti theatre alone! The idea was a huge hit, like the movie itself!

Sri: Gillikajjalu and Manasulo Maata were average and flop, I think, respectively...

Ravikishore: Gillikajjalu was a hit while Manasulo Maata was a casting failure, like we spoke earlier. Then came Pilla Nacchindi...

Sri: I remember Kota saying "Cinema chacchindi!"...

Ravikishore: That was an average film, anDii, not a flop! Distributors made money...

Sri: But you were literally left without money at that time, I heard. How does that happen? Your success rate is more than seventy percent at any given time. With the remaining thirty percent being average to flop, how can one become bankrupt, I do not understand! As an example, I did hear that Devivaraprasad became bankrupt after giving Mrugaraju, though his Gharana Mogudu created history...!

Ravikishore: That's because of a lot of reasons. Previously, there used to be distribution system, according to which we get, from the distributors, only 20% of what we earned, and nothing sometimes! The rates of interest in this industry are sky-high, something that you'd have never heard off! Thus, my interest rates and the compounding for flops or average films piled up and become gigantic in proportion, eating away my 70% profits!

Sri: I know you worked with Ushakiron Movies for Nuvve Kaavaali. Tell me in detail about it.

Ravikishore: As I was unable to do a film on my own, and I have the remake rights of the film Nuvve Kaavaali, I approached Ramoji Rao gaaru with the subject. Ramoji Rao gaaru already offered me once to do a film, and so he asked me if I was confident about the subject. I said I am pretty comfortable with the script, and he asked me to go ahead with the project. I worked for 10 lakhs per month and for 20 percent profits on the film. The film was made with 1.2 crore rupees made around 24 crore rupees at that time!

Sri: Even the audio itself was a super hit! I heard they sold along with their newspapers also!

Ravikishore: CDs were not still commonplace in the market then. The audio was really a big hit, yeah!

Sri: Vidyasagar said that a couple of his tunes (from the Malayalam original) were used. You also used Ilayaraja's composition for the film.

Ravikishore: When we got the rights, we bought alongwith the original soundtrack as well as the music track of the film. So, Vidyasagar cannot complain on that! For the song kaLLallOki kaLLu peTTi chooDavenduku!..., it was me who asked Koti gaaru to use the tune from Maharshi, maaTa raani mounamidi..., because I like that tune very much.

Sri: Coming to the current film Ready, why did you take almost three years to do a film with Ram, though he's your brother's son!

Ravikishore: True, Ram is my brother Murali's son. I was supposed to do his first film, but as Y.V.S. Chowdary approached to do the film, I agreed, as it'd be good to do for an outside banner first as a launch pad. I had good confidence on Y.V.S. as a producer and director, and so I agreed. Then, Sukumar came with Jagadam. Though the film did not work well at the box-office, everyone appreciated Ram and the music. That's, in fact, one reason why we got DeviSri for Ready.

Sri: What is the other reason then? I mean, you had Koti gaaru as a regular, after Ilayaraja gaaru...

Ravikishore: Another reason is Srinu Vytla. Srinu had been very much associated with DeviSri from the very beginning of his career. In fact, almost all the other techincians too were his choice. I always go with the director's comfortability with other techincians, which will help the product shape well.

Sri: This film is definitely not a typical "Sravanthi"-style project...

Ravikishore: It's nothing like that! The film can be viewed with the entire family without any hesitation, like any other Sravanthi film. I somehow feel that I am making films for me and not for the audiences. I wanted to change it with this film too!

Sri: I heard the budget shot up in the middle of the shoot, and you were upset with Srinu Vytla because of that!

Ravikishore: That's absolutely baseless, anDii!Sravanthi banner gives free hand to its directors and also works for the betterment of the project always! For Nuvve Kaavaali, we planned only 75 lakh rupees as budget, but we went ahead and spent 1.2 crore rupees for quality-rich work. The same goes with the Nuvve.. Nuvve.... We spent 55 lakh rupees only on two songs in Ooty. So, I never compromised in spending as long as it is required.

Sri: As you mention Nuvve.. Nuvve..., I heard that it went over budget and that you had made no money on it though the film was a hit!

Ravikishore: Not true at all! I made profits on it, definitely. Trivikram gave me two super hits, in the form of Nuvve Kaavaali and Nuvvu Naaku Nacchaav!, and I felt enough gratitude for him to spend on this! There is no hard feelings and I also made good money on it. Everyone who bought the film were also happy.

Sri: I think you are closely associated with some people, like Tanikella Bharani, Seetarama Sastry gaaru, Hari Anumolu, to name a few...

Ravikishore: (Laughs) Not only them, anDii! Thammudu Satyam, Vemuri Satyanarayana gaaru, etc. are also very close to me. All these people have contributed to each of my success. I am really thankful to them for the same. Hari gaaru worked for 15 films in our banner and Sastry is the permanent lyricst for all my films. So are others too!

Sri: Now, Ready film is declared a hit! What are your plans for the next film?

Ravikishore: I am planning another film with Ram as hero. It will start very soon..

Filmography:
01. Ladies Tailor
02. Ladies Tailor (Tamil)
03. Rendu Thokala Pitta (dubbed)
04. Nayakudu (dubbed)
05. Pushpaka Vimanam (dubbed)
06. Maharshi
07. Sree Kanaka Mahalakshmi Recording Dance Troop
08. Varasudocchaadu
09. Sister Nandini (dubbed)
10. Chal Chal Gurram (dubbed)
11. Jaitra Yatra
12. Rowdy Mogudu
13. Balaramakrishnulu
14. Lingababu Love Story
15. Maavichiguru
16. Egire Paavuramaa!
17. Gillikajjaalu
18. Manasulo Maata
19. Pilla Nacchindi
20. Nuvve Kaavaali
21. Nuvvu Naaku Nacchaav!
22. Nuvve.. Nuvve...
23. Ela Cheppanu..!
24. Gowri
25. Yuvasena
26. Premante Inthey!
27. Classmates
28. Ready

Interview: Sri Atluri
Edited by: NaChaKi